MATT LAUER, co-host:
And this morning on
HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING TODAY
,
chicken
thighs; the inexpensive, underappreciated cut of meat.
Mark Bittman
, a
New York Times
columnist and author of "How to Cook Everything" has four fast and flavorful recipes. Mark, good morning. Nice to see you.
Mr. MARK BITTMAN:
Good morning,
Matt.
LAUER:
You know me, I don't say things just to please you in these segments.
Mr. BITTMAN:
No, no, you never have. Never.
LAUER:
I know. So I'm going to tell you, thighs --
chicken
thighs, that's my favorite part of the
chicken
.
Mr. BITTMAN:
And
Roker
said the same thing.
LAUER:
I love these things.
Mr. BITTMAN:
Yeah. Yeah, me too, because...
LAUER:
But most people go right to the breast. They want the
white
meat.
Mr. BITTMAN:
Well, they want the
white
meat. They think it's
low fat
, it's easy, it's fast. But this is easy, it's fast. You get this great crisp skin on it. It's juicy.
LAUER:
Is it fattier, though, than the
white
meat?
Mr. BITTMAN:
It is a
little
fattier, which is why it's more flavorful.
LAUER:
Right, OK.
Mr. BITTMAN:
I mean, and the idea is you can eat a
little
bit less also if you're worried about that.
LAUER:
I put a
little
salt and pepper
, some rosemary right on the
grill
. But you've got other recipes.
Let's talk
about them.
Mr. BITTMAN:
Rosemary lemon is one of my favorite things.
LAUER:
OK.
Mr. BITTMAN:
Rosemary lemon is really great. Well, we're doing four different sauces. Basically, this is -- this is roast
chicken
. So you take the thighs, you brush them with any of these sauces. We're starting with...
LAUER:
Mustard?
Mr. BITTMAN:
...mustard with a
little
oil and some honey, and that's the first sauce.
LAUER:
You don't marinate this, you just coat these right before you're going to cook them?
Mr. BITTMAN:
I don't -- no marinating is happening here.
What's happening
is just a quick mixing and some brushing.
LAUER:
You just brush it on liberally?
Mr. BITTMAN:
Yeah, brush it on. And in the middle of cooking, turn it and brush it again.
LAUER:
Now, when it comes to dark meat, what's the rule on cooking? It takes a
little
longer than
white
meat?
Mr. BITTMAN:
It'll take a
little
longer. But really, if you roast these at high heat and you turn them once at about 10 or 12 minutes, you're going to get them crisp on both sides. They'll be done in 20, 25 minutes.
LAUER:
And one of the nice things about dark meat is...
Mr. BITTMAN:
And really nice and juicy.
LAUER:
...it's a
little
more tolerant to overcooking.
Mr. BITTMAN:
It is.
LAUER:
God forbid
, you leave it on a
little
bit long, it
still
tastes good.
Mr. BITTMAN:
It is. So -- but you get this -- you know, you get this wonderful -- I mean, these are the honey -- the
honey mustard
ones. You get this wonderful, crisp skin. Here's some
soy sauce
, honey again.
LAUER:
OK, you like the honey.
Mr. BITTMAN:
Sorry about that. That was vinegar. And ginger.
LAUER:
OK.
Mr. BITTMAN:
And that's...
LAUER:
A
little
more of an Asian taste to it?
Mr. BITTMAN:
Yeah, more of an Asian thing. You finish that with some scallions and maybe on some rice.
LAUER:
OK.
Mr. BITTMAN:
Here we've got -- this is great. This is sort of a Mexican -- a Mexican flavor. We've got
olive oil
, some
lime juice
,
chili powder
and smoked paprika. And, you know, again, you can do -- if you want to do a provencale thing with thyme and lavender, you -- garlic. You can do, as you said, rosemary and
lemon juice
. Sort of almost any combination of flavors you like is going to work here.
LAUER:
One of -- one of the things I like most about the thighs is if you're -- if you're in one of those households where you can pick them up and eat them, which I think most people say -- they say...
Mr. BITTMAN:
I think we're going to see that here...
LAUER:
...you get more meat off these things.
Mr. BITTMAN:
...in about a minute.
LAUER:
Just right after the -- right in the
commercial break
, actually. You get more meat after these things. It's easy to get the meat off a thigh as opposed to a breast, in my opinion.
Mr. BITTMAN:
Yeah. Well, and you just munch away. And again -- oh, here we go.
MEREDITH VIEIRA, co-host:
Mm, we smell good cooking.
Mr. BITTMAN:
Just the last one before we flee is
coconut milk
,
peanut butter
and
curry powder
for a very nice Thai flavor.
LAUER:
Thai.
ANN CURRY, anchor:
Mm.
Mr. BITTMAN:
Great with chopped peanuts or
bean sprouts
,
stuff like that
.
VIEIRA:
Which is the crispiest one?
LAUER:
Over here on the end.
Al
, you said you like thighs.
AL ROKER reporting:
Yes, I do.
Mr. BITTMAN:
I would go for here.
LAUER:
Meredith...
VIEIRA:
One of these?
LAUER:
No, go for this one.
Mr. BITTMAN:
The
honey mustard
. Well, it depends on what you want.
ROKER:
Mm.
VIEIRA:
You want one?
Mr. BITTMAN:
Oh, gee, it just happened to fall off.
LAUER:
Sorry, that was a piece of bone, actually. But that's OK.
VIEIRA:
Mm.
LAUER:
Mark, these are great recipes.
ROKER:
Oh.
LAUER:
We
thank you very much
.
ROKER:
Enjoy.
LAUER:
The underappreciated
chicken
thigh.
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