FoodBanter.com - View Single Post

Sheldon

wrote:
> I slow cooked a whole
> turkey and I did a whole chicken. The 12Lb turkey after cooked, deboned
> weighed in at 6Lbs. So you pay for 12Lbs and
> get 6Lbs. Same with the chicken. 6Lbs becomes 3Lbs. Both my chicken and
> turkey were so tender they fell off the bones. I think some people
> won't believe these figures. I actually weighed them. If this is the
> case is boneless possibly the better deal? Just want to see if anyone
> else has figured this out. Thanks, I'll be looking in.

I roast or rotisserie 6-7 pound rosasting chickens all the time,
definitely don't lose half their weight, perhaps barely 1/3.

Slow cooked is tantamount to braised... what weight you lost was mostly
water (meat is better than 70% H2O), and fat (naturally if you discard
the fat instead of using it that's one's choice, years ago folks used
all that meat fat - years ago folks worked a heck of a lot harder - the
farmers around here don't need to watch their diets or go to a gym).
Bones in of themselves, especially poultry bones, contribute little to
weight loss from cooking. Most any braised meat will be reduced to
less than half it's raw weight... not ribs and other bony cuts but all
others. But you can't honestly claim you lost that weight because it's
now in the sauce you created.

When you purchase deboned cuts most of the higher cost is due to labor
(butchering)... takes time to trim and tie a roast. If one is a smart
shopper they will buy bone-in cuts and debone themselves, then the
bones and trimmings can be used to prepare very tasty dishes. This
week the Price Chopper stupidmarket chain here had bone-in center cut
pork loin on sale at 99¢/lb, I bought 15 pounds worth yesterday, spent
20 minutes trimming, deboning some, and repackaging... got a nice huge
roast, a mess of chops (9 biguns), and about five pounds stewing pork,
nice chunks that'll be used for braising and/or marinated for
grilling... bones will be used for ****ghetti sauce. I even took a
picture of this package before opening... will post it in a week or so
when I have enough pics to download.

Sheldon