Deboning Chicken

Or is it just Boning? I dunno, for some reason a title labeled "Boning Chicken" just seemed wrong.

Anyway, I learned a long time ago the basics of carving up a whole chicken but I never use it all that much mostly because I generally do not mix breast meat with leg meat in my dishes as they tend to cook differently. Just a quirk of mine I guess.

Anyway, I had never deboned a chicken completely nor honestly ever even thought of it much. Then I was watching "The Complete Pepin" on PBS and watched him do one that had he not been explaining it along the way, he probably could have done it in about a minute.

I completely deboned one yesterday and stuffed it with pancetta, garlic, and rosemary, rolled it back up, tied it and roasted it. Delicious, and the kids loved the fact that there were no bones. After you watch Pepin do it a couple times, it really is a piece of cake. I cannot wait to try this a few more times. Ideally, I would like to do it with a turkey, and replace the bones with stuffing and make that carving of the bird a breeze come Thanksgiving.

To me, the technique is just too difficult to put down into words, but keep an eye out for it on your Tivo or cable system. Here is the episode information:

Preparing Chicken (#107) Duration: 26:02 CC Stereo TVG
Jacques makes the most of the versatile chicken with these techniques: preparing chicken for the grill; preparing chicken for sauteing; boning and stuffing chicken; trussing chicken with and without a needle; preparing chicken for roasting; and folding napkins.

Click to expand...

If you Google "The Complete Pepin" you may find your times of showing for your local PBS station. I searched to see if the video was on Youtube or elsewhere but to no avail.

PBS is such a great station!

Thank you for the nice advice Jafo, I've always thought it would be hard to do but I may rethink it if I can catch the show you mentioned! I love PBS anyway, just yesterday early A.M. I saw an episode of the "Joy of Painting" w/ Bob Ross, love that show and here I thought it was gone!

Have a great day, CCCathy

I never deboned a chicken. My sister had used a recipe a long time ago where she would buy chicken legs and pull the bone out and stuff the empty space. Was a really nice idea but seems like too much trouble for me. Now my husband would love me if I do this because he hates eating around a chicken bone in his dish. I like to know where he gets this feeling because his mother never deboned anything!

Actually, it would be easy to debone the leg. Basically all you do is cut around the end of the thigh bone (the opposite end of the "handle" of the chicken leg) with a pairing knife until you can get a grip on the end of the bone with a paper towel or towel. Using the knife blade, scrape the meat off the bone (it will slide right off it), until you get to the next joint (about half way through).

Cut the meat and sinew around that joint like you did before, and then scrape down until your almost to the end. Pull the meat back up the bone so it looks like you didn't even do anything. Using the back side (opposite of the edge) of a heavier knife, whack the "handle" about 1 inch before the end to break the bone. The entire bone should just pull out at that point. Leaving the little piece of bone at the end (where you broke it) comes in handy and keeps the skin from curling up during cooking. You can remove it afterwards.

Boning (you were right the first time, Jafo) is one of those things that strikes you as being hard, but really isn't.

You have to feel your way through the process, the first time or two. After that it's a snap. Secret, of course, is a sharp, flexible knife. A filet knife is ideal, as are some goning knives. But even a good paring knife is up to the task.

I would start by fileting the breasts. That's the easiest way to learn the relationship between flesh and bone. And the breasts slide right off. Once comfortable with that, tackle the thighs. And after that, go on to the legs, basically following Jafo's directions.

You can watch all the videos in the world, and read all sorts of instructions. But until you jump in and do it, you won't really understand the process.

Is There Lots Of Waste?

I Am Just Wondering If There Is Alot Of Wasted Meat In The Boning Process?
Cccathy

Not really.

The first time or two you might leave a bit more behind than you wish. But you'll be using the carcass to make stock, and that flesh adds to the flavor.

Plus, of course, you can strip the cooked meat off the bones and use it in soups, and in dishes calling for cooked chicken, such as pot pie and a la king.

Cook Chatty Cathy said:

I Am Just Wondering If There Is Alot Of Wasted Meat In The Boning Process?
Cccathy

Click to expand...

When you bone the entire chicken like I described in the first post, the boneless meat still looks like a regular uncut chicken, you just roll and fold it back into shape.

There was a couple pieces here and there, and all I did was cut them off the bone or carcass and put them back into the boned chicken before I rolled it back up.