Cooking Tip - Chicken drumstick - Cut the sinew or not cut the sinew?

[Cikomyr]

Hello there. Due to a big sale at the local market I bought 20 chicken legs for 10 pounds recently, and planning to eat chicken for a little while. I cut every one of them in half (drumstick - tight) and froze them in pairs.

Now, after 3-4 meals of chicken legs, there is something that started bugging me when I eat the drumstick; the rather annoying sinew that links the meat to the bottom of the stick. I was considering cutting it pre-cooking, but I know doing so tend to make the meat regress and ball up on the drumstick.

My question; is there any disadvantage of cutting that big annoying sinew before cooking the drumsticks in the oven?

[Cikomyr]

I'll take that as a "no idea" :smalltongue:

[arguskos]

I'll take that as a "no idea" :smalltongue:
Basically, yeah. I've got nothing on this one.

Maybe give it a shot, see what happens? Next time you cook up a few go ahead and remove that sinew before cooking and observe the reactions (it's like science, but tasty).

[Weezer]

I'll second Arguskos, cut some, don't cut others, and give it a try.

[Cikomyr]

As I said in the OP, the meat on the drumstick tend to agglomerate into a ball when I cut the sinew.

It's not necessarily better or worse, but maybe my palate is not as refined. It's certainly less good-looking than if the sinew is intact. I was hoping someone who knew the deeper consequences could share.

[TaiLiu]

As I said in the OP, the meat on the drumstick tend to agglomerate into a ball when I cut the sinew.

It's not necessarily better or worse, but maybe my palate is not as refined. It's certainly less good-looking than if the sinew is intact. I was hoping someone who knew the deeper consequences could share.
I lack experience as well, but have you tried slicing the sinew halfway?

[nedz]

I think that the general response is Don't know, don't care and it probably don't matter.:smallamused:

[Cikomyr]

I think that the general response is Don't know, don't care and it probably don't matter.:smallamused:

IMPOSSIBLE!!! :smallfurious:

[Winter_Wolf]

I have no idea how you're cooking these things, but basically if the meat is bunching up, it's creating a thicker layer that the heat has to penetrate to get everything cooked fully. I prefer my poultry to be fully cooked before I eat it (barring the occasional grilling miscalculation).

So there's your consequence: it's gonna take longer to cook through, and the outside of your chicken will be more done than the inside. Me, I like a good char on the chicken, so I'd be okay with that and might try it next time it's warm enough to grill without losing fingers to frostbite. Also I need to get a gas tank that has better compression before I attempt to cook anything outdoors. :smallannoyed:

Honestly, though, I enjoy crunching on the charred bits like said sinews after they've been crisped (okay, burnt) over an open flame.

[Iruka]

So there's your consequence: it's gonna take longer to cook through, and the outside of your chicken will be more done than the inside.

That's pretty much the only consequence I can imagine.

[Brother Oni]

So there's your consequence: it's gonna take longer to cook through, and the outside of your chicken will be more done than the inside.

Note that results of this consequence can range from 'absolutely nothing' to up to 'days of vomiting, stomach cramps and diarrhoea', depending on how well you cook it and how strong your stomach is.

I'd err on the side of caution and leave the sinew uncut to ensure proper cooking.

[Don Julio Anejo]

I prefer to strip the chicken from the bone entirely. A pain in the butt, but makes it easier to eat later. Barring that, it's never even occurred to me to cut the sinew. You could, however, cut it AFTER it's cooked.

[zabbarot]

I went to culinary school a while back and worked in restaurants for a few years, so this is a topic I can actually speak authoritatively on.

There is no actual downside to removing the tendon. The meat is balling up because there are a ton of them though(heat makes them shrink, and chicken drumsticks aren't really big enough for the bunching up to have a significant effect on their cook time). Seriously, drumsticks are pretty much all bone and tendon. It gets real thick at the bottom where they come together. My question to you is, are you just cutting it there, or are you actually removing it? You can remove it completely pretty easily once you get the hang of it. But once it's cooked you can actually remove it even more easily. Just hold one end of the tendon and pull on the meat. It should just slide out.

[Flickerdart]

Yeah, why not remove the tendon after you cook it, rather than before?