Curly Sue wrote:
>
> Just out of curiousity, why the shuddering about using sbcb? For
> grilling, or at all?
>
> I imagine that grilling is not the best way to cook such because skin
> will prevent drying out, [snip]

It's just my knee jerk reaction shudder. Skinning and boning have
their place, as when you're going to slice and stirfry, or when you're
making some kind of cutlet variation, or even if you're breading and
frying. But some years ago people began skinning and boning because
they thought it was "healthier" or a good way to reduce fat in their
diet. Sellers picked up on this and began packaging chicken breasts
that way at a greatly increased price. (In my market last week, a
whole chicken was sold at 69 cents/lb. while sbcb were $3.95/lb.
That's a helluva markup for a few minutes of work, and believe it or
not, no such product existed twenty years ago.)

But the inescapable fact is that flavor resides in fat, and on a
chicken the fat resides in the skin. So if you're going to make
something where boning and skinning are not inherent to the dish,
you're giving yourself a big challenge to find some way -- such as
brining -- to add back that which you didn't need to throw away in the
first place, namely, the flavor and moistness.

Long winded answer, sorry, but it ties in with my broader bias about
resisting all the salesmanship and not taking the path of least
resistance. For me, part of the fun of cooking has always been about
improving skills, and to know there are so many cooks who wouldn't
dream of cutting up a chicken just bugs me.

> ...but overcooking a piece with skin and bone
> will do the same thing.

Yes, all I meant was a caution not to overcook.

-aem