# Chicken thighs equation **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 2, 2010, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-thighs-equation/531040 "2010-03-02T21:21:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-thighs-equation/531040/21 "2010-03-03T14:00:11Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > At the risk of hijacking my own thread: If you buy kosher meat, but don’t use it until it goes _slightly_ bad . . . is it still kosher? I’m paranoid about use-by dates. It comes from the time when I was 15, and learned the hard way that mayonnaise expiration dates do not have a six month grace period. It doesn’t help that I have allergies and can’t generally tell by smell if something is bad. If something’s getting close to the use-by date, it goes into the freezer or the trash. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-thighs-equation/531040/22 "2010-03-03T15:12:26Z")
I see the title and think of some guy with poor english speaking abilities calling up a local university math department and asking about a “thickenthize equation” and folks on the other end are WTF? and the caller is saying “you KNOW…THICKENTHIZE!” and more WFT are you talking about? over and over ala a Monte Python sketch. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-thighs-equation/531040/23 "2010-03-03T21:42:20Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I see the title and think of some guy with poor english speaking abilities calling up a local university math department and asking about a “thickenthize equation” and folks on the other end are WTF? and the caller is saying “you KNOW…THICKENTHIZE!” and more WFT are you talking about? over and over ala a Monte Python sketch. Actually the phrase “chicken thighs” itself is open to more than one meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-thighs-equation/531040/24 "2010-03-03T22:24:41Z")
> [@HelenGawn](#): > > I just count and compute the price per thigh. This is probably the most efficient way of doing it, if you assume that each thigh, on average, contains roughly the same amount of meat, and if you put no value on your time. How much would you pay to avoid boning a single chicken thigh? ---
**Author:** ![JayD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e36b37/32.png) [@JayD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JayD)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-thighs-equation/531040/25 "2014-04-24T16:43:23Z")
Also: you need to learn about “grivenis” . . . and I have no idea how it’s spelled, since it’s Yiddish. [/QUOTE] Gribenes or grieven are crisp chicken or goose skin cracklings with fried onions, a kosher food somewhat similar to pork rinds. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-thighs-equation/531040/26 "2014-04-24T17:24:43Z")
Although, four-year-old zombie threads on chicken thighs is getting us into the KFC realm of quality. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-thighs-equation/531040/27 "2014-04-24T22:31:42Z")
At the risk of unearthing my own zombie, I’ve done an experiment. My supermarket had a sale on chicken quarters (attached thighs and drumsticks). Four raw leg quarters with skin and bones weighed 1914 grams. I then boiled them (great stock) and separated the meat from the skin and bones. The meat alone weighed only 722 mg. This means that of the total amount of raw chicken, the meat composed only 37.7% of the total. That means that you’ll be throwing out 62.3% of what you buy. I suspect the addition of the drumsticks had a substantial effect on the outcome. I’ll have to try it again with only thighs. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-thighs-equation/531040/28 "2014-04-24T22:45:50Z")
I suspect that some of that lost weight is just due to cooking and has nothing to do with the bones. Do you feel like boiling a package of boneless quarters and weighing that as a comparison? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-thighs-equation/531040/29 "2014-04-24T22:49:31Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > I suspect that some of that lost weight is just due to cooking and has nothing to do with the bones. Do you feel like boiling a package of boneless quarters and weighing that as a comparison? That would have been my assumption as well. We need more data. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-thighs-equation/531040/30 "2014-04-24T23:20:05Z")
I buy, bone, and skin chicken thighs all the time. I have measured the weight before and after with a scale using the raw meat- simply put, 99 cent/lb whole thighs yield meat with a cost of $2/lb. Therefore, as long as the boneless skinless ones cost twice as much per pound or less, you’re coming out ahead with the boneless skinless ones. I often chunk the bones and skin into a pressure cooker with some water to make awesome broth, a bonus you don’t get with the pricier thighs. Whether zombie chickens are more tender is not certain. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-thighs-equation/531040/31 "2014-04-25T01:39:25Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Whether zombie chickens are more tender is not certain. The problem with zombie chickens is, [shooting 'em in the head](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headless_chicken) doesn’t work. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-thighs-equation/531040/32 "2014-04-25T06:25:03Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > I suspect that some of that lost weight is just due to cooking and has nothing to do with the bones. Do you feel like boiling a package of boneless quarters and weighing that as a comparison? That’s what I initially thought. But the overall question has to do with _ **yield** _, and whatever evaporation in a normal cooking context, is not part of the yield. Of course then the solution is simply to count the parts: X number of entire thighs vs. X number of boneless/skinless thighs. Forget weighing them, just consider the yield. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-thighs-equation/531040.md?page=1)