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Sunday, August 14, 2011

How to Butterfly a Chicken

I showed this technique once before, briefly, but the images sucked. So let's see it again, eh?

Rinse a whole chicken inside and out with cool water, place it on a plate lined with about 3-4 sheets of paper towel, throw a couple more paper towel on top of the bird and stick a couple in it's gut hole.

Once dry, I usually let the paper soak the water about 15 minutes, flip the bird so it is on it's breast. Pat it down some more if necessary and don't forget to remove the paper from the cavity.


Once on it's breast, back-side up, the bird usually has one good knob to grab, the tail. This bird had a lot of neck sticking out. I anticipated the neck would be slippery so I spun the bird so the leg end was toward me before cutting the backbone/spine out of the bird with kitchen scissors.


I mentioned before that you want to stay as close to the spine as possible to avoid big bones like thigh and wing bones. The backbone is not very wide and the only things you should be cutting through are flesh, skin and ribs. If it seems you've come across a really tough bone to cut, you probably have. Scootch the scissors in toward the center of the bird a little and proceed.

Place a palm against the flesh on each side of the cavity and press outward and down to spread the bird flat.


I jumped the gun a little and didn't collect an image of the next part. But there will be a keel bone right there between the breasts in your bird.

Take a knife and slice straight down the center of the bird, straight down the keel bone and cartilage. Don't try to cut the bird in half, just open the membrane to gain access to the keel bone. Flex the bird so it is "more open" which will cause the keel to be forced out of the membrane. Press a thumb against one side of the keel bone, insert an index finger on the top (wing side) of the bird and pull the keel upward. It should pop out with just a little effort. You won't hurt the bird, so work it a little if you have to.

This is my butterflied bird, keel bone removed.


Alton Brown illustrates butterflying in less than a minute in this video from minutes 1:23-2:30. I highly recommend you watch!

Here's the keel bone and where it used to be in the bird. Don't sweat trying to remove the cartilage, that's easy to slice when the bird is cooked.


Removing the keel isn't crucial, but it does make carving the bird into quarters post cooking a lot easier as it's the only bone dividing the two halves of the bird. Check out the same video above at 8:50 minutes to see Alton carve his finished bird. If keel bone removal grosses you out, just leave it in. No biggie, you'll just have to remove it after it's cooked.


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