How to cut a chicken into portions. How to fillet chicken breast. How long to keep broilers before slaughter

Place the chicken breast side up. We pull one leg a little to the side, cut the skin. Then we turn the joint and cut off the leg from the carcass along the joint. Separate the second in the same way.

The next stage of cutting is the separation of the lower leg from the thigh. We pass along the leg with our fingers, feeling for the joint. We cut along it, separate the lower leg from the thigh. You will get two thighs and two drumsticks.

We turn the wing up to the side, scrolling along the joint. We cut off one wing with a knife, then the second.

We cut off the thinnest phalanx (tip of the wing) - this part will go to soup or broth.

It remains to separate the breast from the back. This can be done with scissors or a knife, cutting through on both sides where the ribs end.

We got the back and chest. Now you need to clean the back of the insides and remove part of the rump where feces can remain. And cut the breast into fillets and remove the skin from it.

We clean the insides, rinse the back. Cut off the tail with a knife, cut off the upper part. If there are yellowish inclusions, then cut off a little more and wash this part of the carcass well. For ease of further preparation, the back can be cut in half across the ridge.

Let's move on to the chest. With a knife, cut the meat from the bone and separate the skin. You will get a skeleton that will go into the broth, a large fillet (one or two parts) and a skin.

Usually, most housewives cut the chicken carcass in the way that is customary in their family. But not everyone knows what is general rules that allow you to do it faster and more rationally. Information on how to properly gut and butcher a chicken will be useful for both experienced housewives and those who are just starting to try their hand at this business.

After slaughtering and plucking the chicken, it should be gutted. Moreover, this must be done as soon as possible, since the insides quickly disappear. For work, you will need a medium-sized sharp knife or scissors for cutting, oilcloth, plates or bowls, where you will need to put offal and waste, cutting board made of wood or plastic.

In order to gut a chicken at home, follow the following sequence of actions:

Cover the table on which the carcass will lie with oilcloth so as not to smear it with fat.
Put the carcass back down, cut off the legs: bend the legs at the knee joint and cut the tendons with a knife.
Cut the anus in a circular motion. This must be done carefully so as not to pierce the intestines.
Then cut the skin of the bird from the anus to the keel along the center line of the abdomen. You need to cut shallowly so as not to hurt the abdominal organs.
Take out the insides and put them in a bowl: the intestines separately in waste, the stomach and liver in another container. When cutting out the liver, one must be extremely careful not to accidentally touch the gallbladder and spleen. It is easier to remove them when the liver is already removed from the carcass.
Remove the goiter with the esophagus. To make this easier to do, the goiter must be empty. To do this, before slaughter, the bird should not be fed for about 12 hours. If for some reason the goiter is full of food, then it can be removed through an incision in the skin.
Remove the genitals: cut out the testicles from roosters, and the ovaries from chickens.
Take out the lungs and heart.
Cleanse the stomach: cut it open, turn it inside out, remove food debris and peel off the inner shell.
Rinse the carcass and offal with cold water.

After gutting the chicken, you can start cutting it.

How to choose a carcass in a store

When buying a chilled chicken carcass, you need to pay attention to its freshness. You can identify fresh chicken by skin color, muscle fiber elasticity and smell. How to do it:

Examine the carcass. If bruises, skin damage are visible on it, it is yellow-gray in places, it is better not to buy it. The color of the skin and its thickness will indicate the age of the bird. In young chickens, it is thin and pink, in old ones it is thick and yellowish.
Touch the carcass, press with your finger. If it is fresh, the dent from the finger will not remain, the fibers will quickly return to their previous state.
Smell the chicken. Fresh meat has a pleasant aroma, stale chicken does not have it, it acquires extraneous odors.

This is enough to choose a fresh carcass in a store or market.

How to cut a chicken

If it is not intended to cook the carcass adult chicken or whole broiler, they need to be cut into small portions. There are several ways to carve chicken carcasses for various dishes.

No Waste

This method allows you to cut the chicken in the most profitable way, so that waste is minimal. Step-by-step instruction:

Put the bird on its back, take the leg, pull it to the side and cut it to the joint. Turn the joint to the side and cut off the leg completely. Do the same with the second leg.
Separate the wings from the carcass: cut the shoulder joint, take the wing aside and cut it off with a sharp knife.
Cut the carcass of the bird along the spine in half.
If the chicken is large, then its halves can be cut into 2 more parts.

Rinse the resulting pieces and put in the freezer of the refrigerator for storage.

For portioned pieces

This method allows you to cut the chicken into portions that are almost the same in size, they can be served at the table after cooking. Here's how to do it step by step:

Put the carcass on its back, make a longitudinal incision from the lower abdomen to the neck.
With a large knife, separate the halves of the carcass from the bones of the ridge, cutting through the ribs on both sides of it. Set the backbone aside (later it can be used for broth).
Take one half, put it on the board, cut off the upper part from the wing to the first joint (send it to the broth), then the part to the next joint, and then the rest of the wing along with part of the carcass.
Cut the breast into 3 pieces.
There was a leg that needs to be divided into a thigh and a drumstick along the joint.
Do the same with the other half of the chicken.

Thus, it will be possible to obtain 12 portioned pieces. The cut chicken breast will go to the fillet. You can cook chops, cutlets from chicken fillet, boil it and put it in a salad.

boneless

From chicken cut according to this scheme, you can cook various dishes, including minced meat, roll, semi-finished meat products. But in the process of cutting a chicken like this, you need to be able not only to accurately cut the meat from the bones, but also to do it in such a way that the pieces retain an attractive appearance. appearance. To do this, be sure to take a thin, well-sharpened knife.

There are two ways to remove the bones from a chicken: open and closed. If you follow the first, then you need to do this:

Cut the skin along the entire back vertically.
Gradually separate the meat from the bones, moving in the direction from the tail up.
Break the ischium, joints of the hips and wings.
Cut the meat with a knife and remove it from the bones.
Having reached the upper joint, break it too.
Turn the meat inside out with the stocking and do the same with the other leg.
Cut off the ribs, keel and fork bone, wings with scissors.

Closed way:

Notch the tail and remove the meat from the buttock to the upper cartilages of the thigh.
Cut the joint and veins around the circumference of the leg.
Break the joint where the lower leg and thigh connect.
Do the same on the other side of the carcass.
Cut the meat together with the skin with a sharp knife from the ribs to the neck, cut off the neck.

This method is suitable for cooking stuffed chicken and rolls from it.

For rolls and stuffing

To prepare a roll from a whole carcass, you need to remove the bones and separate the meat from the frame, gradually turning it inside out. Then it can be boiled, wrapped in cling film or baked in the oven, stuffed with vegetables, mushrooms or other suitable stuffing. You can even remove the skin of the whole chicken, without meat, and stuff it too.

We all often cook chicken dishes. Moreover, the meat of this bird is suitable for first and second courses, and for salads, and for baking, and for barbecue. Just let your imagination run wild using different pieces. But few people risk buying whole carcasses. And in vain. Having learned how to cut them correctly, everyone will easily get the ingredients for preparing a variety of dishes. How to butcher a carcass, we will tell below.

How to choose a chicken carcass

It is best to choose chilled carcasses. In this case, you will pay only for the meat itself: negligent suppliers pump the bird with water before freezing to increase the weight. In addition, the quality of chilled meat is easier to establish.

Did you know? Chicken is the main meat consumed in Israel (67.9 kg per person), Antigua (58 kg per person) and Saint Lucia (56.9 kg per person).

Express diagnostics of the chilled product:

Examine the carcass. If wounds or bruises are visible on it, there are damages or dark yellow spots on the skin, it is better not to buy such a chicken.
Focus on hue. The age of the bird is determined by the color of the skin. In young hens, it is pale pink, with clear streaks. Adult chickens have thick, yellowish skin.
Feel the chicken. After pressing a finger on the breast, the flesh will quickly return to its original shape. If, as a result of touching, a hole remains, this is an indicator of a poor-quality product.
Smell it. Fresh chicken smells like regular raw meat. Those carcasses that emit the aroma of medicines or other side odors should not be chosen.

Video: how to choose a chicken carcass

How to butcher a chicken

To quickly and easily cut the carcass into pieces, you should adhere to the following plan:

Important! When you fill your hand, the process of cutting the carcass will take 5-10 minutes.

As a result, we get the components for various dishes:

fillet, thighs, drumsticks, wings - for cooking, frying, baking, stewing;
ribs, back, wingtips - for soups;
fat - can be left for frying.

How to cut chicken fillet

The fillet is the best part of the chicken. The process of its separation at first glance seems complicated. Many people think that getting a beautiful piece is quite difficult. However, the instructions for separating the fillet will help in this difficult matter. And if you fill your hand, then the process itself will take a little time.

So, take the breast and do the following:

If the fillet is needed for stuffing, cut off excess pieces of meat, leaving only smooth flesh.

How to separate a chicken from the bones

Chicken roll is rightfully considered a real decoration of the festive table. By adding branded ingredients to this dish, you can amaze guests and loved ones with culinary talents. However, many inexperienced housewives are afraid of the separation of the chicken from the bones. Indeed, in order to leave the carcass intact, you need to have skills, make a lot of effort and show skill.

An important condition for obtaining the desired result is a sharp knife. When cutting, you will have to make numerous cuts, therefore, with an insufficiently sharpened tool, a lot of strength and nerves will be spent.

So, the process of separating the bones is as follows:

The frame can be left for broths, and the chopped chicken can be stuffed or put on rolls.

Video: cutting chicken into a roll

How long to cook chopped chicken

Boiled chicken is a component of various dishes. Therefore, you need to know how and how much to cook its individual parts.

Legs, thighs, fillet and breast are cooked for 30-35 minutes.
Chicken broth cooks for over two hours. If a broiler or a young bird goes to the broth, then the time is reduced to 1.5 hours.
Chicken wings cook the fastest - 20-25 minutes.

Readiness is determined simply: if the pulp is easily separated from the bones or pierced with a fork, then the meat is ready.

The taste of chicken meat depends on how it was processed and gutted. Depending on the size of the pieces needed for cooking, there are two ways to cut the carcass. The first option allows you to get eight equal parts. According to the second, "wasteless" method, you can cut the carcass more economically into small pieces.

For cutting the carcass, there are special scissors in the form of secateurs or a large sharp knife.

gutting

Before cutting the carcass, it is necessary to prepare it for gutting. The sequence of actions is as follows:

1. Cut off the head of the chicken.
2. Cut off the beak.
3. Remove the eyeball.
4. Remove the throat tube from the neck and discard.
5. Cut off the paws with a knife along the folds.

The skin from the paws is easily detached after firing.

You should prepare a bowl for waste and internal organs in advance. Then you can proceed directly to gutting:

1. In the back of the chicken carcass, cut off the protrusion and make a small skin incision on the abdomen, pull out the insides through it.
2. Separate the intestines, cut off the spleen from the liver without damaging it, then cut out the stomach. You need to act very carefully so as not to hurt the intestines and gallbladder, otherwise the taste of offal will be spoiled by the bitterness of bile. Select edible parts: heart, liver, stomach, discard the rest.
3. Remove the heart from the carcass.
4. Pull out the goiter from the bird.
5. Cleanse the stomach. Cut it lengthwise, discard the contents, pry the inner shell along the edge with the tip of a knife and detach.
6. After gutting, thoroughly rinse the carcass in cold water.

With proper preparation of the chicken for slaughter, the goiter will be empty and easy to remove. Otherwise, before gutting, you should cut the skin on the neck and clean the goiter.

If the chicken is not subject to subsequent cooking, then all the internal organs should be folded back into the bird carcass and placed in the cold.

The skin of the bird is cleaned with a soft brush.

cutting

The chicken is cut step by step into 8 parts:

2 shins;
2 hips;
2 wings;
2 breast halves.

The work must be performed strictly following a certain sequence:

1. Place the carcass on the back breast up.
2. Using scissors, make an incision from the bottom in the middle of the breast to the top.
3. Unfold the chicken so that it is convenient to cut out the spinal column.
4. Insert a kitchen knife into the carcass and, slowly, parallel to the spinal column, divide the carcass in half towards you.

Separation of wings and legs

Then you need to cut the chicken into pieces. First you need to separate the legs:

1. Pulling the limb to the side, cut the skin between it and the body.
2. Take the chicken thigh with one hand and hold the carcass with the other
3. Turn the hip joint outward and upward with force - the ligaments will tear and the thigh can be easily detached from the body.
4. Separate the lower leg from the thigh.
5. Leave the leg on the table with the skin down, sharply lower the knife along the fold, dividing it into two halves.

1. Find the connection of the wing with the carcass.
2. Determine the place where the wing bone enters the connecting joint.
3. Cut with a sharp knife along the tendons of the joint

Separation of the bone with cartilage from the breast

The next step requires:

1. Separate the breast from the back along the line of adipose tissue. It creates a white stripe, determines the direction of the incision along which the cartilage tissue connects the sternum to the ribs.
2. Draw out the cartilage. They are located on both sides of the bone, which runs along the center of the breast along its entire length. Cut the upper part of the breast at the location of the two bones exactly between them to the bone that has a darker color.
3. Remove the cartilage, they need to pry with the thumbs of both hands, as if breaking the breast in half. Apply force and try to push up the bone that holds the long cartilage. Without reaching for the ribs, squeeze the bone and cartilage out of the breast. When the latter are released from the meat, take the bone and pull until it slips out of the soft tissues.
4. Divide the breast in half and pull out the ribs from the inside, removing them with a sharp knife. It turned out a separate chicken fillet. If necessary, it must be cut into pieces or left in one piece.

All pieces should be washed under running water and dried with a waffle towel. Meat can be used to make a roll, and the bones, back and cartilage can be used for soup.

Buying a whole chicken in a supermarket, you can save on the difference in price for cut and uncut carcasses. When purchasing a live bird, you need to know how to butcher a chicken, from slaughter to cooking.

How to choose a chicken?

Choosing a bird begins with determining its culinary purpose. For baking, frying, barbecue and other things, it is best to buy a carcass of a broiler chicken in a supermarket. Modern breeds of industrial poultry have high precocity and weigh 1-1.5 kg at 2 months. Their meat is tender and not too fatty.

For soups or stews (rooster in wine, chakhokhbili, etc.), it is best to choose homemade chicken from the market. This is a bird about 1 year old, its meat is elastic, and fat accumulates under the skin. Too old and tough chicken can be distinguished by the completely ossified end of the keel bone (near the incision on the belly) and yellow fat. In a young bird, it has a light shade, and in store chickens it is white.

The second important selection criterion is the freshness and quality of the meat. When examining carcasses on the market, you need to pay attention to the presence of a veterinarian's stamp on the skin and a certificate from the seller. You can distinguish fresh chicken meat:

by smell - characteristic "meat", in a scorched bird - with a delicate aroma of smoking;
to preserve the shape - if you press on the fleshy parts with your finger, the dent is immediately leveled;
according to the state of the surface - the incisions are not windy, but dry, without mucus and moisture, and the skin is always dry.

A quality broiler has some pinkish water in the bag after washing. It should be transparent, and turbidity indicates spoilage of the product. By pressing your finger on the breast or ham, you should determine the elasticity of the meat in the same way as in market chickens. Fresh meat quickly restores its shape.

There should be no signs of weathering on the edges of the cuts (dark red stripes), and on the surface of the carcass - dark or yellowish spots, bruises, etc. Chilled chicken never has ice crystals in the package.

Tools you will need

For cutting already prepared carcasses, most often only a sharp knife is required. For convenience, you can use special kitchen scissors from a set of knives and other utensils.

If you have to gut a chicken at home (when buying a live bird), all operations can be done with a simple kitchen knife, which must be sharpened sharply, and with your own hands. It is better to protect them with rubber gloves.

Evisceration and removal of unnecessary parts

After the bird has been slaughtered, it is scalded with boiling water and the feather and down are removed. The remnants of fine hairs and fluffs must be singeed over an open fire: over a gas stove burner, a special nozzle on a cylinder or on a fire. Gutting a chicken is done like this:

Cut the skin at the base of the neck. Find and carefully remove the goiter and trachea. Cut them off.
A skin incision is made along the abdomen: from the end of the keel bone to the anus. The fold of skin surrounding it should not be cut. Gradually deepen the cut, dissecting fatty tissue and a thin transparent film.
Putting your hand between your breastbone and internal organs, in a semicircular motion, the offal is separated from the films (they are easily torn) and all the insides are taken out on the table, next to the carcass.
The muscles of the anus are separated from the carcass: trying not to touch the intestines (cloaca), this part of the musculocutaneous layer between the pubic bones and the coccyx is cut in a circle. The procedure must be carried out carefully, because sometimes the cloaca is filled with feces.
The gutted carcass is washed and set aside. Sometimes the heart remains inside, it must be felt in the very depths of the body cavity and removed.
Separate the stomach and liver from the insides, if you want to add them to the broth. There is a gallbladder in the mass of the liver, it is cut out without violating the integrity of the duct, after which the liver can be separated from the films that connect it with the intestines. The stomach is simply cut off and cleaned inside, removing the yellow film. Rinse the giblets thoroughly and set aside. The intestines are not used for food.
Separate the legs and the first articulations of the wings. Cut off the neck. They can be used for broth along with offal.

Cutting methods

Depending on the further method of preparation, the chicken carcass is cut in different ways. When cooking broth or soup, a whole chicken is most often used, cutting it after boiling. But when frying tobacco chickens, stewing, preparing portioned dishes and barbecue, the chicken needs to be cut into several parts, removing the bones.

The classic way to cut a carcass

The carcass can be divided into legs, wings and fillets. The method is convenient for those who do not need a one-time use of the entire bird. Chicken parts can be stored in the freezer and used as needed. Chicken cutting is done in the following sequence:

Pulling the leg to the side, cut the skin from the belly to the back. The leg will freely move away from the rest. It must be broken at the joint and cut off near the back. Repeat on the other side.
Similarly, the wings are separated from the chest.
Cut along the fat fold on the side of the chest from the back. After separation, the fillet is removed from the breast: they are cut along the collarbones (where the neck was), with hands and a knife, the flesh is separated from the flat bones of the sternum and keel.
The remains of small costal bones are cut off, the breast is divided into 2 halves or left whole.

All parts are packaged separately: the pulp and legs are suitable for main courses, the wings can be used both for frying and in broth, and the bones and back give a good rich broth.
in half
You can cut a chicken into 2 half carcasses in different ways:
Cut along the keel bone and along the spine along the entire length. There will be 2 not quite identical halves.
Separate the meat from the sternum and cut off the bone. Make incisions on 2 sides of the spine and remove it. You will get 2 equal half-carcasses and bones for the broth.

For 8 parts
Cutting a chicken carcass into 8 approximately equal parts is used in the preparation of portioned dishes, convenient for storage. Before dividing, you need to make 2 half carcasses using the second method. After that, 1 half is placed with the skin up and the leg is cut off from the thoracic region. Feeling the joint connecting the thigh and drumstick, divide the ham into 2 parts.
The thoracic region with the wing must also be divided into 2 parts. The breast fillet is cut across slightly below the base of the wing. Got 2 more parts.
In the same way, they are divided into 4 pieces and the second half of the carcass. The hostess will get 8 pieces with the same amount of meat on them.
No Waste
In order not to leave bony waste, they do it easier. The hostess does not need to separate the bones and the spine, so the chicken carcass is laid on its back, it is cut in half lengthwise: along the sternum and spine. Separate 2 legs with the pelvic bones and part of the spine. Wings with parts of the pectoral muscle are cut off from the front halves. In a large carcass, you can additionally halve the halves of the breast fillet. You will get 6-8 medium pieces, convenient for preparing 1-2 servings of food.
In equal portions
Before cutting the chicken into portions, you need to separate the meat parts from the frame. The bones will go to the soup. The legs are separated first, incising the skin in the direction from the abdominal incision to the back. The thigh is easily separated by pulling the shank to the side. There is only 1 joint at the base that needs to be cut with a knife or scissors. Then the breast is cut along with the wings, separating it from the dorsal part completely. The spine is laid on the broth and work continues with the cut off meat part:
remove the fillet, separating the bones of the sternum from the meat;
cut off the wing and some meat from the breast, and divide the rest of the loin in half;
dissect the leg into the thigh and lower leg.

Boneless cutting
Sometimes, when making ceremonial dishes (rolls, stuffed poultry, etc.), cutting is required, in which bones are removed from the carcass without dividing the meat into pieces. After such a manipulation, the chicken looks like a layer of meat with a skin or a “bag” of muscle tissue. Depending on the recipe, 2 methods of removing bones are used. The first one is as follows:
Start carving the chicken from the back. A longitudinal incision is made and the meat begins to be removed from the bones, moving from the back. The hip joint is exposed and broken to separate the bone from the pulp. The meat is pushed aside with the fingers, helping with a knife. The femoral part is turned out with a stocking. At the connection with the lower leg, the joint is cut, detaching the exposed thigh bone, and removing it. The pulp is turned back. Also clean the leg on the other side.
Moving towards the chest, they separate the skin and muscles from the ribs, gradually moving to the sternum and keel bone.
The base of the wing is separated, like a thigh, by turning the muscle stocking without cutting the skin. At the connection with the second joint, the bone is cut and removed. The wing is turned inside out, giving a normal look.
The clavicle and thymus are separated by simply cutting off the edges of the meat plate from them.
It remains to carefully separate the thin part between the two breast fillets from the keel bone. Here you can use scissors, being careful not to cut through the skin and a thin layer of connective tissue.

To properly cut the chicken with a “bag”, cuts are not made. All skin around the carcass must remain intact. To do this, the spine is cut near the base of the tail (tail), and then they begin to separate the meat with skin from the bones in a circle. Having reached the hips, the bones are removed, breaking the joint from the pelvic bone and freeing each part in the same way as in open method. When moving to the chest, it will become more difficult to remove the meat, because the incision on the abdomen will end.
Here they begin to turn inside out the entire skin with muscle layers attached to it. Up to the wing bones, the frame is easily separated from the fillet. At the keel bone, the connective tissues are carefully cut, trying not to damage the skin.
When the hostess gets to the wing, the joint must be cut off from the frame with scissors and each part is individually turned out, removing the meat (as in the open method). Then you should restore the normal appearance of the wing and finish cutting near the collarbones. Set aside the frame for the broth, and turn the meat removed with a stocking with the skin out.

We get the breast fillet
Filleting the breast on the bone is simple: the meat must be cut from thin but dense bones. It is cut along the center line, separating from the keel, and then removed with a finger and a knife from the sternum and ribs. Repeat with the second half.
Cutting chicken for rolls and barbecue
For a roll, methods of removing bones from a whole carcass are used. Depending on the recipe, you can use both a layer and a stocking. The main requirement is to keep the whole skin, to which the muscles are attached, and remove the bones.
It is most convenient to cut the chicken for barbecue using the 8-piece or portioned method. If the pieces are large, they can be cut in half.
Secrets of experienced chefs
When using frozen poultry, the carcass is completely thawed before cutting. In order not to lose the juiciness of the meat, thawing is carried out at a low temperature (slightly above 0 ° C). Thawing takes place within a few hours, and the juice has time to soak into the meat.
In order for the fillet to retain its shape during baking, tendons must be removed from it. In pinkish muscle tissue, they stand out like a white dense film. The tendons are cut with a sharp knife, separating from the meat fibers.
To get a tasty and juicy dish, it is better to use not a frozen, but a chilled carcass.