"Brick" Chicken

Method

Trim off the wing tips from the chicken, easing your knife into the chicken's elbows to do so. Reserve the wing tips for another use, like making Tarf (page 42) or adding to stock or broth. Cut out the wishbone: use your fingers to locate the wishbone, which runs from the chicken's shoulders to the high point of the breastbone. Using the bone to guide your knife, make an incision along the inside of the breastbone—the inside being the part closest to where the neck would have been. Then, again running the knife along the bone and using it as a guide, cut the breastmeat away from the breast meat on the outsides of the wishbone. Grab the wishbone and pull it away from the carcass. It may break into two pieces, it may not. As long as it's out, no problem. Make an incision through the skin down the breastbone, from the neck to end all the way down. Cut the breast meat away from the ribcage, letting the bones of the ribcage guide the blade of the knife. Cut off the wing bones: pull the skin back to reveal the shoulder joint on one side of the chicken. When you find that joint, cut through the joint—you may need to use some pressure to make the cut. Pop—hyper-extend—the legs to detach them from the backbone, then, with the backbone guiding the blade of the knife, cut the boned breast and bone-in leg away from the backbone. Be careful to follow the shape of the meat and to keep the oyster—the nugget of meat that rests above the ball socket of the back legs and is nestled against the backbone—intact. When you get all the way around to the back of the chicken, make an incision through the skin and meat along where the backbone used to run to release the first boned half. Repeat on the other side. Reserve the backbone and ribcage scraps for another purpose, such as making stock. Cut the bones out of the legs. Make an L cut: use the tip of your knife to cut along the thigh bone to make an incision that reveals the whole bone. When you've gotten to the knee joint, make a cut (through the skin and flesh) that runs from the knee to the end of the drumstick. Run your knife around the end of the drumstick to sever the tendons that are attached to it. Pull the thigh bone away from the leg, using the tip of your knife to scrape or cut away the meat holding the bone in place, then repeat for the drumstick and pull the bone away from the meat. Repeat for the other leg.