How to joint a chicken
8 December 2014
Learning how to joint a whole chicken (i.e. break it down into leg and breast portions) is a useful skill to learn, particularly as a whole bird can cost less than individual chicken portions.
When working with chicken, always remember to work cleanly and to thoroughly disinfect the surface after you have finished.
1
Place the chicken on a plastic chopping board. (Wooden boards are advised against for raw chicken as they are more absorbent than plastic, making them harder to clean)
2
Use a small knife to run along the edge of the wishbone. Once the bone is exposed, use your thumb and forefinger to remove the wishbone. Make a wish, then discard
3
Slice the skin between the leg and body, you want to take more skin off the leg than the breast. Then 'pop' the leg out of its socket
4
Cut through any excess skin to release the leg, repeat with the other leg
5
You can now separate the legs into thighs and drumsticks if you wish. Do this by feeling the joint with your thumb, then slice in between the two bones resulting in two pieces
6
To remove the breasts, slice along the breast bone, and follow the shape of the chicken with the knife, sticking as closely to the bones as possible to avoid losing any of the flesh
7
For a chicken supreme, pop the wing at the second joint and cut away leaving the top part of the wing attached
8
Alternatively, separate the wings completely by easily slicing in between wing and breast
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