Should Chicken be deboned? Sauced?

8/27/2012

Question

Is it better to debone your chicken then to leave the bone in? Prefer sauce or not?

Brice Mitchell
Competition Cook & Contest Organizer
Lacona, Iowa

Bill F.

8/26/2012 06:10:36 pm

No, leave the bone in, it's a nice handle when eating. Besides, what is chicken without a bone? McDonalds of course.

Vince V. - CBJ/KCBS - So. CA

8/26/2012 07:15:37 pm

Assuming we are talking about thighs, I have tasted both excellent and below average chicken in both boned and de-boned configurations. I believe that a well-cooked thigh will collect great scores, bones or not. As long as any bone does not interfere with a judge taking a clean, substantial bite, its presence would not detract from any score I would give. As far as sauce, I would like to see a reduction in the amount of honey-based goo slathered on chicken in this region. That said, a sauce that works in harmony the with flavor of the meat (i.e. is NOT the sole source of flavor) will garner high scores from me. I have yet to be wow'd by a 'dry' chicken submission, but that's probably just because I haven't tasted yours yet!

Dick-MCBJ/CTC

8/26/2012 08:13:13 pm

Brice, I like ot see a chicken entry that looks like chicken. Therefore, I am not a fan of "cupcake" formed chicken and would prefer you do not remove the bone or overform the chicken. I like to see a nice sauce, but not "painted" on the chicken (or oversauced) so that it is difficult to see the chicken. Listening to many judges this last weekend I know that many other judges are also getting very tired of heavy sauce on entries. I heard comments ranging from " I will deduct one to two points" to "never more than a seven" when chicken is presented oversauced.

Ron Haag

8/26/2012 10:21:54 pm

I prefer bone in and sauced

Jarhead - CBJ/KCBS

8/26/2012 10:39:47 pm

My comments are based on thigh entries.
I prefer bone-in and lightly sauced, just enough to shine.
I don't deduct points for bone/no-bone, but I will, if all I taste is sauce.
They should be uniform in size, but not a round or square cupcake chicken.

Ike, CBJ/KCBS

8/26/2012 11:42:08 pm

Whenever I judge chicken, regardless of bone-in or formed, I will deduct 1 point at least for chicken that has way too much sauce on it. My personal favorite are thighs but I have judged some very good legs and wings!!

Bill cbj kcbs

8/27/2012 12:00:07 am

Personally, I don't see any reason for cooks to debone their chicken. It seems to me that it is a lot of work for nothing. I have yet to see where deboning made any difference at all as far as scoring. My thoughts on sauce are - Does it add to the flavor of the chicken or not? Period.

buzz-cbj-cook

8/27/2012 12:47:57 am

As a judge I don't care what you present but don't like too much sauce--have had more mediocre deboned and or skinless thighs than really good ones---present what you like to cook, cook and present it the way you like it and see what the judges say!! Maybe not the same as everyone else might be a good thing!!

Doug KCBS Master CBJ & CTC

8/27/2012 01:43:21 am

At the contest I judged last Saturday, two of the entries were deboned the rest were bone in and all were sauced. The entire table agreed it was some of the best chicken they had in a while. I really don't care whether thighs are bone in or deboned, as long as they taste good! Sauce is another matter. This is a meat contest and I want to be able to taste the meat first and foremost. Keep the sauce as light as possible in my opinion. No sauce is also fine as well.

Deb KCBS MCBJ/CTC

8/27/2012 02:24:56 am

Brice-
I've had good and bad in chicken with or without bones, so bone or not doesn't matter. Having said that, I do have to say that I personally prefer that the chicken LOOKS like chicken, as opposed to looking like a billiard ball with chicken skin. Saucing should be done with a light touch to enhance the flavor of the chicken, not replace it. Gloppy, gooey, heavily slathered-on sauce is a definate and automatic downgrade.

paul/CBJ/KCBS/cook

8/27/2012 02:26:22 am

I believe that too much sauce impacts the taste/tenderness scores (especially when the meat is dry). However I try to not discount the appearance if it was well-applied. If it looks great, with a TON of sauce, it still looks great. Of course, everything should be in reason. If all I taste is sauce, then the taste score comes down. If the meat is dry after the saucy skin is moved out the way, your sneaky sauce-for-moisture approach was defeated. In general, a lot of sauce will trigger a "dry meat siren" so it gets analysed more deeply.

Thighs/Legs/Wings should have a bone, but it doesn't really matter to me. One caveat of not using bone-in thighs is that you have to cook it very expertly or there can potentially be more gristle/fat and that degrades the taste if I get a big glob of fat in my bite because of a poorly deboned thigh. Commercial boneless/skinless thighs still have the fat/gristle, so careful prep is key.

I wouldn't mind seeing more chicken breast entries myself, it can be very juicy and tender with good prep. Nothing says you have to smoke the chicken for hours, just fire it up. A few chips for smokey flavor, a good marinade, bango!

Bob

8/27/2012 02:49:37 am

Leave the bone in, period. I believe that fish and chicken gain some taste when cooked with the bone.
Make sure it is cooked. I've had lots of uncooked chicken and don't like it.
I judged some dry (no sauce) thighs quite high, but found that other judges hated them. Too much sauce makes me think the cook is trying to cover up other wise bland meat.
Some of us like light meat. Cornish hen halves have both and have judged quite high where I've judged.

Kev B / KCBS CBJ

8/27/2012 04:33:15 am

The bone in or out does not matter to me as much. But I will tell you what is really getting me is the size of the chicken and how much sauce is on them. The sauce on the chicken has gotten crazy. It seems contest after contest it keeps gettng worse. It has gotten so bad that I have started bringing me a wet rag to wipe the sauce off of my fingers. Don't get me wrong I do like sauce but not so much that I cannot tast your chicken. Also I have gotten to the point that I take a bit with the sauce then I try to dig down to and get some meat and take a bite of just meat without sauce. To me when you put that much sauce on sauce on, you are trying to cover something up.

My next thing is how small the turn pieces of chicken have gotten. They keep getting smaller and smaller and the last contest I did a chicken was litteraly no biger than the size of 2 chicken mcnuggets stack on each other. Why do you want to do that? It makes me think hmmmmmmm you have an ounce of meat covered heavily in sauce, WHAT are you trying to cover up. I dont know, could just be me.

Gail CBJ CBBQA

8/27/2012 02:21:08 pm

I love chicken if its well cooked, moist and tender so bone in or not is ok with me but I don't like a heavy hand with sauce just a little bit on the chicken for glaze and taste is fine by me.

Ed KCBS MCBJ

8/28/2012 01:01:31 am

Hey it's your show, you cook it I judge it.
I really have no preference because it matters not what I want.
As I understand it, meat with bone in has a better taste profile.
Sauce is there to enhance the overall flavor of the meat, if all I taste is sauce it's gonna cost ya....

David CBJ & COOK link

8/31/2012 07:38:23 am

Bone in and sauced here

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Should Chicken be deboned? Sauced?

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