Two other titles considered for this post were Fowl Goetta and Clucked-Up Goetta. I try to be funny sometimes.
99 cents per pound for skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs seemed like a low enough price for making frugal shredded meat Goetta. Pictured here, the skin is pulled off and boning is about to begin.
Product loss bowl. There is a lot of weep (or purge) in modern fresh chicken; so the package soaker was included along with total loss weight. A little weight credit was given for the estimated weight of a dry soaker. After subtracting lost weight, the price per pound of clean diced thigh meat came out to $1.61 per pound. When starting with 99 cents per pound retail trim pork shoulder butts, the price per pound of clean diced pork lean is around 43 cents per pound less ($1.18 for pork the last time I figured it).
The 5.66 pound starting package of thighs yielded 3.48 pounds of diced thigh lean. That’s a 38.5% loss. To this little 3.48 pounds of Goetta meat was added: 2 medium size onions, 1 teaspoon of sodium phosphate, one slightly heaping tablespoon of leaf marjoram, one slightly heaping tablespoon of rubbed sage, 1 1/2 teaspoons of fine ground black pepper, 1 tablespoon of salt (like fresh pork, fresh poultry normally already contains a little salt-water), 3.48 cups of steel-cut oats and 5 1/2 cups of overall liquid (water & meat broth).
Seasoned thigh meat nearly submerged in water.
Drained thigh meat and seasonings; after being mashed into shreds with a potato masher.
A 9 pound Pullman loaf pan about 4/5 full of hot Chicken Goetta.
Fully chilled loaf just out of forming pan.
Fricken Chicken Gotta fried-up well, but had a little softer bite than red meat Goetta. The flavor was good.
Labor was about the same as pork butt Goetta, meat cost was higher and end-product texture was appealing to some people.