# Chicken Wings **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [February 16, 2022, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612 "2022-02-16T17:54:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/1 "2022-02-16T17:54:56Z")
This last Sunday we purchased 2 3lb bags of cut wings, no tips. I was very, _very_ very upset to find out there were hardly any flats. Why would that be? Fact of the matter is, I got them in my meat subscription box. If it was up to me I’d get the whole wings, have all the flats I want, and make the richest, gooey-est stock out of the tips. There should be equal flats and drumettes as that is how the chickens are made. Why would there be more than twice the amount of drums to tips in the pre-cut bag? I like the flats a whole lot more than the drumettes. How 'bout you? _Poll ([view on site](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/1))_ ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/2 "2022-02-16T18:02:22Z")
Flats are better. More skin, and that morsel of meat in between the bones is protected from overcooking. Why the disparity? I’m guessing it’s because the drumettes weigh about twice as much, so if your bag came from the first few batches out of the hopper, which clearly you did, you got mostly drumettes. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/3 "2022-02-16T18:04:17Z")
Either, I like the variety of both. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/4 "2022-02-16T18:04:20Z")
I always see people getting the dummies’ first at the stores hot deli department. I do so as well because the flats are a bit harder to deal with when consuming large amounts of beer. Which is when I usually eat wings, easier to just use one hand for wings and the other for beer. Like god intended. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/5 "2022-02-16T18:10:38Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Flats are better. More skin, and that morsel of meat in between the bones is protected from overcooking. QFT! Sometimes the fat, bulbous heads of the drumette is almost as hard as the gristle that can also be found there. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/6 "2022-02-16T18:16:08Z")
I like either, but our bird, Rocco, prefers the flats. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/7 "2022-02-16T18:17:22Z")
Flatties, definitely. Except sometimes the drummies have a big blob of fried goodness at the tip. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/8 "2022-02-16T18:18:07Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > I always see people getting the dummies’ first at the stores hot deli department. I do so as well because the flats are a bit harder to deal with when consuming large amounts of beer. Which is when I usually eat wings, easier to just use one hand for wings and the other for beer. Like god intended. 🙂 I ate a _lot_ of wings in college in the late 1980s when wings were cheap (at about ten to twenty cents each). What you’re calling flats, I remember as being easy to eat. It was almost possible just to suck the meat off the bone from one end. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/9 "2022-02-16T18:24:38Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I remember as being easy to eat. It was almost possible just to suck the meat off the bone from one end Resisting . . the . . . temptation . . . to respond in respond in a juvenile manner. 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/10 "2022-02-16T20:24:47Z")
I find the drumettes to be a bit more gristly sometimes, so I slightly prefer the flats. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/11 "2022-02-16T21:35:29Z")
Chicken wings are a **scam**! Why would I want to bother with “meat” that’s all bones? ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/12 "2022-02-16T23:13:15Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > If it was up to me I’d get the whole wings, have all the flats I want, and make the richest, gooey-est stock out of the tips. This is where I’m at, other than the fact I can’t stand to spend $3.99/lb for a package of wings. Before they went super-trendy (like bacon) they were a cheapish cut, and I’d buy a bunch for stock-making anytime I ran low. Now I just buy bone in thighs for stock making and fight the horrible, horrible fight of whether or not to make gribenes. Back to the OP, I’m slightly fonder of the drumettes, but only because I can eat with one hand, meaning that I only have to be careful of the hot-sauce-to-eye contact half as much. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/13 "2022-02-16T23:22:43Z")
For taste: flats, the drums are somewhat dryer and I consider it partial white meat. When mess, or ‘eating manors’ is a concern however I will go for the drums, or at least drums first to try to stay as clean as I can for at least the first few pieces. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2022, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/14 "2022-02-17T02:53:03Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > If it was up to me I’d get the whole wings, have all the flats I want, and make the richest, gooey-est stock out of the tips. In a different life, we’d be best friends. At least, as far as chicken wings go - this is how I roll, too, when possible. (Stoopit supply chain issues!) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2022, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/15 "2022-02-17T04:52:02Z")
Flats. (Until now, I didn’t know what to call them). There’s a more even skin/sauce to meat ratio and no confusion about what is food and what is cartilage. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2022, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/16 "2022-02-17T05:08:30Z")
I try to buy whole wings when they’re available. Cheaper. Separating the parts is a little tricky, but once you figure out where to cut, it’s not that much more work and you get to keep all the extra scraps. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/17 "2022-02-18T02:09:40Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > Back to the OP, I’m slightly fonder of the drumettes, but only because I can eat with one hand, meaning that I only have to be careful of the hot-sauce-to-eye contact half as much. Mastering the wordy ‘eating chicken wing flat with one hand’ is a pretty easy thing to achieve. You may need to set the wing down to switch front to back but at least your phone doesn’t get gummed up with wing sauce at the bar. One thing I do feel pretty strongly about is prepared wings being served in flat **or** drumette form. Serving the three wing parts (drumettes, flat & tip) still attached will cost you at least a letter grade, perhaps more if especially saucy. I don’t want sauce on my cheek under any circumstances and trying to suck meat off a Z is going to do that. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/18 "2022-02-18T02:11:08Z")
You don’t use a knife and fork?! ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/19 "2022-02-18T02:21:19Z")
That’s it. You’re grounded! ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612/20 "2022-02-18T05:47:14Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Chicken wings are a **scam**! Why would I want to bother with “meat” that’s all bones? Yes, yes, yes, it’s a lot of work for not much meat. But we’re here. Personally, I don’t care about the proportions other than I surely want a mix of them. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-wings/959612.md?page=2)