Butchering your own chicken seems to be something of a lost art

[Major Nikon]

...thanks to the wide availability of pre-butchered parts. However, I just enjoy doing it myself and I use every part of the chicken. The wings go in the air fryer. The thighs and legs I will sous vide for several hours and use them for things like soup and chicken tacos. The breasts I will slice in half and pound flat for sauteing. The back and wing tips I will sous vide overnight and turn into stock. I will usually butcher two at a time, vacuum bag into 1 meal servings and freeze. Into the dark meat and stock parts I will throw in some rock salt so they can go directly into the sous vide water bag for cooking.

The sous vide makes thawing them out super easy. About 30 minutes at 70F will completely thaw breasts or thighs. For any recipe that calls for chicken I always have the right parts.

[The Blue Flower]

1. Do you mean killing your own live birds or...

Or cutting apart a whole one from the store? If the former, what do you do with the internal organs and feathers?

[kelly1mm]

2. Not the OP but we butcher (kill) our own chickens using a 'killing cone'

which is basically a traffic cone with a bit of the tip cut off. That holds the chicken still as both the cone and the chicken are upside down. The feathers are added to the compost tumbler. The internal organs other than the liver go into the 'slop bucket' and are cooked with the rest of the scraps/leftovers and fed to the pigs. The liver we save in the freezer till we have enough to fry them for a family gettogether - they are a family tradition.

[Major Nikon]

3. I was raised on a farm and we did the former

But I haven't done that in decades. If you can get your hands on an older chicken, these are much better for pretty much anything that's slow cooked. Now days I just buy the whole chicken at the store and the organ meats are usually removed, although I do occassionally find them. I keep them for giblet gravy or dirty rice when I do get them.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. No thanks. I hate to touch raw chicken. Buy pre-cut pieces, butt have to pull the skin

up on legs and thighs. I always gag. I'm not much better handling raw red meat.

[AndyS]

5. ever try de-boning the whole bird?

Cut the skin along the backbone and then pop the legs out of their joint. Do the same with the wings. Slice the chicken away from the carcass until the breast meat is free. At this point you should have the carcass and the rest of the chicken with thigh and drumstick/wings attached.

Begin at the thigh and scrape the meat from the bone to the drumstick. Continue to the nub at the tip of the leg. You have basically turned the leg quarter inside out. Shove the bones back into the leg quarter and break the bone as close to the nub as you can with the back of a chef's knife. Extract the thigh/leg bones and you have a chicken with no bones except the wings.

Lay the bird out breast down and spread stuffing over the butterflied chicken, stuffing it inside the legs where the bones once were and roll it into a shape similar to the whole bird. It's kinda like a chicken sausage. Roast until a thermometer reads at least 165f (or whatever makes you feel safe).

Remove the wings, slice the bird in 1/2 inch serving pieces, reassemble the wings and serve. Festive and great at serve yourself gatherings.

I was once quite good at this but that was long ago and far away in another life . . .

[tishaLA]

9. The master at work....

his method differs slightly from yours (especially regarding the wings), but it's the result that matters.

[AndyS]

10. Thank you so much for this. I learned from a different chef's video but the

technique is the same. I left the wings intact so I could fold the tip under and make a different presentation. It took me a little longer but the result was mind blowing to those I served it to. Hope this inspires someone to give it a try and report back here.

I loved watching Pepin. It feels so funny to be she same age as these aging celebrities . . .

[Major Nikon]

12. I have done it before

However it's not something I do these days. I prefer to cook the dark meat separate from the white meat at least when it comes to supermarket chicken.

[rsdsharp]

6. When I in high school, I worked in the meat department of a small grocery store.

I could cut up a chicken in 12 seconds. I was slow; my brother could do one in 10 seconds. Our boss could cut up a chicken in 6 seconds — faster than you could put the parts in a tray.

[BigmanPigman]

7. I watched and memorized all 3 of Tony Bourdain's cooking/travel snows

and I learned how to de-bone and use every part of most animals. The good chefs love to cook the offal/organs and entrails of a butchered animal. I have seen the chefs debone all sorts of birds too. The key is a sharp knife. I can de-bone a whole turkey or chicken in a very short time and I use every bit.

[ggma]

8. We had a House of Poultry here.

That was where I met my first 3-legged fryer (chicken packaged with three chicken halves). It was also where I bought bags of chicken backs that I used for my dinner when I cooked so that my kids got the "real" meat. I got so used to them that when the Poultry place went out of business I bought whole birds to cut up to get my backs.

A little off topic, I know; just a fond memory for me...

gg

[cachukis]

11. I get laughed at and become the butt of jokes.

I still skim schmaltz.

[chowmama]

13. I cut up whole chickens for freezing

My co-op sells nice big ones and I get two at a time, as close to 5 pounds each, as I can get. The breasts get boned out and frozen on a cooky sheet, before I put them in a freezer container. Each one tends to be big enough for a meal for two. The breast tenders and any large scraps from the back get cubed and stuck in another freezer container for stir-fry. So that's 5 meals for two.

The legs and thighs also get frozen on a sheet before being put in a container. A piece is a serving, so that's another 4 meals for two. The wings get cut into flats and drummies and put in a separate container - when they reach critical mass, it's time for a wing ding.

All other parts - rib bones, backs, necks, wing tips - go in freezer bags. 2 gallons of scrap parts and bones, plus an open weekend, and we get a large batch of free soup. This gets pressure canned.

I like not wasting any of it, and it's a real convenience to be able to shop the freezer or the pantry. Especially on a late night working, it's really fast to come home, finish up some rice I started before I left in the morning, and just do a quick stir-fry or sauté of the meat I thawed. Hot meal on the table in maybe fifteen minutes.

[Retrograde]

14. All the time

The cheapest way to buy chickens is usually whole, and I've gotten pretty good at breaking them down: legs and thighs go into one bag, the breasts are separated and put into their own bags, back and wing tips go into the stock pot, and I freeze the in a separate bag until I get enough to make a meal. I'm just annoyed that Costco no longer includes the giblets, necks, and livers with their whole chicken packages - the former go into the stock pot and I save the latter until I have enough to make chopped liver.

The drawback is that it's a bit messy, and my hands and the knife get slimy, so I have my sous-chef (aka Mr. Retrograde) on hand to open all the ziploc bags so I can just drop the pieces in. And afterwards - well, I'm a firm believer in soap and hot water to clean all plates, boards, and utensils.

[Major Nikon]

15. I wish they included the giblets as well

However, I can kind of see the point. Most people don't want them and they can be sold separately or used for other purposes. This ostensibly lowers the price of the whole bird and if I want those parts I can get them and there's less waste.