ABSTRACT
The deboning of broiler chicken wings, including drumettes and winglets, is not common in the poultry processing industry. However, consumers who like convenient foods may be interested in boneless products. Samples of broiler wings were deboned by articular cartilage dislocation and periosteum stripping without cutting skin and muscles to obtain boneless drumettes and winglets, with each having inner space formed by bone removal. The average weight of bone-in winglets (30.7 g) was less (P < 0.05) than that of bone-in drumettes (39.9 g), whereas the average percentage of boneless product was less (P < 0.05) in the drumettes (74.9) than in the winglets (80.1). There was a smaller number of muscles in the drumettes than in the winglets, but major muscles in the drumettes were larger than any muscles in the winglets. The average weight of muscle was greater (P < 0.05) and that of skin was less (P < 0.05) in the drumettes than in the winglets, and thus the muscle/skin ratio was approximately twice as high (P < 0.05) in the drumettes. The size and shape were different between the bone-in and boneless products, as expected. When a cooked product was examined, no appreciable inner space (resulting from bone removal) was seen on its transverse section. The advantages of boneless wing products over bone-in wing products were discussed. It was concluded that the method described in the present study is useful for the production of high-quality boneless wing products.
