Back to Basics: How to Cut Up a Whole Chicken

I am currently reading Joel Salatin's latest book, "Folks, This Ain't Normal." While I am thoroughly enjoying it (personally, I believe this is his best one!), he mentions something that got me to thinking.

I was thinking, "Wow, he's got this one wrong."

Thankfully, I was proven wrong.

Now, if you've followed along here for very long, you'll know that Mr. Salatin is one of my hero's. We have been trying to implement as many of his farming practices as we can on our small farm without breaking the budget. (Fencing for pigs...I have a better chance of winning the lottery than coming up with enough $$$ to fence in our wooded area for the pigs!) As far as I'm concerned, he's a farming genius. And he's a nice guy to boot. And I got to shake his hand and have my picture taken with him. But now I'm just bragging. Sorry.

See, we all know that factory farmed chickens are just an all-around bad idea. Sickness, lack of essential nutrients from lack of sunshine, over-crowding issues, de-beaking chicks so they can't cannibalize their mates, etc...the list goes on and on. If you aren't familiar with these practices, please watch the documentary, "Food, Inc.". It will change the way you look at chickens...forever.

Here's what I took offense with, albeit briefly...

"...So forty years ago, every woman knew how to cut up a chicken. It was part of general knowledge. It was like learning to ride a bike, or read, or tie your shoes. It was part of domestic skills, like hammering a nail, running a washing machine, turning on the vacuum cleaner, or running a lawnmower. Today, more than half or our patrons don't even know that a chicken has bones."

"I've got news for you ladies. Chicken nuggets in the shape of Dino the dinosaur are not part of a chicken's anatomy. You won't find any muscle groups titled "Nuggets." Boneless, skinless breast wasn't even available in the supermarket before 1970. If your recipe called for boneless skinless breast, you did the carving yourself. And when it was done, you also had a neck, backbone, wings, thighs, and legs. And you cooked those, and ate them."

Mr. Salatin refers to ladies because that's who most of his farm store patrons are. That I did NOT find offense. It's fact. What I took offense to was that he thinks that women do not know how to cut a chicken anymore. And while I was ranting calmly discussing this with my family, my children (including 2 of my married daughters) all looked at me and said, "Well, we don't know how to cut up a whole chicken either."

Ouch.

I had assumed that everyone knew how to cut up a chicken. I had assumed that every teenager in America had worked for Colonel Sanders as I had. I assumed that my kids had learned that it is much cheaper to buy an entire chicken rather than just the preferred bits and pieces. It is obvious to me that a whole chicken at $.99/lb. is less expensive than a package of cut up pieces at $3 or $4/lb. After all, a family pack of chicken legs contains the legs of at least 7 chickens! And don't even get me started on the same huge packs of chicken breasts...

So it's time for me to right a wrong. It's time for me to make sure that at least in my family, we all know how to cut up a chicken. Because like it or not, whole chickens are all they're going to find in my freezer.☺

~How to Cut Up a Whole Chicken~

Start with a thawed whole chicken.

Find the joint where the wing connects to the breast.

Using a sharp knife, cut through that joint. Repeat with the other side.

Pull the leg/thigh out and gently run your knife between the thigh and white meat to separate.

Find the joint and cut through that. Repeat on other side.

Thigh and drumstick

Find the joint between the top of the leg and the thigh.

Carefully cut through that to separate the two. Repeat with the other side.

This is what the remainder of the chicken should look like.

Cut along the ribcage to separate the bony back from the meaty breast.

This is half of it. Save the pieces.

Turn the breast, bone-side up, and place the knife in the center of the breast bone.

Carefully cut down the bone to make 2 pieces. This part is a little more difficult, so be really cautious with the knife.

You can either leave the skin on, which keeps the chicken moist, or you can remove it. I removed it for this dish because it was going to be shredded in a sauce.

Toss the extra pieces, and any skin into a crockpot with filtered water. Add a couple of carrots, celery, garlic, and an onion, some peppercorns, thyme, and rosemary, and let simmer in a crockpot all day. Cool, strain, and voila'...homemade stock! 

Congratulations! You did it and used the whole chicken!

Go a step further and raise your own meat birds and throw the feet, neck, liver, and gizzards in too...

What? Too much?

...maybe we'll save that for another day. ☺

Have you entered my giveaway yet? You have until 2/15 until the drawing!

This post is linked to The Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop and Friday Food Flicks.