I want to let you in on a little secret. If you’re someone who only eats the white meat of chicken, you’re missing out! Dark meat is even more tender and flavorful than white, especially when you leave the skin intact. The skin locks in moisture and flavor when you cook it. Dark meat and skin have more fat, and fat creates flavor. If you’re worried about the extra fat, don’t. Chicken is still a lean meat with very little saturated fat (the bad kind). Plus, dark meat has a lot of nutrients in it like iron and zinc.
I’m excited about a new dark meat product that we’ll soon have out to stores. It’s a boneless, skin-on whole leg. This product will be perfect for stuffing – and with the skin left on, it will grill, bake and fry up nicely! I’ve been working on this item, believe it or not, since 1998 when I made a trip to Japan and toured several plants to gather ideas for new cuts. Japanese people are definitely creative with their food. Since then, I’ve searched for a piece of equipment that will allow us to produce this item with a precise trimming for a customer-grade product. This product is hard to find. Producers who have it sell directly to food services because they don’t have the precision that we’re going to have with the state-of-the-art equipment we purchased.
Our boneless, skin-on legs will be available directly to consumers for their enjoyment and culinary creativity!
Stay tuned.
Where can I purchase this in Michigan.
Hi Susan, Skin-on Legs are a brand new item. Right now we are in the process of selling it into stores. You can check our Product Locator https://www.bellandevans.com/product-locator/ for a store near you and ask them to start carrying it. In Michigan, one of our retailers is Plum Market.
I love chicken and am very excited to try a new cut. I look forward to see what the forerunner in the chicken industry; Bell & Evans does in the future. From chicks hatching all the way to a finished product I love the thought and care that goes in to the whole process.
Thank you, Dylan!
I’m curious to know with the last name of Sechler, where did the name Bell and Evans come from ?
Hi Lolie! We apologize for the delay in responding. We missed this one! Bell & Evans was established in 1894 by two chicken farmers, Howard H. Bell and Carlton C. Evans of Camden, NJ. They sold “fancy poultry” to high-end butcher shops, and by 1958, the demand for “Bell & Evans” chicken was so high that the families partnered with Farmer’s Pride of Fredericksburg, PA, to grow and co-package chickens to their superior standards.
In 1984, Current Bell & Evans Owner Scott Sechler was presented the opportunity to purchase Farmer’s Pride, and two years later, when the Bell and Evans families were ready to retire, they sold the “Bell & Evans” brand to Scott. Scott merged the two companies together and set out to transform poultry production in America!