Using a reasonably sharp knife, any home cook can easily cut a whole chicken, turkey, duck, or goose into serving pieces with just a little practice. By cutting up a bird yourself, you not only save a considerable amount of money but also ensure that you will have precisely the right parts, cut just the way you want them. Of course, for most cooks, the parts available at the supermarket will do just fine, but the supermarket does not always provide for special needs. Supermarkets never offer butterflied chickens, perfect for stuffing under the skin and roasting, and they rarely offer halved and quartered chickens, which are nice grilled or broiled. Supermarkets detach the ΓÇ£oysters,ΓÇ¥ the delicious nuggets of meat that lie on either side of the small of the back, from the thighs, and they jumble large and small parts from different chickens together in the same pack, which creates problems for a cook who wants to broil or fry, techniques that require small parts.
The back, neck, heart, and gizzard from a cut-up bird will make 2 to 3 cups of excellent stock. These pieces can all be wrapped and frozen for future use.
To Butterfly or Split a Bird: These two procedures are related. To butterfly a bird, cut through the ribs on either side of the backbone with shears and remove the bone. Turn the bird breast side up, place your palm over the breastbone, and press hard to flatten the bird completely. To keep the legs in place during cooking, make 1/2-inch slits on either side of the breast tip, then insert the ends of the drumsticks into each of these openings.
To split a bird, remove the backbone and flatten as for butterflying. Place the bird skin side down and pry out the reddish breastbone and attached cartilage with your fingers. Cut the bird in half at the seam where the breastbone has been removed (see Butterflying or Splitting a Chicken).
To Cut a Bird into Six, Eight, or Ten Pieces: This is how one makes so-called poultry parts. Generally speaking, only chickens and turkeys are cut into eight or ten pieces. Ducks, if cut at all, are separated into six pieces: two whole legs, two whole wings, and two breast halves. Geese are rarely cut up, except for confit.
Start with the legs (see Removing the Legs from a Chicken). Lay the bird on its side, pull the leg away from the body, and cut into the skin with the knife held close to the thigh so that you will not remove too much of the breast skin. As you cut, continue to pull up on the leg until the thighbone pops out of its socket. Now, press the tip of a paring knife against the backbone just behind the thigh joint and dig out the little nugget of meat, called the oyster. Slice through the skin from the tip of the oyster to the opposite corner of the thigh and detach the leg. If you wish, you can leave half or all of the tail attached to the thigh skin. Repeat with the other leg. To separate the drumstick and thigh, flex the leg and crack the ball joint. Place the leg on a cutting board with the inner side facing up and cut exactly at the thin line of fat separating the drumstick and thigh.
The wings can be removed cleanly at the joint or, to make a more ample serving, with a small piece of breast meat attached (see Removing the Chicken Wings). To remove the wing at the joint, lay the chicken on its side, pull the wing away from the body until the joint is exposed, and cut. To leave a piece of breast attached to the wing, lay the bird on its side and make a cut into the breast about 1 inch up from the top of the wing joint, parallel to the ribs. Pulling the wing away from the body, cut against the ribs until you reach the ball joint, then cut through the joint and detach the wing.
To separate the breast from the back, cut through the rib bones on either side of the backbone with poultry shears or a sharp knife (see Splitting and Quartering a Chicken Breast). Be sure to cut close to the backbone, or you will lose the underside of the breast to the back. Reserve the back for stock.
Before cutting the breast, locate the wishbone at the thick end (opposite the cartilage tip), scrape it free from the surrounding flesh with the tip of a paring knife, and pull it out. Stretch the breast skin smoothly over both halves of the breast, then turn the breast skin side down. Using a sharp knife, cut down the middle of the breast, through the reddish breastbone, to make two halves. For some chicken dishes, you may want to cut the breast into 4 serving pieces. Turn one breast half skin side up and, arching your free hand over the knife and stretching the skin between your fingers, cut the breast in half diagonally through the bone. (If you will be quartering the breast of a small chicken, you should remove the wings at or very near the joints, or else the back breast pieces will be rather bony.)
