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

1. By now you will have taken the wings and legs off the whole bird (see links below showing you how to do that).
2. Place the chicken in front of you, breast up and tail end facing away from you.
3. Locate the breast bone that, just like in humans, is made of cartilage and runs down the middle of the chest.
4. 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.
5. Repeat on the other side.

Removing the tenderloin

1. 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.
2. Take your knife and run it along the natural seam (I have started in the picture below to show you where it is).
3. Use tenderloins in stir fries etc or turn them into home-made chicken nuggets.

Enjoy,

PK

More Chicken Cuts:

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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