• The Wall Street Journal has a piece about people preferring whole chickens, as opposed to acquiring parts:
"Roasting whole chickens is nothing new for many cooks, of course, but rampant inflation is introducing a new flock to the practice. Rising grocery-store bills also are leading savvy consumers to try pickling, canning and inexpensive recipes, such as potato pancakes.
"A whole chicken costs less than the sum of its parts. Breasts and boneless, skinless thighs are more expensive on a per-pound basis than buying the whole bird and cutting it up at home. Over the years, Americans have grown more willing to pay the premium to have the yucky stuff done for them, rather than hacking up the whole bird themselves.
Rookie whole-chicken chefs have been rudely introduced to giblets, struggled to carve around bone and ended up with more leftovers than they know what to do with.
"As of last week, the price for a whole chicken, on average, was $1.56 a pound, according to the Agriculture Department, up from $1.09 a year ago. Boneless, skinless chicken breast prices were $4.26 a pound, up from $2.46 a year ago."
