Chicken Parts

WASHINGTON -- Marylanders are selling hardwood lumbers to Australia, hot sauces to England and chicken parts to Asia in an agricultural export business that is booming."

I have never been much of a thigh guy. Of all the parts of a chicken that held my interest, the thigh ranked low, well below the breast or wing. Yet lately, thighs have been looking increasingly attractive to me. They are plump, full of flavorful dark meat and are much cheaper than the prima donnas of chicken parts, those top-dollar skinless chicken breasts. I am certainly not as big a fan of chicken thighs as my wife, who, as far as I can tell, is unable to visit a grocery store without carrying home a large, bargain-priced package of them.

THEY CALL THEM "Bush legs" because the first American chicken quarters flooded Russia during George Bush's presidency. In just three years, American chicken parts cheap, attractive and meaty have taken Russia by such a storm U.S. exports of poultry products now amount to $600 million a year. To make things even sweeter for Maryland's Perdue and Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, Russians clamor for dark meat while Americans prefer white.American chicken parts have become so popular throughout the world that bureaucrats from Russia to India have been trying to build protective barries in recent months, claiming U.S. birds contained harmful chemicals.

THE HOUSE was overpriced and unlivable, the location too distant, the neighborhood without charm. But for a while I was ready to buy it anyhow. It was because of the dock, a shabby structure of springy planks and spindly poles, extending no more than 25 feet from the property into a forested, tidal creek. But to walk out on it was to enter another world, to banish all landside inadequacies. In spring, the shadbush blossomed from the creek banks, frothy white against the dark columns of Atlantic white cedars.

HAMLET, N.C. -- Twenty-five people were killed and 40 were injured early yesterday as a fire believed to have started in giant grease-filled vats swept through a chicken-processing plant in Hamlet.Many of the dead were found at exits from the plant, frozen in poses of escape. Also, said Hamlet Fire Chief David Fuller, some victims were found in a freezer where they had apparently fled to avoid the fire.Some former and current employees complained yesterday of insufficient fire exits and of blocked or locked fire exits.

A NAGGING question plaguing many American households is "What's for supper?"Every evening you have to come up with an answer. And each answer is supposed to be different, but not too different, from the answer you came up with on a previous night. Answering it is a complex undertaking, part ritual, part experimentation. Recently I analyzed how our family of four coped with one night's answer to the "what's for supper" question.Our answer had a lot to do with an answer to a prior question, "What's defrosted?"

Food is more to most of us than just taste. We eat a dish that reminds us of our past and suddenly we are magically transported to a romantic restaurant, the high school cafeteria or Grandma's kitchen.No dish transports me to my past better than Grandma's Paprikas Chicken. Way before I knew a saute from a satay, I remember watching Grandma at her old coal stove patiently producing what will always be my benchmark. No matter who has made the dish since -- from the best Hungarian restaurant to my mother -- no one has been able to equal Grandma's.

Nabisco celebrates 100 years of rolling out cookies and 0) crackersIt may not surprise you to learn that the Nabisco company produces 256,000 cookies and crackers per minute, but did you know it's been producing some sort of baked item since 1792? That's when John Pearson, the company's oldest predecessor, established a bakery in Newburyport, Mass., to produce hard tack for sailors. To celebrate its 200th birthday, Nabisco is producing commemorative packages of its three most popular brands: Oreo cookies, Premium saltines and Honey Maid grahams.

Chicken and dumplings? A modicum of magic and a monumental feeling of hunger just seem to go with those words.Doris Johnson of Baltimore must think so, she requested the recipe.Laurie Collacchi, also of Baltimore, answered her request.Collacchi's Chicken and DumplingsServes about 64 pounds chicken parts1 cup all-purpose flour seasoned with salt and pepper to taste2 tablespoons unsalted butter1 tablespoon vegetable oil6 leeks, about 2 cups, sliced6 shallots, about 1 cup, sliced thin6 carrots, peeled, halved and sliced2 celery ribs1 small bay leaf1/2 teaspoon dried thyme3 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth1/2 cup apple cider or juiceDUMPLINGS:1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour1/2 cup yellow cornmeal1 tablespoon baking powder1/2 teaspoon salt2 tablespoons minced fresh dill1 cup plus 3 tablespoons half-and-halfLightly dredge chicken parts in seasoned flour, shaking off the excess (too much flour absorbs the oil; a bit more oil may be added if necessary)

Once upon a time chicken meant roast chicken, usually served for Sunday dinner. Anyone who didn't like that didn't know a good thing.Today chicken is the meat of choice, the meat of the '90s. With less cholesterol than beef, pork or lamb, chicken is on every table several times a week.The only problem is boredom. I'm always on the lookout for a good chicken recipe slightly off the beaten track, something that's easy, quick and, most of all, has some zip.Oriental ChickenServes 41/4 cup canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade2 tablespoons hoisin sauce2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce1 teaspoon rice vinegar1/2 teaspoon sugardash freshly ground pepper1 pound chicken parts (thighs or breasts)

WASHINGTON -- Marylanders are selling hardwood lumbers to Australia, hot sauces to England and chicken parts to Asia in an agricultural export business that is booming."

A NAGGING question plaguing many American households is "What's for supper?"Every evening you have to come up with an answer. And each answer is supposed to be different, but not too different, from the answer you came up with on a previous night. Answering it is a complex undertaking, part ritual, part experimentation. Recently I analyzed how our family of four coped with one night's answer to the "what's for supper" question.Our answer had a lot to do with an answer to a prior question, "What's defrosted?"

THEY CALL THEM "Bush legs" because the first American chicken quarters flooded Russia during George Bush's presidency. In just three years, American chicken parts cheap, attractive and meaty have taken Russia by such a storm U.S. exports of poultry products now amount to $600 million a year. To make things even sweeter for Maryland's Perdue and Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, Russians clamor for dark meat while Americans prefer white.American chicken parts have become so popular throughout the world that bureaucrats from Russia to India have been trying to build protective barries in recent months, claiming U.S. birds contained harmful chemicals.

MOSCOW -- Salvar Abasov hurls a 15-kilo bag of frozen chicken legs onto the grimy asphalt of the Kievskaya Street market, pronouncing proudly that his product is American.Cheaper, fatter, tastier -- and amazingly, easier to find -- than Russian chicken, the fleshy little unpackaged thighs piling up on Mr. Abasov's sales table are indeed American.To be precise, they're from Perdue's Showell Farms in Salisbury, Md.How the American chicken leg -- from almost 5,000 miles away -- can edge local poultry off the dinner plate is a tale of how economics, and the Russian taste for dark meat, defies the logic of the map.Sales of "Bush legs," the nickname for the American chicken quarters that began flooding onto the market as a form of foreign aid when George Bush was president, have increased from $83 million in 1993 to an anticipated $400 million this year.

Mary Lou Retton seems happy and excited to be at the Columbia Mall standing next to the blowup photograph of chicken parts. But you know Mary Lou.She'd be happy and excited at an autopsy. So perky and effervescent that she could make a living at it. Wait a minute, she is making a living at it.She steps out onto the red, white and blue stage and displays The Smile, the one her promotional material describes as 100-watt. Funny, the Los Angeles Times said 1,000-watt. Either way, the crowd of about 400 people has turned out on a Sunday afternoon to watch her smile, cook chicken and talk about chicken.

Once upon a time chicken meant roast chicken, usually served for Sunday dinner. Anyone who didn't like that didn't know a good thing.Today chicken is the meat of choice, the meat of the '90s. With less cholesterol than beef, pork or lamb, chicken is on every table several times a week.The only problem is boredom. I'm always on the lookout for a good chicken recipe slightly off the beaten track, something that's easy, quick and, most of all, has some zip.Oriental ChickenServes 41/4 cup canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade2 tablespoons hoisin sauce2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce1 teaspoon rice vinegar1/2 teaspoon sugardash freshly ground pepper1 pound chicken parts (thighs or breasts)

I have never been much of a thigh guy. Of all the parts of a chicken that held my interest, the thigh ranked low, well below the breast or wing. Yet lately, thighs have been looking increasingly attractive to me. They are plump, full of flavorful dark meat and are much cheaper than the prima donnas of chicken parts, those top-dollar skinless chicken breasts. I am certainly not as big a fan of chicken thighs as my wife, who, as far as I can tell, is unable to visit a grocery store without carrying home a large, bargain-priced package of them.

MOSCOW -- Salvar Abasov hurls a 15-kilo bag of frozen chicken legs onto the grimy asphalt of the Kievskaya Street market, pronouncing proudly that his product is American.Cheaper, fatter, tastier -- and amazingly, easier to find -- than Russian chicken, the fleshy little unpackaged thighs piling up on Mr. Abasov's sales table are indeed American.To be precise, they're from Perdue's Showell Farms in Salisbury, Md.How the American chicken leg -- from almost 5,000 miles away -- can edge local poultry off the dinner plate is a tale of how economics, and the Russian taste for dark meat, defies the logic of the map.Sales of "Bush legs," the nickname for the American chicken quarters that began flooding onto the market as a form of foreign aid when George Bush was president, have increased from $83 million in 1993 to an anticipated $400 million this year.

Chicken and dumplings? A modicum of magic and a monumental feeling of hunger just seem to go with those words.Doris Johnson of Baltimore must think so, she requested the recipe.Laurie Collacchi, also of Baltimore, answered her request.Collacchi's Chicken and DumplingsServes about 64 pounds chicken parts1 cup all-purpose flour seasoned with salt and pepper to taste2 tablespoons unsalted butter1 tablespoon vegetable oil6 leeks, about 2 cups, sliced6 shallots, about 1 cup, sliced thin6 carrots, peeled, halved and sliced2 celery ribs1 small bay leaf1/2 teaspoon dried thyme3 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth1/2 cup apple cider or juiceDUMPLINGS:1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour1/2 cup yellow cornmeal1 tablespoon baking powder1/2 teaspoon salt2 tablespoons minced fresh dill1 cup plus 3 tablespoons half-and-halfLightly dredge chicken parts in seasoned flour, shaking off the excess (too much flour absorbs the oil; a bit more oil may be added if necessary)

Nabisco celebrates 100 years of rolling out cookies and 0) crackersIt may not surprise you to learn that the Nabisco company produces 256,000 cookies and crackers per minute, but did you know it's been producing some sort of baked item since 1792? That's when John Pearson, the company's oldest predecessor, established a bakery in Newburyport, Mass., to produce hard tack for sailors. To celebrate its 200th birthday, Nabisco is producing commemorative packages of its three most popular brands: Oreo cookies, Premium saltines and Honey Maid grahams.