A Guide to the Different Parts of a Chicken

Chicken can be used in so many different recipes. It is economic to buy and has such a soft flavor that you can combine it with all different kinds of herbs, spices, and sauces. You can either buy a whole chicken or chicken pieces. A whole chicken will come with giblets, which is the heart, liver, neck and gizzard.
If you do not want a whole chicken, you can buy a poultry half, which is a chicken split in half lengthways. This gives you both dark and light meat.

Chicken Breast Cuts
Chicken breasts are very popular and these are available bone-in or boneless, and skin-on or skinless. A chicken breast is white meat only. Another option is a breast quarter, which is a quarter of the chicken, including half a breast, some of the back and a wing.

Breast halves, which are also called split breasts, are available too and these are chicken breasts, which have been split in half lengthwise. These are white meat only. The tenderloin is the breast muscle and is white meat.

Chicken Wing Cuts
A chicken wing comprises drummettes, wing tips, and wingettes. Wingettes are also known as flat wing tip. A drummette is the part of the wing, which has the most meat on. It looks like a small drumstick and is the part of the chicken connected to the body.

The wingette is the middle part of the wing. It is more moist than the drummette but with less meat on. The wing tip is often thrown away because there is hardly any meat on it but you can use wing tips to add flavor to broth or to your favorite chicken soup recipe or chicken noodle soup recipe.

Chicken Leg Cuts
A chicken leg comprises the drumstick and thigh and this is dark meat. Leg quarters include a drumstick, thigh, and some of the back. The thigh is at the top of the leg and the drumstick is at the bottom.

How to Make Soup with a Whole Chicken
This delicious chicken soup recipe is very simple to make and it is nutritious also. This makes enough to serve about eight people but you can freeze some if you want to.
You will need:

• 1 whole chicken (remove the insides)
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes
• 3 quarts water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 sprigs parsley, chopped
• 1 onion, quartered
• 1/2 cup carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 cup parsnips, peeled and chopped
• 1 teaspoon tomato puree
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, peeled

How to make it:Put the whole chicken in cold water in a big pot. Add the celery, onion, bouillon cubes, garlic, tomato puree, and salt. Cook for an hour or until the chicken is tender, then turn off the heat and take the chicken out. Let it cool. Strain the broth into another pot, pressing the celery and onions with the back of a wooden spoon, to ensure their flavor goes into the broth.

Bring the broth to the boil. Add the carrots and parsnips and cook the soup until they are soft. Take the skin off the chicken and remove the bones. Cut the best parts into big chunks and put it in the soup, along with the parsley. Warm the soup back up but do not let it boil, else the chicken might go tough. Serve this chicken soup recipe hot with some crusty bread for dunking.

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