I know my chicken. You got to know your chicken.

January 27, 2009 2:33 PM

On the interior portion of a chicken leg quarter in a recessed portion of the bone is a small brown organ with a liver-like texture. What is this organ anatomically and does it have a culinary term attached to it?
posted by sourwookie to food & drink (15 comments total)

Is it possible it's congealed/cooked/pooled blood?
posted by fiercecupcake at 2:53 PM on January 27

This might help.
posted by katillathehun at 2:59 PM on January 27

You could ask the author of How To Butcher a Chicken.
posted by zamboni at 3:04 PM on January 27

This is in a cavity on what may be the hip bone, not inside the muscle. It is certainly an organ or a gland, not congealed blood, as I have encountered it before cooking.
posted by sourwookie at 3:06 PM on January 27

Could you mean the oyster? It's at the end of the thigh bone.
posted by zamboni at 3:15 PM on January 27

Zamboni--I knew this would be suggested. The oyster is muscle tissue and on the exterior of torso cavity. What I am referring to is an organ or gland of some sort on the interior of that whole torso cavity.
posted by sourwookie at 3:27 PM on January 27

Is it one of the air sacs? Possibly the posterior thoracic air sac?
posted by jamjam at 3:45 PM on January 27

Based on this Chowhound thread, I think you might be talking about kidneys.
posted by sevenyearlurk at 3:50 PM on January 27

Seconding kidneys. For some reason they're not always removed with the rest of the giblets.
posted by Johnny Assay at 4:47 PM on January 27

What I am referring to is an organ or gland of some sort on the interior of that whole torso cavity.

On the interior of the torso, yes, that would be kidneys.
posted by bricoleur at 4:50 PM on January 27

Thirding kidneys. Mechanical (usually suction) removal in large-scale poultry processing doesn't get them.
posted by randomstriker at 5:00 PM on January 27

MKidneys are it!
posted by sourwookie at 6:11 PM on January 27

Um, "MKidneys"? Like McKidneys? Please no. That unfortunate typo will forever haunt me.
posted by sourwookie at 6:12 PM on January 27

McDonald's is just about to announce McKidneys. Expect a lawsuit on your doorstep soon.
posted by megatherium at 7:28 PM on January 27

I've always dug this little guy out of the thigh bone and eaten it - not quite like liver, but definitely an organ-y taste to it. I'd always presumed it was the kidney because of its shape and its location tucked inside the upper thigh bone.
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:02 PM on January 27