How to Break Down a Chicken
A whole chicken costs you the same as a two-pack of breasts. With a whole chicken you get breasts, plus 2 legs, and a back. Sounds like a whole lot of meat to eat. With that, here are the steps to breaking down a chicken:
1. First off you will need a chicken, a sharp chef’s knife, and either a set of poultry shears or a cleaver.
2. Grab the chicken by the drumstick and pull the legs outwards from the body until the skin is stretched taught.
3. Begin to slice through the skin between the leg and the body. Be careful to not cut too deep-just only through the skin.
4. Grab the leg in one hand and twist it downwards away from the body of the chicken until the ball joint pops out of the socket. It doesn’t take much force to accomplish this.
5. Removing the thigh. Use your chef’s knife to completely remove the leg by cutting through the joint you just exposed. Be sure to get the tiny nugget of meat that sits close to the chicken’s spine.
6. Repeat steps 2 through 5 on the other leg.
7. Cracking the back requires you to hold the chicken by the backbone and position it vertically on your cutting board. Have the butt end pointing up towards the ceiling. Use your chef’s knife to cut through the skin and cartilage between the breast and the back. Stop cutting once you get past the first of second ribs.
8. By using your cleaver, continue cutting through the ribs using short, firm strokes. Alternatively, use poultry shears to cut through the ribs on both sides.
9. Cut through the shoulder bones on either side by using your poultry shears or the tip of the cleaver. At this point, the backbone should now be completely separated from the breast. Save for stock.
10. Splitting the breast requires you to cut through either side of the breast bone until you hit the sternum. Using your available free hand, press down firmly on the blade until it cracks through the bone.
11. This creates 4 pieces of chicken! If you’re looking to break it down into 3 pieces, continue reading!
12. Finding the ball. Use your fingertips to locate the ball joint between the drumstick and the thigh.
13. Now, cut through the joint with your chef’s knife to separate the thigh from the drumstick.
14. Cut each breast in half crosswise. Do this by pressing down on your knife blade with your free hand until the breastbone cracks.
8 total pieces of chicken ready to eat however you want!
