Side by side
Wing
Drumette & flat · alitas · tebasaki
Three joints with a high ratio of skin and collagen to actual meat. That is precisely the point: skin crisps, collagen turns sticky, and the bones give the sauce something to cling to. It is the cheapest part of the bird and the one entire restaurant categories are built on.
Dry the skin thoroughly before it meets heat. Surface moisture is the difference between crisp and leathery.
Drumstick
Leg · pilon · muslo
The lower leg, threaded with the tendons the bird stands on. Those tendons never fully soften under quick heat, so the drumstick rewards either long braising or high enough heat to render everything around them — and the bone conducts heat inward, which is why it cooks faster than its size suggests.
Choose plump drumsticks with skin covering the whole leg — exposed meat dries and toughens first.
Which one to buy
- Better forWing : Drumstick
- FryingAbout the same95 : 90
- GrillingWing88 : —
- RoastingAbout the same76 : 80
- BraisingDrumstick— : 86
Other comparisons
All cuts
Beef Primals
Chicken Portions
Bluefin Tuna Cuts
Temperatures are guidance for whole-muscle cuts. Ground meat and poultry need 71°C / 160°F throughout.