# Food Q- a kiel of a chicken **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 22, 2007, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-q-a-kiel-of-a-chicken/420099 "2007-09-22T14:45:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-q-a-kiel-of-a-chicken/420099/1 "2007-09-22T14:45:31Z")
I just saw a menu which listed the various parts of fried chicken available- breast, thigh, drum, wing… kiel. Google has failed me here, WHAT is a kiel? ---
**Author:** ![Montgomery0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/0ea827/32.png) [@Montgomery0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montgomery0)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-q-a-kiel-of-a-chicken/420099/2 "2007-09-22T15:10:00Z")
[QUOTE=FriarTed] I just saw a menu which listed the various parts of fried chicken available- breast, thigh, drum, wing… kiel. Google has failed me here, WHAT is a kiel? [/QUOTE] Try keel, it’s that cartilage bit. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-q-a-kiel-of-a-chicken/420099/3 "2007-09-22T15:14:24Z")
Could be a spilling mistake. The keel of a chicken is the cartilage that connects the two sides of the breast. I don’t think you’d want to fry that. [Chicken Kiev](http://www.retrofoodrecipes.com/chicken_kiev.html) though is pretty tasty. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-q-a-kiel-of-a-chicken/420099/4 "2007-09-22T15:29:07Z")
Maybe they were selling cartilage stuffed with herb butter? ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-q-a-kiel-of-a-chicken/420099/5 "2007-09-22T15:31:51Z")
Well, kiel was how it was spelled on the menu & it cost the same as a breast. Come to think of it, the back was the only part not mentioned & it’s kinda cartilegey. I bet that’s what they mean. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-q-a-kiel-of-a-chicken/420099/6 "2007-09-22T18:22:36Z")
Most places cut the breast into two pieces (8 total pieces from the chicken), so you have a left breast and a right breast. Other places use a nine piece cut, where the breast is cut into 3 pieces. The keel is the piece from the center. It does contain the cartilage and some ribs, but also a lot of meat. I don’t know if they still do because I don’t eat there any more, but Kentucky Fried Chicken used a nine piece cut, and the keel was a prime piece to get. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-q-a-kiel-of-a-chicken/420099/7 "2007-09-22T19:41:25Z")
Just yesterday I ate at a Soul Food place, and I got that piece. I always wondered if it had a ‘name’. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-q-a-kiel-of-a-chicken/420099/8 "2007-09-22T23:19:58Z")
In Japan, they skewer pieces of that keel bone/cartilage and grill it up with a marinade to make nankotsu no yakitori (chicken cartilage yakitori). Never had it, don’t know if I’d want to…I’m not a big fan of cartilage. Maybe some of our Dopers in Japan could tell us if it’s any good? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-q-a-kiel-of-a-chicken/420099/9 "2007-09-22T23:58:13Z")
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin] Could be a spilling mistake. […] [Chicken Kiev](http://www.retrofoodrecipes.com/chicken_kiev.html) though is pretty tasty. [/QUOTE] [Kiel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiel) is a port city in Germany. Perhaps they have a chicken dish analogous to Hamburg’s famed beef patty? ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-q-a-kiel-of-a-chicken/420099/10 "2007-09-23T15:16:47Z")
That would be the chicken’s [jaws](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaws_%28James_Bond%29#Jaws). ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-q-a-kiel-of-a-chicken/420099/11 "2007-09-23T17:47:14Z")
[QUOTE=Turek] I don’t know if they still do because I don’t eat there any more, but Kentucky Fried Chicken used a nine piece cut, and the keel was a prime piece to get. [/QUOTE] They do, they call it the breast though.