How to Cut Up a Chicken
There are a few culinary miracles I feel I should be able to accomplish. Baking bread, making a pie crust from scratch, putting up my own preserves, and cutting up a whole chicken, for example. Although not technically miracles, I suppose, these are some of the feats that might send shutters down the novice cook's spine (like me, for instance). There seems to be a dividing line between those who can, and those who wish they could. Yet, I've found, when faced head-on, these obstacles often become close friends. Such is the case with cutting up a whole chicken. Time was when I flipped past a recipe that dared suggest such a process because the process itself never seemed to be delineated. But in this time of economic hardship, a whole chicken ends up being the frugal way to go. And an opportunity to broaden your arsenal, if you like to think of cooking as a war. Which sometimes, it is.
To Cut up a Chicken
Although cutting up a chicken can be done with nothing more than your chef's knife, I find kitchen sheers to be an even easier way to go, especially if your knife is a little dull from all the holiday cooking. Below, I use both.
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1. Slit the skin at the chicken's hip joint so that you can remove the thigh.
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2. With your hands, bend the thigh back until the bone pops out of the joint and is exposed.
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3. Cut along the broken joint in order to remove the thigh from the body. Repeat on the other side.
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4. Using steps 1 - 3, separate the thigh from the drumstick by slitting the skin, breaking the joint and cutting it away.
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5. Repeat the same steps with the wing: slit the skin, break the joint and cut it away from the body. Repeat with the other wing.
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6. Using kitchen sheers (or a sharp knife) cut around the breast in order to remove it from the back (see picture).
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7. Divide the breast in half into 2 lengthwise pieces by cutting down the middle with your kitchen sheers.
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8. Admire your handiwork.
Need to figure out what to do with your chicken once it's cut up? Try this:
Comments
Their technique?
One cleaver and five forceful hacks!
JerryNJ
Snooky, totally. I way heart Nigella
Bensbaby, glad you think so. It's really not that hard and you get some bones for a stock left over,too!
JerryNJ, great comment! I've seen them work their cleaver magic in China Town, but I'm pretty sure I'd be one finger shorter if I tried the same thing!