bijou
03-24-2010, 12:48 PM
Once a novel way to use a throwaway part — and sell more beer — the humble Buffalo chicken wing is now a whole industry. But the wing pieces are no longer cheap: Wholesale prices doubled in the past decade. And that's creating real problems for restaurants. ... The U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that chicken wings were wholesaling at 68 cents a pound at the turn of the millennium. But by last year, that price had more than doubled, to $1.47 a pound.
And when you go through literally a ton a day, like the Anchor Bar does, that can really add up.
Richard Lobb, spokesperson for the National Chicken Council, based in Washington, D.C., says that as the popularity of wings has risen, producers have scrambled to keep pace with demand.
But while the fortunes of wings are rising, the reverse is happening for mild-tasting, low-fat chicken breasts. Prices have slumped for breasts, which used to be the most lucrative part of the bird.
"As pricey as chicken wings have been getting until quite recently, they are not enough to carry the bird, so to speak," Lobb said.
So once you've sold the wings, how do you move the rest of the bird? You make perhaps the first innovation in chicken wings since Teressa Belissimo fried up the initial batch. You give something more or less healthy the full Buffalo wing treatment.
"I think what you're seeing in the United States is the trend toward boneless wings," Lobb said, "which are actually pieces of breast meat that are breaded and battered and cooked in the same way as the wings, and served with the same sauce. So this appeals to people who don't like bones in their food, or something of that nature." ...
link (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124630769)
Cheers for non rigid foodstuffs. :D
And when you go through literally a ton a day, like the Anchor Bar does, that can really add up.
Richard Lobb, spokesperson for the National Chicken Council, based in Washington, D.C., says that as the popularity of wings has risen, producers have scrambled to keep pace with demand.
But while the fortunes of wings are rising, the reverse is happening for mild-tasting, low-fat chicken breasts. Prices have slumped for breasts, which used to be the most lucrative part of the bird.
"As pricey as chicken wings have been getting until quite recently, they are not enough to carry the bird, so to speak," Lobb said.
So once you've sold the wings, how do you move the rest of the bird? You make perhaps the first innovation in chicken wings since Teressa Belissimo fried up the initial batch. You give something more or less healthy the full Buffalo wing treatment.
"I think what you're seeing in the United States is the trend toward boneless wings," Lobb said, "which are actually pieces of breast meat that are breaded and battered and cooked in the same way as the wings, and served with the same sauce. So this appeals to people who don't like bones in their food, or something of that nature." ...
link (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124630769)
Cheers for non rigid foodstuffs. :D