Boning a chicken while keeping it whole is easier than it looks. By learning to use the knife in the right way and to find the points where to separate the meat from the joints it will be very easy for you to keep the chicken intact, ready to be put in the oven. Understanding the hardest parts of the process and finding ways to simplify the process is up to you, all without having to become a fine French chef.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Initial Operations
Step 1. Make sure you have a sharp knife on hand
To carry out the operation, have the cleaver and the boning knife ready. To bone a chicken it is best to use a sharp knife with a slightly flexible blade, which not only allows you to work along the surface of the bone and remove it, but also to scrape off the meat in the most difficult places.
Step 2. Place the chicken on the cutting board with the breast facing down
Locate the spine (you should find it with your fingers without too much difficulty). Work flat with the knife cutting along the column. Work on the side of the bone and follow it as a guide. Stick the knife into the skin to make a starting point.
It might be useful to pierce the skin in different places and then turn the knife upwards and cut from the bottom. Cutting only to the right or left of the column can help, at least initially
Step 3. Work the knife along one side of the rib cage
Grab the skin with one hand and gently cut the meat off the bone, detaching it a little at a time.
Start by grabbing the skin deep near the spine. Cut as close to the spine as possible by working with a knife
Step 4. Remove the chest fork
Starting to free the meat from the ribs you will immediately encounter the fork. Turn the chicken so that the neck hole is facing you, then make small cuts around the fork to loosen and pull it out.
The fork breaks easily and may break as you try to pull it out. This is not a problem but try to collect all the fragments and be careful not to injure yourself in the process
Step 5. Continue to cut and locate the attachments of the wing and leg
Continue cutting by detaching the meat from the ribcage, slowly moving from the back to the chest through the side. During the process you will find the wing and leg joints, which must be separated and removed with particular care.
Work slowly and apply pressure with your hands to separate the meat from the ribs (at this stage the use of the knife is secondary). Make very small cuts being careful not to cut the skin on the side of the chest. Continue cutting until you reach the joints of the wing and leg
Step 6. Turn the chicken over and repeat the process
Start cutting along the other side of the spine and stop before separating the wing and leg joints.
Alternatively, you can separate the leg and wing joints before turning the chicken to the other side. Be that as it may, avoid removing these bones until the meat is completely detached from the ribcage. This will make the operation easier
Part 2 of 3: Remove the Wings and Legs Bones
Step 1. Extract the wing joint and pierce it with the knife
Grab the wing with one hand and the area around the joint with the other. Bend the wing back and twist it until the joint emerges, then penetrate inside the latter using the tip of the knife. Identify the bone attachment, apply slight pressure and the wing should come off easily. Keep working with the knife until you reach the leg.
Step 2. Extract the joint of the paw and pierce it with the knife
Grab the leg with one hand and the area around it with the other. Bend the leg back and twist it until the joint emerges, then penetrate inside the latter using the knife. Identify the attachment of the bone and do as you did for the wing.
Step 3. Find the fairing
The hull is the cartilage on the breastbone and is well attached to the skin of the chest, so you will need to be very careful not to puncture the skin here. If you have not yet started working with a knife on the other side of the carcass, do it now. If not, you are well under way and there is little left to do to completely de-bone the chicken.
- Using the knife carefully separate the meat from the hull. To help you scratch with the blade along the bone. Avoid sticking the blade into the flesh, instead move the knife with fluid movements in small steps. As you work around the hull, pull out the rib cage and then discard it.
- Before unwrapping the carcass, consider using it to prepare a broth or soup. It is an excellent first course!
Step 4. Remove the wing bones
You should now be faced with a large, relatively flat piece of meat but with legs and wings attached to it. To remove the wings, cut off the tips of the wings with a knife and push the bone towards the inside of the carcass. Use the tip of the knife to scrape off the meat until you are able to extract the bone.
By scraping, more meat is preserved and the deboning process is considerably faster. Continue scraping the bone until you are able to extract it
Step 5. Remove the leg bones
To remove the femur, kick the flesh off the bone (which should be visible at the point where you separated the joint from the carcass). Working carefully, you should be able to remove the femur, tibia and fibula without separating them. Lift the bone to lay it bare and start scratching the flesh, stopping when you get to the knee. Cut around the knee to detach the tissue from the bone and then continue to separate as much flesh as possible in the lower part of the leg.
When you get to the small protuberance on the lower part of the leg (the "ankle"), spread the bone to the side and break it, so that the rest of the femur, tibia and fibula come out but the protuberance remains in place. This helps maintain the shape of the leg during cooking, ensuring that the skin does not shrink too much from the meat. Some prefer not to bone the legs, so that the dish presents itself better to the eye. It depends on your preferences
Step 6. Clean the casing
Run your hand over the surface of the meat to identify any bone fragments or pieces of cartilage to be cut away to make the dish more appetizing. Eliminate these scraps and you will have a properly boned chicken.
The remaining bones, together with the pieces of cartilage, are particularly suitable for obtaining a good chicken broth. Throw it all in a pot with a little water and let it boil slowly for a few hours. You will get a delicious base for soups and stews
Part 3 of 3: Cooking a Boneless Chicken
Step 1. Stuff the chicken, cook it and roast it
The most common way to cook boneless chicken is to stuff it to taste, sew it up with kitchen string, and bake it in the oven. As for the basic recipe:
- Stuff the chicken to taste. For the filling, use old bread, celery, onion, sausage, sage or whatever else you like. Salt both the inside and the outside of the chicken and add pepper and spices to taste. Fill the chicken with the topping using a spoon.
- Using the needle of a paper clip, sew the chicken. Start from the end of the neck and pass the string through the flesh and skin in order to close the carcass. Make sure the chicken does not open during cooking. Tie a knot to hold the two parts of the carcass together, then sew along the seam. Alternatively, you can sew the chicken before stuffing it.
- After sewing the chicken, sprinkle the outside with butter and olive oil, then put it in the oven at 190 ° C. The cooking time corresponds to 20 minutes for every 500 grams of weight.
Step 2. Make a chicken galantine
Chicken galantine is a boneless chicken cooked in broth or in the oven after being stuffed. Usually the filling includes vegetables, herbs and nuts. It is served in jelly and sliced as an appetizer.
Step 3. Season and grill everything
If it's barbecue time, boneless chicken can be a great alternative to bone-in pieces of meat. You can cook it whole, flipping it and drizzling it with barbecue sauce or beer as it cooks. Then it can be served on scones.
For more even cooking, you can flatten the chicken with a cast iron skillet (or any other thick-bottomed skillet)
Step 4. Make a turducken
If you really want to overdo it, you could consider making a turducken. It is a boneless turkey stuffed with a boneless duck with a boneless chicken inside. If you have an entire football team to feed or just love poultry, it might be fun to try your hand at making such an extreme dish. Why not try?
