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Learn to be a better cook with our food editor-atlarge Barney Desmazery A whole chicken doesn’t cost much more than a couple of breasts, so knowing how to joint one is a skill worth learning.
HOW TO Joint a chicken
Set the bird on a chopping board and remove any string. Open it out, then use scissors to cut off the ends of the wing tips. Use a sharp knife to trim the drumsticks at the knuckle. Turn the chicken over so that it’s laying breast-side down. Use scissors to cut all the way along each side of the backbone, then remove the bone from the bird. Open up the chicken, then lay it flat on the board, breast-side up. Use scissors to cut the bird in half along the centre of the breast. Slide your knife between the leg joint and the breast of one chicken half, then cut to remove the leg. Repeat with the other half of the chicken. Press on the leg joint to pinpoint where the bones meet. Cut down sharply so you end up with a separate drumstick and thigh joint. Repeat with the second leg. Cut vertically through the breast joint to get a wing with a third or so of the breast and a separate breast joint. You’ll now have eight pieces of chicken, evenly split between dark and white meat.