Breaking Down A Chicken

[KYHeirloomer]

Cheftom's posted recipe for orange rosemary chicken calls for a chicken cut in pieces. And I know there are members here who don't know exactly what that means.

For them the choice is either buying already cut apart chicken, which is expensive, or learning how to break down a chicken on their own.

Caution: The first time you do this it will be a bit sloppy because you are feeling your way. After that, each time you do it you'll get better at it. Then, one day, low and behold: Every cut and twist is exactly what it should be.

For starters, lay the chicken on its back, with the front towards you. This is so you can visualize what's going to happen.

Eventually you are going to have 6, 8, or ten pieces, depending on how far you carry things.

As you look at the chicken you'll notice that the breasts taper down towards the backbone, and the wings are attached at the shoulders. The legs are attached to an extension of the rib cage. This alone should give you a clue what has to be done.

Start by removing the wings. The drumette bulges just before it attaches to the shoulder. Cut completely around the inside of that bulge. Give a twist and you'll expose the ball & socket joint. Cut through the joint and the wing will drop off.

The wing is comosed of three parts. Most people cut off and dispose of the tips. But watch that word "dispose." We aren't throwing anything away. Set the wings aside.

Next, remove the leg. It seems to be broadly attached by the thigh, but that's not the case. It's only skin. Slide your knife through that skin, following the rib-cage extension. You'll hit a bone. go around it, staying as close to the body as you can. Once you've circled the thigh do as you did with the wing, cutting through the ball joint.

Now eyeball the remaining carcass. You'll see how the breast sort of ends where it tapers over the ribs. Using shears, cut along the bottom of the breast up to the wishbone. Repeat on the other side. Then use either the shears or a paring knife to trim the breast away from the wishbone. Cut off any part of the neck that remains. Split the breast along the backbone.

At this point you have six pieces, plus the carcass and wing tips. Those extra bones are used to make stock. If you can't get to that right away, just freeze them.

Now go back to your good pieces. Put the wings in a freezer bag. You'll be saving them until you have enough for a meal. Separate the thighs from the drumsticks by cutting down into the joint. You are now back to six pieces; two thighs, two drumsticks, and two breasts. If the breasts are overly large, cut them in half.

See, it really wasn't all that hard.

[Keltin]

I do this all the time. It’s ridiculous what they charge for a cut-up chicken! About the only time I buy parts is when I need a big pack of thighs or wings. I can’t remember the last time I bought a breast! I always get my breasts from a whole chicken.

I almost always go one step further and make the breasts skinless and boneless. Once you have removed the wings, legs and thighs, cut through the skin on either side of carcass where the gaps are from the thighs. Then, lift the skin up and pull it backwards over the breasts toward the neck opening. A boning or filet knife comes in handy to nick at the skin and help it slide off easily.

Now that the skin is gone, it’s time to take off the breast. With the carcass on it’s back, and the neck opening away from you, press on the middle of the breast and you’ll feel the sternum. Using a boning knife (I prefer a filet knife myself), make an incision about 2 inches down from the neck opening and draw toward you for about and inch or so.

Now lay the carcass on its side, so that the breast half you are trying to remove is up. Stick your thumb in the slit you just made, and gently pull up. You are NOT trying to rip the meat off! But instead are simply applying a little pressure for the coming knife work. Now, using your knife, lay the blade on the exposed bone, and swipe at the meat where it connects to the bone. Angle the blade so that the knife is gently dragging across the bone and sheers the meat away. The gentle upward pressure you are applying will allow the breast to slowly rise and pull away from the bone with each swipe of your blade.

Ever use a razor blade to remove a sticker from glass? That’s’ the general idea here. You get the blade of your knife between the bone and meat just as you get a razor blade between the glass and the sticker. As you do this, you are gently lifting the half breast up and away so that you can continue forward with your cuts and get the meat off the bone.

When you get to the wishbone, angle your knife so that the blade gently drags across the bone and follow it down. Continue with the light upward pull from your other hand and the methodical blade swipes to sheer the meat away from the carcass and gently lift it away. Once you have gotten down near the back bone, the meat will turn to a thin membrane that is holding the half breast to the carcass. Simply use your knife to trace the curvature of the half breast your are holding and sever it away from the carcass.

You now have a boneless skinless half breast in your hand! Repeat this procedure for the remaining half. Once you have both halves off the carcass, you have the option of removing the tenderloin from the back of the breast. The tenderloin is a long thin strip of incredibly tender meat that makes perfect Fried Chicken “Fingers” (or Tenders). You’ll only have two at this point, so either make yourself a little snack, or freeze the tenders till you have enough for a full dish.

I typically like to cut up four chickens at once and then freeze everything individually. At Sams, you can get a two pack of chickens for about 6 bucks. I’m only cooking for two, so cutting up four chickens gives us:

4 packs leg quarters
4 packs boneless/skinless breasts
1 pack wings
1 pack chicken tenders

That’s 10 meals worth of chicken for about 30 to 40 minutes of work and only $12 out of pocket. Not bad! Plus I you get four carcasses for stocks or soup (that’s a few more days worth of food!), and if you’re so inclined, you’ve got the option of making grieben with the skin....and schmaltz as well, but I’m more interested in the grieben!

Oh, and sometimes, I like to take a whole chicken and just cut it in half. To do this, place the chicken breast side down and use sheers cut as close to the backbone as possible. Cut up from one end to the other, then repeat for the opposite side of the backbone to completely remove it. At this point, you have a butterflied chicken.

Press down a bit to flatten it out, then using a heavy knife cut through the wish bone and sternum. I actually have a cheap Ginzu serrated blade in the utility drawer for this part. The serrated edges make light sawing work of the bone and sternum. Since it’s serrated, it doesn’t get dulled by the bone cutting....and if it does, it’s cheap and easily replaced!

Half chickens are great to throw on the grill!

[KYHeirloomer]

Well, you beat me to in, Keltin. I was going to talk about skinless/boneless next.

Only thing we do different is that I leave the chicken on it's back and cut the length of the sternum, using it as a guide. Then, gently pulling the flesh away from the body, I slice the meat from the bone, as you describe.

That razor/sticker is a great analogy, btw.

One thing wrong with your post, landsman. Grebenes is a secret, not to be shared with the infidels. Next thing ya know you'll be letting the world know about luktionkugel.

[KYHeirloomer]

Once you've broken down the chicken you'll have lots of pieces left over. This includes the carcass, the neck (both from the piece left on the chicken and the big piece found in the bag with the liver etc.) and the tips from the wings.

If you haven't already done so, cut the carcass into manageable pieces.

Alternative 1: Heat a little olive oil in a large kettle or stock pot. Saute the pieces until they've slightly colored on all sides; or

Alternative 2: Roast the pieces in the oven at 400-450F until they turn brown. If opting for alternative 2, transfer the pieces to the stock pot.

Reason for doing this is that searing or roasting concentrates the flavor in the bones, which then gets transferred to the broth.

Cover the chicken parts with water. Throw in an onion, cut in half, a carrot or two, a head of garlic, and the inner leaves from a head of celery. Add some salt and a dozen whole peppercorns.

Bring the water to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer about half an hour. Remove the bones from the pot and strip off as much meat as you can. Reserve the meat. Return bones to pot and cook another half hour.

Strain the broth through a cheesecloth-lined colander. This will remove all the solids and some of the fat.

Chill the broth in the fridge overnight, so any remaining fat congeals and hardens. Scrape this off next day and reserve for another use or discard. Reheat the broth to concentrate the flavors. Divide the broth into serving sizes and either freeze or can.

What to do with the poached chicken? If, like Keltin and me, you work with three chickens at once, you'll have more than enough scraps for things like chicken a la king, chicken pot pie, and chicken salad. Or you can use some of it, along with the broth, to make all sorts of chicken & something soups.

It really pays to watch the sales and do multiple chickens at once. We wait until hens go on sale and buy three of them. They typically come in at 5-6 pounds each, and we break them up for the freezer by part type: legs, thighs, breasts. On sale we pay, on average, about 18 bucks for the three. But we get about 21 meal servings from them, not counting the wings and dishes made from the scraps. Add those in, and we're looking at as many as 28 meal servings.

In short, chicken dinner for about 80 cents per serving, just by learning a simple butchering technique.

[Keltin]

Originally Posted by KYHeirloomer

One thing wrong with your post, landsman. Grebenes is a secret, not to be shared with the infidels. Next thing ya know you'll be letting the world know about luktionkugel.

Oh no! In my excitement to post the joys of butchering, I let my lips ramble too much and have disclosed the secret of grebenes!!! Maybe they want notice I mentioned Grebenes amongst that wall of text I previously posted? LOL!

Good stuff isn’t it!!

[Keltin]

Hey KYH, now that I think about it, doing three chickens at a time is the most efficient method for two people. I’ve been doing four which results in an 8 pack of wings and 8 pack of tenders. But 6 is enough, and we always have leftovers when I do 8. Granted, I love having leftovers to snack on the next day, but for maximum efficiency, I think 3 birds is the way to go. Good point.

I meant to ask you, in your technique for taking the wing off, you talk about popping the joint before making a cut? So, are you saying you can just break that joint, then simply cut straight through?

I’ve always just traced around that joint in a circular cut until the joint is expose, and then cut through. It would be a LOT easier to just break the joint first! I’ve got to try that. Thanks for the tip!

I’m thinking of cutting up some chickens this weekend. So I’ll give this a shot then. Maybe I’ll take a bunch of pictures and make this awesome thread a pictorial!

[Keltin]

Hey KYH, now that I think about it, doing three chickens at a time is the most efficient method for two people. I’ve been doing four which results in an 8 pack of wings and 8 pack of tenders. But 6 is enough, and we always have leftovers when I do 8. Granted, I love having leftovers to snack on the next day, but for maximum efficiency, I think 3 birds is the way to go. Good point.

I’m thinking of cutting up some chickens this weekend. So I’ll give this a shot then. Maybe I’ll take a bunch of pictures and make this awesome thread a pictorial!

[KYHeirloomer]

No, no, Keltin. I cut the wings just as you do. What I said, mixed in with all the verbiage, was:

"Cut completely around the inside of that bulge. Give a twist and you'll expose the ball & socket joint. Cut through the joint and the wing will drop off. "

I've tried just breaking the joint, but it doesn't work. Too many tendons, skin, etc. and it tears up half the breast. I think you could break it off once you've cut all around it. But at that point you already have the knife in your hand, so may as well use it.

[Keltin]

Originally Posted by KYHeirloomer

No, no, Keltin. I cut the wings just as you do. What I said, mixed in with all the verbiage, was:

"Cut completely around the inside of that bulge. Give a twist and you'll expose the ball & socket joint. Cut through the joint and the wing will drop off. "

I've tried just breaking the joint, but it doesn't work. Too many tendons, skin, etc. and it tears up half the breast. I think you could break it off once you've cut all around it. But at that point you already have the knife in your hand, so may as well use it.

Hey KYH, it was my mistake. I deleted that part already and didn’t think you would see it! LOL!

I misread what you wrote, and somehow completely over looked that you too advocate a circular cut around the bulge. When I re-read your post after posting my own, I saw my mistake. My bad. I tried to hide that little goof, but you caught me!!

[KYHeirloomer]

>I tried to hide that little goof, but you caught me!! <

You can run but you can't hide.