How to Break Down a Chicken
January 4, 2013
•Emily Murray
•Le Cordon Bleu
• 0 Comments
How to Break Down a Chicken
Perhaps a bit intimidating, but breaking down a whole chicken is something every cook should know and is it’s rather easy. Seriously, you don’t have to be a surgeon or butcher to perform this procedure. You’ll learn it doesn’t take a whole lot of time and at the end of the day you’ll save money with this skill. Buying a whole chicken and breaking it down is cheaper than buying individual packaged cuts. Here are the simple steps you take to break down a chicken.
Remove Excess Fat
Fat on a chicken is not good. If you see any fat around the rib cage use your hands and pull off any extra fat you may see.
Remove the Wishbone
Use a boning knife with a curved tip to help you throughout the process. It makes it easy to cut around the curves of your bird. You’ll need your knife to remove the wishbone. Turn the chicken so that it’s facing you, place your knife around the breast you’ll feel the wishbone. Make a small incision along the top and guide your knife down along the wishbone. Take your fingers and wiggle it out of the breast.
Remove the Legs
Remove the legs by starting with the right leg. Massage the leg to loosen the skin and muscle away from the bone. Next, make one cut between the breast in the leg. Flip the chicken over and make one center cut down the back. After you’ve made that cut carefully pull and pop the joint out of the thigh. Next, use your knife to cut the connective tissue around the thigh and muscle. Then you’ll see a small oyster muscle around the joint, with your knife cut this. Grab the leg and pull the quarter off of the chicken. Repeat the process for the other leg. If you want to separate the thigh and the drumstick, simply find the joint and cut right down the middle to separate each piece.
Cut the Rib Cage
Simply cut down the sides between the rib cage and the breast. When you’ve reached the end of the rib cage use your hands to pull and remove it.
Remove the Wing Tips
This is an optional step. If you don’t like the wing tips simply cut at the joint and pull off the tips.
Take out the Keel Bone
In the center of the chicken you’ll find a dark keel bone. Remove this by cutting down the center of the chicken and using your hands and pushing down on each side to pop out the bone, removing it from the bird.
Separate the Breast
After taking out the keel bone, you have the back of the chicken and the two wings. Just cut down the middle to separate the two breasts.
Remove the Wings
You’ll want to remove the wings from each breast. Turn your breast over and pull the wing until the joint pops, then with your knife cut right through between the wing and the breast. Repeat this step for the remaining wing and breast.
Although there is some popping, it’s breaking down a chicken is a relatively easy task. It doesn’t take time and it will save you money. Simply freeze the pieces you’re not going to use right away.
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