Chicken legs - where did I go wrong?

[bozza]

I bought 3 chicken legs from the farm shop because they were only 40p each. Decided to make a casserole in the slow cooker, so bunged them in with some onion, carrots, parsnips, peppers, tinned toms, wine, herbs etc and left them. When we came to eat it, it was a mixed up mess of chicken, veg, bones, skin etc, and as I had added mushrooms towards the end, it was very difficult to differentiate between the mushrooms and the bones.

Now obviously if I had cooked it all a bit less the chicken pieces would have remained more intact but it would still have been messy seperating the meat from the bones/skin given it was all liberally coated in tomato sauce.

What are you supposed to make with chicken legs? I don't want to be defeated but nor do I want to be worrying about my children choking on chicken bones.

Thanks.

Weird. Did you cook it for too long perhaps?

I tend to roast chicken legs, or do a tandoori type thing.

I think there is no doubt that I cooked it too long. So you think they are best cooked seperately, rather than in a casserole? Do you then debone them for the children? What sort of chicken would you use in a casserole?

for a casserole i tend to use chicken breast, only because i only like the chicken breast meat.

Brown them first to seal juices and don't overcook, or they literally dissolve!

Did you use drumsticks then? I would use thighs tbh, I think breast would get too tough if slow cooked. Did you brown the chicken first?

I used full legs including drumsticks - they were big pieces. How do you get the skin off when they are raw?

It wasn't the big bones I was bothered about - just the little sharp ones. And I had overcooked them so much (slow cooker for about 8 hours then about 1/2 hour on hob ) that they were all seperate and even some of the bones were softening up.

I always roast chicken legs and they are sooo much nicer than breast as the meat is loads tastier.

My way is as follows: Smother legs in olive oil. Sprinkle with dried herbs or fresh if you've got them (rosemary, thyme, sage). I put garlic on as well. Roast UPSIDE DOWN (ie skin facing down) on 200 degrees for about 20 minutes. Then turn them over so they're skin side up, baste with juices and herbs, add salt to skin if you want it reeaaaallly crispy, and roast for another 20-30 mins on really high heat. You end up with the tastiest crispiest skin with lovely succulent meat underneath that just falls off the bone. Much nicer than boring old dry breast.

Serve with huge mixed salad and roasted potatoes (I do those in same roasting tin)

And cheap too! You often find whole chicken leg joints in two-for-one offers, plus I find I can afford free range as they are just so much cheaper than breast.

Rather than casserole them, I tend to cook them in a deep frying pan on the hob, and make sure the liquid doesn't cover them. I leave the sking on, fry them first skin side down to brown them, then remove fromthe pan.Add theother ingredients, put the legs on top, cover and cook like that. I uncover for the last 10 minutes or so. That way the legs stay intact.