French-Trim Your Chicken Drumsticks For A Cleaner And Juicier Bite

There are certain foods we all wish were easier to eat. For example, chicken drumsticks, while delicious, are often considered a messy munch. While most of us have accepted that handling the base of these saucy, skin-covered bones is simply part of the overall eating experience, there may be an simpler and cleaner way to enjoy your next round of drumsticks.

Among the multitude of French cooking tips that will take your food to the next level, frenching is a culinary technique that involves cutting away skin, meat, and fat from the base of meat bones, primarily for aesthetic purposes. Giving your drumsticks this elusive French-trim cut not only leads to a cleaner presentation but also makes chicken legs a lot easier to handle and consume. Moreover, since the meat is pushed to one side of the bone, when cooked, it becomes supremely tender and juicy.

To successfully turn chicken legs into meaty lollipops, you'll want a sharp knife — preferably something made for the job, like Victorinox's Fibrox Pro Curved Boning Knife. In order to peel away the skin and meat below each cut, you'll want to first make clean cuts approximately 2 inches above the skinny end of each drumstick. Only then can you push the remaining meat toward the opposite end. Doing so exposes more of the bone, which ultimately transforms into a makeshift handle.

You can use kitchen pliers and shears to remove any unsightly hanging skin or exposed tendons. However, you'll want to work carefully to ensure the skin on the meaty side of each drumstick remains intact. Once each piece is sufficiently trimmed, you're ready to season and cook your chicken.

While you can follow your go-to technique for cooking this specially prepared poultry, there are a few methods that ensure tender results and show off your knife skills. Sure enough, roasting chicken lollipops in the oven yields extra-juicy results.

Marinate your drumsticks and cover each one with barbecue sauce or mustard — the secret ingredient for great baked chicken – and add seasonings like thyme or Tabasco sauce. To minimize the mess, cover each exposed bone with aluminum foil. This way, when you're ready to eat, you have clean bones to hold during mealtime.

You can roast the prepared chicken in a shallow baking dish with extra sauce and, if you desire, broil before serving to give each piece some extra browning and char. Frenched drumsticks are also great when cooked on a lined baking sheet in the oven, pan-fried on the stovetop, or tossed in the smoker for some low-and-slow flavor. For quicker satisfaction, consider using your favorite outdoor appliance: It turns out that butterflying chicken drumsticks for the grill is easier thank you might think.

Whichever way you cook them, try to make sure your chicken lollipops reach an internal temperature of between 175 degrees and 190 degrees Fahrenheit. Once you feel comfortable making French-cut drumsticks, you can prepare your next batch of chicken breasts with this one-of-kind technique. When "Frenched," chicken breasts include the wing drumette and skin, but no interior bone.