# How To Cut up a Whole Chicken



## Laura (Feb 5, 2009)

In case anybody else is as far behind in cooking skills as me. This video makes it look so easy and I am determined to pick up a fryer next week. What set me off to learn was the $4.50/lb prices on boneless skinless chicken breasts last week, versus $2.29/lb for a high quality kosher bird (Empire). ! And people say the whole chicken tastes better. Anyway, the only thing that bothers me about the video is that the guy isn't wearing gloves! EW! I hope he washes his hands and fingernails really well. Sorry, I'm a germophobe.

How to Cut Up A Whole Chicken


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## BJClark (Feb 5, 2009)

I don't wear gloves when I cut up chicken either..I even stick my hand inside and make it out to be like a puppet...

But when it comes to buying chicken, I typically buy it w/ the skin and take the skin off myself..as opposed to paying the higher price..


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## Thomas2007 (Feb 5, 2009)

Laura said:


> In case anybody else is as far behind in cooking skills as me. This video makes it look so easy and I am determined to pick up a fryer next week. What set me off to learn was the $4.50/lb prices on boneless skinless chicken breasts last week, versus $2.29/lb for a high quality kosher bird (Empire). ! And people say the whole chicken tastes better. Anyway, the only thing that bothers me about the video is that the guy isn't wearing gloves! EW! I hope he washes his hands and fingernails really well. Sorry, I'm a germophobe.
> 
> How to Cut Up A Whole Chicken



Thanks for the video, I shared it with my customers. We are so used to pre-packaged food that it is a bit intimidating to buy a whole chicken, or seems to be a bother. He makes it easy, yet elegant, and it really only takes a couple of minutes.

I've got a great chicken stock recipe I'll dig up for ya. And if you are ever interested in changing the way you think about chicken (e.g., germophobia), I've got some Label Rouge grass fed chickens that will knock your socks off! (Shameless Plug! ) Can't compete with those prices though, but really its two different kinds of meat.


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## LawrenceU (Feb 5, 2009)

I guess my momma did me a favour making me cut up all those chickens I killed, plucked, and drew. I could do it in my sleep.

Why on earth would anyone remove the skin from chicken. That's the best part!


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## BertMulder (Feb 5, 2009)

Ask the store's butcher to cut it up for you...


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## BJClark (Feb 5, 2009)

LawrenceU;




> Why on earth would anyone remove the skin from chicken. That's the best part!



The skin actually has the most fat on the chicken, so removing the skin, removes the most fat..

but it also depends on what I'm making..on if I remove the skin before cooking or not..


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## Theognome (Feb 5, 2009)

Have you ever tried to deep fry the skin kinda like pork rinds?

Theognome


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## Whitefield (Feb 5, 2009)

Theognome said:


> Have you ever tried to deep fry the skin kinda like pork rinds?
> 
> Theognome



Thanks!  Now I'm getting hungry for some southern fried chicken.


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## Grymir (Feb 5, 2009)

Whole chicken that you cut yourself is easy to do, once you get the hang of it. And it tastes great!!

As a licenced Chef in the foodservice industry, I do want to mention that wearing gloves is actually unsanitary and spreads germs, which is taught in any foodservice sanitation class. The little germies need moisture and warmth to grow. When you put on the gloves, it gives them an ideal environment to grow in, and they grow much faster. Frequent washing of hands is the #1 way to kill germs. The popular opinion that gloves are "safer" stems from Cafeteria's that don't emphasize hand washing. It takes to much time. 

Notice this also next time you see somebody using them. You are supposed to wash your hands, dry thouoghly, then put the gloves on immediately. Then when they come off, yu are supposed to wash your hands agian before you do anything else, according to the Health Code. 

I use them professionally to keep gook off of my hands and when dealing with hot foods.


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## LawrenceU (Feb 5, 2009)

BJClark said:


> LawrenceU;
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Yeah, I know. I just love fried chicken. One time when I was up in Yankeeland I ordered fried chicken. It was the most pathetic attempt I've ever seen. It was skinless chicken breasts that had a dusting of some type of seaoning, mostly thyme. That had been sauteed in olive oil.  

Not fried chicken. Not even close.


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## Theognome (Feb 5, 2009)

LawrenceU said:


> BJClark said:
> 
> 
> > LawrenceU;
> ...



That'll learn ya to order fried chicken north of Virginia. Johnny cakes and beans is what you order up there- unless you're in Maine, where it's okay to munch a large crustacean.

Theognome


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## LawrenceU (Feb 5, 2009)

I should have known better.


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## Augusta (Feb 5, 2009)

Thanks for that! I learned it in home economics but I couldn't remember how to do it. I need to do this because my daughter get stomach aches from frozen chicken and it may be from all the soy they feed them. I need to get the grain fed whole chickens.


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## Laura (Feb 5, 2009)

Thomas2007 said:


> I've got a great chicken stock recipe I'll dig up for ya. And if you are ever interested in changing the way you think about chicken (e.g., germophobia), I've got some Label Rouge grass fed chickens that will knock your socks off! (Shameless Plug! ) Can't compete with those prices though, but really its two different kinds of meat.


I believe it. I understand that you even have to cook grassfed meats differently than the kind in the supermarket? Wish we could afford that kind of quality meat.



LawrenceU said:


> Why on earth would anyone remove the skin from chicken. That's the best part!



Exacto. Where the fat is, there is the flavor. 



bertmulder said:


> Ask the store's butcher to cut it up for you...



Really? I've never seen anybody do that around here.



Grymir said:


> As a licenced Chef in the foodservice industry, I do want to mention that wearing gloves is actually unsanitary and spreads germs, which is taught in any foodservice sanitation class. The little germies need moisture and warmth to grow. When you put on the gloves, it gives them an ideal environment to grow in, and they grow much faster. Frequent washing of hands is the #1 way to kill germs.



Well, I only wear gloves when handling raw meat or when I have a cut/wound on my hand. I can see how your hands underneath the gloves would be friendly to bacteria. I just don't like the thought of raw meat touching my bare hands, especially in the winter when my skin is chapped no matter how much lotion I put on throughout the day. Believe it or not I am an obsessive handwasher. 



LawrenceU said:


> Yeah, I know. I just love fried chicken. One time when I was up in Yankeeland I ordered fried chicken. It was the most pathetic attempt I've ever seen. It was skinless chicken breasts that had a dusting of some type of seaoning, mostly thyme. That had been sauteed in olive oil.


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## Jon Lake (Feb 5, 2009)

my wife will not eat anything on a bone she will have chicken STRIP but not a piece of bird from the bone


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## Grymir (Feb 5, 2009)

Theognome said:


> Have you ever tried to deep fry the skin kinda like pork rinds?
> 
> Theognome



Chicken Cracklings!!!! You seek Chicken Cracklings!!! Yummy!!

We get out chicken in a 10 pound bag of leg quarters. We bring it home and wash it, cut it up, and freeze it. No chicken breasts for us, we go for the good stuff! I trim the big fatty pieces off of the chicken thighs and cut them up into little pieces. We put them into a pan and slowly cook them. When the pieces are golden brown, it's done. The liquid fat comes out and we freeze it to use for gravy and such. The crispy pieces are the cracklings. Sprinkle a little salt on them and enjoy! They are sooo good.


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