DIY Chicken Jointin' (Choppin' Up Dead Chicken)

Submitted by greenjon on Tue, 04/29/2008 - 4:17pm.

greenjon
Posts: 39

Place the bird on a clean surface breast side up. To remove the leg portion away from the breast, cut through the skin only, on one side of the body of the bird, between the breast and the leg to where the thigh joins the body.
Bend the leg back until the ball and socket joint cracks and pops out. Cut through the joint in order to detach the leg portion from the breast, whilst holding the leg out at an angle away from the body. Some of the meat from the back will also be removed with the leg.
Repeat on the other side.
The following step is to remove the breast from the back. Cut along the rib cage, through the flap of skin found there, cutting towards the neck and starting from the tail end.
Turn the bird over and cut in the same way on the other side, cutting through any connecting joints on both sides.
Pull the breast meat away and separate it from the back. The back can be reserved to make a stock later on.
Turn the breast over so that the skin is face down on the surface and bend each side back firmly to crack the breastbone. It should detach itself and easily pop out. Carefully remove the bone with scissors or a sharp knife.
Take the whole breast and cut in half lengthways. You will have to cut through the wishbone in doing so.
At this stage you should end up with two leg portions and two breasts with wings. If you wish to divide the meat into 8 pieces, separate the wings from the breast piece. Hold one wing out away from the body and bend it back. Cut between the joint of the wing and the breast, trying to include some of the breast meat with the wing, to make a meatier portion.
Repeat with the other wing.
To separate the thigh from the drumstick, bend each leg to crack the ball and socket joint and then cut through the joint with a knife.