I cannot carve a chicken
Discussion
really. We have nice lovely free range roast chicken every Sunday. Every Sunday I manage to 'butcher' it (not in a good way) in my attempts to carve it. I'm useless at it. Probably done over two hundred now, and still crap at it.
things I have: sharp knife
things I don't have: consistency; knowledge;
how the hell do you cut the legs to get what look like normal chicken drumsticks? ??? I hack through the tendons and basically bodge it up.
things I have: sharp knife
things I don't have: consistency; knowledge;
how the hell do you cut the legs to get what look like normal chicken drumsticks? ??? I hack through the tendons and basically bodge it up.
its really easy................once someone has shown you how.
A few tips- remove the wishbone before roasting, and make sure that the bird has had at least 20 mins of resting as this will help the breast with carving.
So, remove the legs first before trying to carve them. un-"latch" them from the cavity and pull them out sideways away from the bird. Slice your knife down the gap from above the bird cutting through skin and what should be very tender meat. Eventually when you've cut enough away you can push the leg away and down to dislocate the joint. You can then cut away the whole leg.
To cut the leg from the thigh turn the leg over so it is skin down and look at the mid point of the joint- you will see a line in the flesh which runs at roughly 90degrees to the leg- cut along this line (from the inside of the leg up into the joint) and whilst cutting wiggle the leg a bit- the wiggling allows the knife to find the joint. Slice through the joint. Eventually you wont' need to wiggle the joint as you'll know where you can cut.
With the breast you have two choices- for me i remove each breast whole- run your finger down the middle fo the breastbone- you can feel cartilage- cut tightly down one side of the cartilage all the way to the front of the bird. Start to pull away the breast and use the knife to cut away the breast in long slices with the knife pointed towards the carcass. At the bottom of the breast you can cut into the wing joint and remove the breast and wing whole.
The reason for removing the breast is tha you can then slice across the grain of the breast which will make it feel much more tender.
A few tips- remove the wishbone before roasting, and make sure that the bird has had at least 20 mins of resting as this will help the breast with carving.
So, remove the legs first before trying to carve them. un-"latch" them from the cavity and pull them out sideways away from the bird. Slice your knife down the gap from above the bird cutting through skin and what should be very tender meat. Eventually when you've cut enough away you can push the leg away and down to dislocate the joint. You can then cut away the whole leg.
To cut the leg from the thigh turn the leg over so it is skin down and look at the mid point of the joint- you will see a line in the flesh which runs at roughly 90degrees to the leg- cut along this line (from the inside of the leg up into the joint) and whilst cutting wiggle the leg a bit- the wiggling allows the knife to find the joint. Slice through the joint. Eventually you wont' need to wiggle the joint as you'll know where you can cut.
With the breast you have two choices- for me i remove each breast whole- run your finger down the middle fo the breastbone- you can feel cartilage- cut tightly down one side of the cartilage all the way to the front of the bird. Start to pull away the breast and use the knife to cut away the breast in long slices with the knife pointed towards the carcass. At the bottom of the breast you can cut into the wing joint and remove the breast and wing whole.
The reason for removing the breast is tha you can then slice across the grain of the breast which will make it feel much more tender.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyrkjvr23Qc
So easy with a properly sharp knife (and asbestos hands!).
So easy with a properly sharp knife (and asbestos hands!).
bigandclever said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyrkjvr23Qc
So easy with a properly sharp knife (and asbestos hands!).
dam beat me to it So easy with a properly sharp knife (and asbestos hands!).
evoivboy said:
best to portion a chicken rather than carve it, but difficult to explain without showing
1:This is true, looking at the vids on YouTube, & what I was shown the chicken is technically portioned rather than carved, each person gets a bit of light meat & a bit of dark.2: I'm now wanting roast chicken
3: how to serve chicken by Cotty
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
if you really want to learn your way around a chicken then have a go at doing this a couple of times:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAekQ5fzfGM
once you've got that down pat you'll have no problems carving.
IF you are reasonably competent with a knife than fully boning a chicken isn't hard, and looks night impressive!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAekQ5fzfGM
once you've got that down pat you'll have no problems carving.
IF you are reasonably competent with a knife than fully boning a chicken isn't hard, and looks night impressive!
PugwasHDJ80 said:
if you really want to learn your way around a chicken then have a go at doing this a couple of times:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAekQ5fzfGM
once you've got that down pat you'll have no problems carving.
IF you are reasonably competent with a knife than fully boning a chicken isn't hard, and looks night impressive!
Thanks for that, great vid (I was gonna say that if you learn to joint a bird then carving becomes a simple exercise)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAekQ5fzfGM
once you've got that down pat you'll have no problems carving.
IF you are reasonably competent with a knife than fully boning a chicken isn't hard, and looks night impressive!
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