Since doing Pepin's method of deboning chicken, I've been itching to try it again. I picked up two chickens with the idea that those frames would go into the stock I need to do. Time turned out short; I needed to get moving on the stock if I wanted to get it going at a reasonable time. These frames will go into the next batch. Meanwhile I prepped the birds for surgery.
I did not bone out the legs and did the birds like I did the first time.
The two chickens were removed from packaging, excess fat at the cavity removed and discarded, necks saved for stock, giblets discarded. (One day I'll have a use for those, but I'm not there yet.) Then they, including their cavities, were rinsed and dried with paper towel.
Chicken number one was deboned (except the legs) in 13 minutes. Then it was sectioned into pieces. I realized after taking this image that I needed to separate the thigh from drumstick.
In the right-most image above, the entire breast was just folded in half. It's all there.
Chicken number two had the same treatment. Here it should be noted that I got a little fast and loose when it came to separating a wing from the body and wound up cutting through a good portion of that breast half (red arrow). That meant peeling the breast from the frame was a little difficult since the breast wanted to tear along that cut line.
I started bagging the pieces according to type: breasts, wings, drumsticks, tenderloins, and frames. I left the thighs out for the next recipe.
Before bagging the frames, I wanted to point out a couple things. The wishbone has quite some curvature and the part that hooks into the breastbone is fairly thin and long. It's longer than I imagine it to be when I started prying it out of the body. When you cut along both sides of the wishbone, don't be afraid to cut to the top of the wishbone keeping it's shape in mind. If you can, cut along the both sides of each bone comprising the wishbone so you can get your fingers on the outside of it, pinching where the two bones come together, and wrestle it out.
And then there's that part about where to grab the bird when you have separated the wings from the body and are ready to peel the breasts from the frame. What I didn't realize until I tried this technique the first time is that chickens have a natural hole in which your thumb and finger(s) can really grab a hold.
Looking at the light through the hole. I have a very firm grasp on the neck; the breast portion would be to the right.
The red arrow in the middle image shows where my finger is peeking out the hole as seen directly in the right-most photo.
Now let's see how much this stuff weighs, keeping in mind that the whole birds as purchased came in at 4.28 and 4.36 pounds respectively, equaling $8.56.
Frames, necks, wishbones, and wingtips for both birds: 2 pounds and 0.6 ounces. At $0.99/lb, I paid $2.02 for chicken stock material.
I did not bone out the legs and did the birds like I did the first time.
The two chickens were removed from packaging, excess fat at the cavity removed and discarded, necks saved for stock, giblets discarded. (One day I'll have a use for those, but I'm not there yet.) Then they, including their cavities, were rinsed and dried with paper towel.
Chicken number one was deboned (except the legs) in 13 minutes. Then it was sectioned into pieces. I realized after taking this image that I needed to separate the thigh from drumstick.
In the right-most image above, the entire breast was just folded in half. It's all there.
Chicken number two had the same treatment. Here it should be noted that I got a little fast and loose when it came to separating a wing from the body and wound up cutting through a good portion of that breast half (red arrow). That meant peeling the breast from the frame was a little difficult since the breast wanted to tear along that cut line.
I started bagging the pieces according to type: breasts, wings, drumsticks, tenderloins, and frames. I left the thighs out for the next recipe.
Before bagging the frames, I wanted to point out a couple things. The wishbone has quite some curvature and the part that hooks into the breastbone is fairly thin and long. It's longer than I imagine it to be when I started prying it out of the body. When you cut along both sides of the wishbone, don't be afraid to cut to the top of the wishbone keeping it's shape in mind. If you can, cut along the both sides of each bone comprising the wishbone so you can get your fingers on the outside of it, pinching where the two bones come together, and wrestle it out.
And then there's that part about where to grab the bird when you have separated the wings from the body and are ready to peel the breasts from the frame. What I didn't realize until I tried this technique the first time is that chickens have a natural hole in which your thumb and finger(s) can really grab a hold.
Looking at the light through the hole. I have a very firm grasp on the neck; the breast portion would be to the right.
The red arrow in the middle image shows where my finger is peeking out the hole as seen directly in the right-most photo.
Now let's see how much this stuff weighs, keeping in mind that the whole birds as purchased came in at 4.28 and 4.36 pounds respectively, equaling $8.56.
Frames, necks, wishbones, and wingtips for both birds: 2 pounds and 0.6 ounces. At $0.99/lb, I paid $2.02 for chicken stock material.
Boneless, skin-on breasts totaled one pound, 13.6 ounces, coming to a total of $1.83.
Wings, not including the tips, came out to 12.5 ounces, totaling $0.77.
Tenderloins turned out to weigh 5.3 ounces, costing me $0.33.
Drumsticks, weighing one pound and 0.8 ounces, cost $1.04.
Bone-in, skin-on thighs weighed one pound and 8.8 ounces, coming to $1.53.
Grand mass of the finished pieces comes to 5.6 pounds. That means 3.04 pounds, or $3.01, was lost in skin, trimmed fat, and giblets. Even if I add that cost to the breasts, making them $4.84, prepping whole birds is still less expensive than buying them prepared from the store. Or at least it seems to be the case...what does boneless chicken breast go for by the pound nowadays?
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