_chicken Cooked To Cut Up Recipes

HOW TO CUT UP A CHICKEN

Steps:

• You will need a pair of sharp, good-quality kitchen shears and a sharp knife at least 6 inches long.
• Unwrap the chicken and drain any extra blood into the sink. Rinsing the chicken in cold water is optional. It can tidy up a chicken that is messy from processing and packing, but it makes the bird slippery to handle.
• If there are pads of fat just inside the cavity pull them away (as long as the bird is cold the fat will be solid enough to handle).
• Remove the giblets. Top brand birds will have the full set. Discount brand birds will have random giblets -- anywhere from none at all to doubles.
• Cut off the wingtips with the kitchen shears.
• Cut the skin connecting the thigh to the body with the shears or the knife.
• Bend the thigh backwards to dislocate the joint. Use the shears to cut the thigh from the body.
• Bend the leg joint backwards to dislocate it. (Dislocating the joints is optional, but makes it easier). Cut through the joint from the inner side of the bend.
• Bend the wing back to find the joint. Dislocate it if possible (the wing joints are very sturdy and sometimes can't be dislocated until the white meat is cut to expose them). Cut through the wing joint with the shears from the inside of the bend.
• Using the shears, cut the breast free of the back following the line of the ribs (there is usually a thin line of fat just on the breast side of that line).
• Note -- The difficulty of cutting through the shoulder bones will depend on the age of the chicken. Fryers are easy, stew hens more difficult. If you're cutting a turkey you'll need to break the joint.
• Use the knife to divide the breast lengthwise into thirds. Cut the meat down to but not through the bones.
• Cut the breast bones with the shears.
• Note -- for a large roaster, or stew hen you may wish to halve each of these pieces crosswise to yield a total of 6 pieces of white meat.
• Alternately, if you want the breast divided in half you can use the knife to cut the skin exactly down the center then slide it down on one side of the breastbone. Complete the cut with the shears. Sometimes, depending upon the intended use, its even desirable to slide the knife along both sides of the breastbone and then use the shears to cut it out completely.
• The chicken is now ready to use for whatever purpose you wanted chicken parts.
• If you wish to bone the breasts, its now easy to see where you need to slide a thin, razor-sharp knife to free the meat.
• Note -- gather the trimmings, including the fat, and save in the freezer until you have enough for chicken stock. (Recipe #219819 requires trimmings from only 2-3 chickens).
• Tip -- It's easier to skin the chicken if you grab the slippery skin with a damp dishcloth.
• Tip -- If there are pinfeathers I find that a grill lighter makes the best tool to singe them off.
• Tip -- If there are broken feathers too large to singe, a pair of washed, needlenose pliers gets a better grip than tweezers. They are inexpensive so you can keep a pair in your utensil drawer just for this purpose.

ROASTED CUT UP CHICKEN AND VEGETABLES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Use a large bowl, mix broth, oil, salt, thyme, pepper, vegetables, and garlic; toss to coat.
• Remove vegetables with slotted spoon and put onto 15X10X1 inch pan which is not greased, spreading on half of the pan.
• Add chicken pieces to remaining broth mixture in the large bowl, turning chicken over to coat all sides.
• Place chicken pieces, skin side down, onto other half of pan; placing the legs and thighs along edges of pan.
• Bake for 30 minutes.
• Stir vegetables and turn chicken pieces.
• Bake another 30-40 minutes longer or until vegetables are tender and juice of chicken is clear when thickest piece is cut to bone (170 degrees for breast, 180 degrees for thighs and legs).

_DUCK, COOKED: TO CUT UP

Steps:

• Cut off the legs at the thigh joints, the wings at the shoulder joints. Split duck in half along the backbone. Carefully separate breast meat from bone, using a cutting and tearing action. Cut breast meat in 2-inch strips. With a cleaver, chop legs and upper wings in 2-inch sections. To serve: Place neck on platter. Arrange wing, leg and breast sections to approximate original shape of duck.The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook. ©1994 by Gloria Bley Miller.

_CHICKEN, COOKED: TO CUT UP

Steps:

• With a sharp cleaver, remove the legs and wings at their joints. Chop each thigh, bones and all, in 2 pieces each drumstick in 2 pieces. Cut off the lower or bony part of each drumstick. Chop each wing in 2 or 3 pieces. Chop the neck in 3 pieces. Split the bird lengthwise down the spine and through the breast. Remove each half of the breast, cutting it first into quarters, then into slices about 1 inch thick (bones and all). Chop the upper and lower back in 3 pieces each. Lay these down on the serving dish. Then place the neck, wing and leg sections, skin-side up, approximately back in their original positions. Finally, place the slices of breast meat down the middle in 2 neat rows to reconstruct the natural shape of the chicken. (An easy way to do this: as the chicken is chopped, section by section, scoop up the pieces with the broad cleaver-knife blade and slide them directly onto the serving platter.)The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook. ©1994 by Gloria Bley Miller.