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The kitchen skills of our grandparents have largely gone unused since the appearance of ready-made foods in American grocery stores. Yet if we want to eat local food, we must often cook from scratch. Here is a guide to cutting a whole, uncooked chicken—a necessary skill if we want to eat the fresh local birds that Vermonters are beginning to raise again in large numbers. Once you’ve broken down a chicken, you’re good to go with all sorts of recipes!
1. Remove the neck and giblets (heart, liver, and gizzard) from the chicken. They will be inside the chicken body, if store bought. Rinse the chicken under cold running water.
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2. Remove wings by placing chicken, breast-side up on a cutting board. Cut, keeping knife close to the bone. This is easier if one hand holds the wing tip away from the chicken. |
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3. Cut skin between thigh and body of bird. Grasp the leg and apply pressure to snap the hip joint. |
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4. To remove the leg and thigh from the body, cut from the tail toward the neck. Rock knife in hip joint to cut tendons. |
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5. Pull away thigh and cut connecting skin. |
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6. Cut through leg joint to separate the thigh from the leg. |
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7. Place breast down on cutting board so backbone is facing up. Separate the back from the breast. 8. Lift back and cut through skin to remove tail and breast section from back. |
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9. The breast may be left whole or cut into halves. Split by placing skin side down and cut through “V” of neck. Bend breast back as if opening a book and cut out breast bone. Cut breast in half lengthwise. |
You should now have 9 pieces of chicken plus the giblets.
Adapted from a handout by the Mad River Localvores
and Chef Jason Gulisano
