Tom Douglas: How to Cut Up a Whole Chicken
Occasionally you may find a recipe you want to try that instructs you to cut up a whole chicken...yet it doesn't tell you how to do it. It's actually quite simple and only takes a few minutes. Instead of buying all the individual parts, or worse, not bothering with the recipe, follow these steps next time you need to cut up a chicken.
In the photos to the right, I'm using a 10-inch butcher knife to make quick work of this chicken. Click on the image to get a larger view of the different steps.
1. Remove the neck, heart, gizzard, and liver from the chicken. Cut off fat and excess skin from the neck and tail ends.
2. Place the chicken on a work surface, breast side up, and cut off the wings at the first joint (closest to the breast). Then cut off the leg and thigh by cutting through the skin into the natural division between the leg and the body. Bend the leg away from the body and cut down between the thighbone joint and the hip socket. Cut the leg away from the body as close to the backbone as possible.
3. Repeat with the other leg and thigh. Separate the drumstick from the thigh by cutting down through the joint that separates the two. Repeat with the other drumstick and thigh.
4. To remove the backbone, insert a large heavy knife into the chicken’s cavity and cut down through the rib bones on each side of the backbone, chopping down through the collarbone to free the back bone completely. Or use a kitchen shears or a poultry shears to cut out the backbone.
5. Place the chicken on the work surface breast side up and use a large heavy knife or a poultry shears to cut the breast in half, cutting through the breast bone. If you like, you can divide each half-breast in half, in two equal pieces.
Tom Douglas is currently working with Amazon.com on the exclusive line of kitchen and dining products, Tom Douglas by Pinzon, aimed at building confidence in the kitchen.
Julie B. on July 08, 2009 at 05:34 AM
Excellent post. I'm amazed at how many good cooks can't cut up a chicken. The key is following clear instructions like these -- the first time I cut one up I just made it up as I went along and ooh boy was that a mistake.
gdb in central Texas on July 08, 2009 at 05:49 AM
One additional pointer for Southern skillet frying. After removing the leg/thigh and dividing remove the wishbone ("pulley bone") by feeling along the breast ridge, cutting down past the ridge point and filleting out to the neck cavity. Then cut along the cartilage between the ribs on both sides of the remaining carcass to get two more pieces (the saddle and the rib cage) and then halve the breast. Provides extra pieces for the crowd and more evenly sized frying pieces.
Deborah on July 08, 2009 at 05:56 AM
The first time I cut up a chicken (I was a new wife, whose mother-in-law was a fabulous cook), the only piece my husband could recognize was a wing, which of course he refused to eat because he only ate the pulley-bone, which you did not include in your tutorial :)
Mikee on July 08, 2009 at 06:16 AM
When removing the wings, take a generous portion of breast meat when disjointing the drumette from the body. This will make the wing a more generous portion of chicken.
When removing the thighs from the body, scoop under the back to get the "oysters" which are one of the delicacies of a chicken.
Boneless chicken breasts are rather a favorite of mine, so may I add that as an alternate step here, instead of cutting through the ribs? With the breast side up, slice along one side of the breastbone and remove the meat as close to the ribs as possible.
As for the part of the bird that goes over the fence last, that little "pope's nose" (as my very Roman Catholic mother used to call it) can also be delicious.
T J Sawyer on July 08, 2009 at 09:35 AM
I found this no more helpful than any other article I have looked at on cutting up a chicken!
the first joint (closest to the breast)
the natural division between the leg and the body
the thighbone joint and the hip socket
the rib bones on each side of the backbone
the collarbone
If I knew where any of those things were on the chicken, I wouldn't be looking for help.
I need a picture of the chicken with arrows showing these items. I usually have trouble deciding which is the breast and which is the back. Nipples would help!
Tony Clifton on July 08, 2009 at 04:54 PM
How about a video of Alton Brown dissecting a chicken?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dbc1aW5C1W0
(starting right around 3:50)
T J Sawyer on September 14, 2009 at 12:42 AM
Thanks, Tony Clifton, for a great link. This is a case where a video is worth far more than a thousand words! And I loved the dino-cam!