Breaking down a whole chicken is a great way to save money and you know that you are making the best use of a precious resource.
Here we are removing the breasts from the body and practically getting the rest of the chicken for free 🙂 .
The breast meat doesn’t do a lot of work during the modern chicken’s life so is very tender. They are very versatile and seem to be most people’s favourite. I use them a lot in my cooking except in curries and stews where the longer cooking can dry the breast meat out.
Removing the breasts
- By now you will have taken the wings and legs off the whole bird (see links below showing you how to do that).
- Place the chicken in front of you, breast up and tail end facing away from you.
- Locate the breast bone that, just like in humans, is made of cartilage and runs down the middle of the chest.
- Slice along one side of the breast bone, keeping close to it and making careful cuts downwards, and the the breast will begin to fall off.
- Repeat on the other side.
Removing the tenderloin
- You can go one step further and remove the tenderloin (a long thin tender muscle that runs the length of the breast) from each breast.
- Take your knife and run it along the natural seam (I have started in the picture below to show you where it is).
- Use tenderloins in stir fries etc or turn them into home-made chicken nuggets.
Enjoy,
PK
More Chicken Cuts:
Ingredient |
---|
chicken whole |
chicken breast |
chicken butterflied or halved |
chicken carcass |
chicken crown |
chicken leg and thigh |
chicken wing |
Related Links:
- see all recipes using chicken here
- go to the main page about chickens here
- more home butchery posts
- go to the main ingredients page here
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