Chicken Thighs, and Chicken Oyster Thighs

A_Sober_Paddy

So what's the difference between these two types of chicken thighs?

Dial Hard

I'm guessing the latter still have the oysters attached, which are really succulent, tasty little medallions that lie near the thigh on either side of the backbone.

I've never come across packs of thighs that have them, though. Where did you see them?

Taboola

Dunnes occasionally have Oyster thighs.

Dizzyblonde

Oyster thighs are partly boned and usually just have one bone in them.

A_Sober_Paddy

The thighs I got where oyster but not labeled as so, the other ones are a pain to bone, I was thinking I must have got a bad batch the last time


Cheers

Mrs Fox

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

The thighs I got where oyster but not labeled as so, the other ones are a pain to bone, I was thinking I must have got a bad batch the last time


Cheers

It's not a case of bad batch. It's how the chicken was sectioned.

When sold in supermarket as 'Oyster thighs', the oyster meat is still attached to the bone , and the thighs are like this:

http://www.pjmartinelli.co.uk/WebRoot/BT/Shops/BT3174/4A24/DDF3/3E6C/E3ED/D5F0/0A0A/33E7/DB3E/chicken_0020_thigh_0020_raw.jpg

And if sold as chicken thighs, it's what Dizzy has described, with a single bone, and the oyster meat still intact and carefully detached from the illium bone.

The boney thighs with oyster still attached may be a pain to eat for some, but I love gorging the oyster out of the hollow part of illium bone (thanks wiki, now I know what it's actually called). If you have the fetish enjoy eating the morsels of chicken meat through sucking the bones like the Asians, you'd appreciate this part of the chicken. It's great if you want to make the most of flavour, like in broth, where you can pick out the meat half way through cooking them and boil the rest of the bones for few more hours.

A_Sober_Paddy

Mrs Fox wrote: »

It's not a case of bad batch. It's how the chicken was sectioned.

When sold in supermarket as 'Oyster thighs', the oyster meat is still attached to the bone , and the thighs are like this:

http://www.pjmartinelli.co.uk/WebRoot/BT/Shops/BT3174/4A24/DDF3/3E6C/E3ED/D5F0/0A0A/33E7/DB3E/chicken_0020_thigh_0020_raw.jpg

And if sold as chicken thighs, it's what Dizzy has described, with a single bone, and the oyster meat still intact and carefully detached from the illium bone.

The boney thighs with oyster still attached may be a pain to eat for some, but I love gorging the oyster out of the hollow part of illium bone (thanks wiki, now I know what it's actually called). If you have the fetish enjoy eating the morsels of chicken meat through sucking the bones like the Asians, you'd appreciate this part of the chicken. It's great if you want to make the most of flavour, like in broth, where you can pick out the meat half way through cooking them and boil the rest of the bones for few more hours.

Cheers for that, i tend to use the thighs whole in slow cooker dishes, like masaman & jambalaya

rubadub

I was in dunnes and they had oyster thighs and regular thighs in the same range (same style of packing and dunnes own brand). The oyster ones were smaller (not sure if the original bird would have been the same size and it was just missing a bit) and the oysters were also more expensive per kilo.

Mrs Fox

The oyster thighs can also be found as part of the chicken legs.

Mellor

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

Oyster thighs are partly boned and usually just have one bone in them.

I'm not sure if I've seen an alternative to the above. How do thighs have more than one bone? I've only one bone in each of my thighs - as far as I know

Are you describing thighs with the hip still attached? Don't think I've seen they for sale like that before

the beer revolu

http://www.google.ie/imgres?imgurl=https://kriegerscience.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/chickenlegskeleton.png&imgrefurl=https://kriegerscience.wordpress.com/2010/10/24/how-to-dissect-a-chicken-leg/&h=486&w=576&tbnid=I1qGCQj1FJa4MM:&q=Chicken+thigh+bones&docid=H8x3OSgaVGgVhM&ei=MGi0VpboOYPKPZTDrYgF&tbm=isch&client=ms-android-samsung&ved=0ahUKEwiWwNPWpODKAhUDZQ8KHZRhC1EQMwgmKAwwDA

Mellor wrote: »

I'm not sure if I've seen an alternative to the above. How do thighs have more than one bone? I've only one bone in each of my thighs - as far as I know

Are you describing thighs with the hip still attached? Don't think I've seen they for sale like that before

I always buy thighs with, as you said, part of the thigh attached.

Mellor

the beer revolu wrote: »

http://www.google.ie/imgres?imgurl=https://kriegerscience.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/chickenlegskeleton.png&imgrefurl=https://kriegerscience.wordpress.com/2010/10/24/how-to-dissect-a-chicken-leg/&h=486&w=576&tbnid=I1qGCQj1FJa4MM:&q=Chicken+thigh+bones&docid=H8x3OSgaVGgVhM&ei=MGi0VpboOYPKPZTDrYgF&tbm=isch&client=ms-android-samsung&ved=0ahUKEwiWwNPWpODKAhUDZQ8KHZRhC1EQMwgmKAwwDA

I always buy thighs with, as you said, part of the thigh attached.

That's pics a whole leg though. Drumstick and all attached. I can buy them like that no bother, for some reason its called a "maryland" here. But bone-in thighs are just the one bone.

That said, maybe I've missed them as I usually by thigh fillets (or a whole chicken)

Dizzyblonde

When I buy ordinary, non-oyster thighs they have that one big bone in but also a part of the carcass attached, and what looks like a section of spine. I've had a root in the freezer but there are none in there at the moment to take a photo of.
This isn't a very clear photo I found on the net, but hopefully you'll be able to make out the ridge of bone on the right hand side of the left thigh.

the beer revolu

Mellor wrote: »

That's pics a whole leg though. Drumstick and all attached.

I am aware of that.
The idea of the pic was to demonstrate the piece of bone that comes attached to the thigh bone which includes the hip.

Minder

rubadub wrote: »

I was in dunnes and they had oyster thighs and regular thighs in the same range (same style of packing and dunnes own brand). The oyster ones were smaller (not sure if the original bird would have been the same size and it was just missing a bit) and the oysters were also more expensive per kilo.

More expensive per kilo?

I also don't see these cuts in the supermarkets where I shop. Educate me please, because this sounds like a great scam. I've butchered enough chickens to know what and where oysters are on a bird. As a supermarket, I get to sell a largely inedible section of the chicken carcass attached to the thigh that I would otherwise have to dispose of? I charge a higher price per kilo for this chicken and the customer gets a small nugget of meat known as the oyster for their extra money?

the beer revolu

Minder wrote: »

More expensive per kilo?

I also don't see these cuts in the supermarkets where I shop. Educate me please, because this sounds like a great scam. I've butchered enough chickens to know what and where oysters are on a bird. As a supermarket, I get to sell a largely inedible section of the chicken carcass attached to the thigh that I would otherwise have to dispose of? I charge a higher price per kilo for this chicken and the customer gets a small nugget of meat known as the oyster for their extra money?

I think you have that backwards.
I understood that the thighs without the hip carcass bit were more per kg.

rubadub

Minder wrote: »

More expensive per kilo?

Yes, the smaller ones labelled "oyster" were more expensive. I am not saying they were labelled correctly, but I am certain they were labelled as I described, small joints with more meat were called oyster thighs and more expensive per kilo.

I thought it would be the other way around, expecting the large one to have the "oyster" included (along with lots of waste, which there was).

And they were in the same style dunnes labelling so it was no some issue of one leaving it off, or being more expensive per kilo as it was not in a "value range".

A_Sober_Paddy

Chicken thighs In lidl are marked as "chicken thighs" but are in fact oyster thighs, and at 2.79 per kg, a whole lot cheaper than dunnes and tesco

rubadub

The tesco ones labelled as oyster thighs are €3.90 per kilo.


http://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=268775121

The ones labelled just thighs are €3 per kilo


http://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=288794154

Mrs Fox

rubadub wrote: »

I thought it would be the other way around, expecting the large one to have the "oyster" included (along with lots of waste, which there was).

That's what I thought too.

Mellor

Minder wrote: »

I've butchered enough chickens to know what and where oysters are on a bird. As a supermarket, I get to sell a largely inedible section of the chicken carcass attached to the thigh that I would otherwise have to dispose of? I charge a higher price per kilo for this chicken and the customer gets a small nugget of meat known as the oyster for their extra money?

From the posts above,
Oyster thighs are the one's the hip bone removed.
More precise portioning, less waste = more cost.

rubadub wrote: »

I thought it would be the other way around, expecting the large one to have the "oyster" included (along with lots of waste, which there was).

They should both have the "oyster" included. No reason to waste it. In the case of the oyster thighs, the oyster has been filleted off the hip.

As I said, I've never seen that labelled as oyster here. But the ones I buy are as described, portioned to a single bone, with the oyster included. That's how I cut them when portioning a chook.

BailMeOut

slightly off subject but the Chicken Inn in the English market always has deboned chicken thighs. It's a tricky thing to do and the only place I ever see that have them like this.

A_Sober_Paddy

BailMeOut wrote: »

slightly off subject but the Chicken Inn in the English market always has deboned chicken thighs. It's a tricky thing to do and the only place I ever see that have them like this.

Deboning oyster thighs is super easy tho

BailMeOut

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

Deboning oyster thighs is super easy tho

can you share your secret as I cannot get the thigh off the bone. I end up with more meat on the bone!

Mellor

Slice down to the bone from the inside of the thigh.
Then using the knife perpendicular to the bone scrape the meat off the bone. Shaft first, then the heads. Keep working around the bone until its free.
Sometimes I find it easy to pry the meat off with fingers once it's started by the knife. I've debone the entire leg (without separating the knee) that way.

Mellor

Slice down to the bone from the inside of the thigh.
Then using the knife perpendicular to the bone scrape the meat off the bone. Shaft first, then the heads. Keep working around the bone until its free.
Sometimes I find it easy to pry the meat off with fingers once it's started by the knife. I've debone the entire leg (without separating the knee) that way.