Total Pageviews

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Cuttin' Up Whole Chickens

Today I bought 4 whole chickens for $.99/lb at Costco, bound and determined to get them cut up tonight.  After going to the store and paying $6.00 for 3 chicken breasts the other day I decided that was absurd when I can get an entire chicken for $.99/lb at Costco.  That $6 cut into my budget tremendously.  Between youtube videos and my stepmom walking through how to cut up a chicken, I think I've got it...sort of.  It may not be pretty but dangit it's done!

What you'll need:
whole chicken
sharp, sharp knife
cutting board

First thing you want to do is pull out all those gizzards and whatever else is in the cavity.  Lay the chicken on your cutting thigh side down.  

You'll see where the skin is loose all around the thigh and leg and you'll want to take your sharp knife and cut that skin away from the chicken. Once you've got your skin cut you'll find the joint on the thigh. Stab that sucker and jimmy the thigh off.  (I'm sorry that these aren't clearer, but directions aren't my strong suit)  Repeat and cut the other thigh off.  At this point you can find the joint that connects the thigh and leg and you can cut through there to make 2 seperate pieces.  (I left mine be.)



The next part I like to cut off is the wing.  The easiest part to do this is find the joint on the wing, cut through it and cut the wing off.  I like to cut the skin arounnd the wing like I did with thigh because it makes detaching easier. 

Wings, thighs, and legs off

Next you want to pull the back off.  Lift the back apart from the breasts and cut through as far as you can.  Once that's done, it's pretty simple to pull it off.  


This is what you should be left with once the back is off (2 breasts).  I toss the back in my bag of chicken parts to make broth with.  

Now, I don't have a picture of cutting the breasts because I really wasn't sure how to go about it.  I wanted boneless, skinless chicken breasts and I'll admit, it wasn't easy to pull those babies off without butchering them.  By golly I got it though! Practice makes perfect...Right?


Opposite side of what it should be BUT, breast side up jam your knife down the center and split those breasts.  You can either stop here or take it a step further...


by skinning them and making boneless & skinless chicken breasts.  

Pretty simple, huh?

How many of you will start buying whole chickens instead of forking out the big bucks for pre-cut boneless chicken breasts?

Note: It only took me 45 minutes to cut up all 4 chickens.  Now I'm no professional chicken cutter upper but I'd say that's pretty dang good!

No comments :

Post a Comment