THE CHEF FROM HELL

The first time I attempted to cup up a whole chicken was just after I'd been moved up from dishwasher to prep cook; one of the chefs at the restaurant I was working at plopped six broiler chickens down in front of me and said, "We need these cut up right away!"  My only response was, "Uhhhhhh...."  Over time, I learned how to cut up an entire chicken and you can too!  Here's how to do it:

Step 1. Place the chicken breast side up and, using a sharp boning knife, cut the skin between the thighs and the body.

Step 2.  With each hand, grasp one of the legs.  Bend the legs back until the bones break at the hip joints. 

Step 3.  Remove the leg on the left side from the body by cutting between the joints near the bones in the back of the chicken.  Repeat this on the other side of the bird, cutting away the other leg.

Step 4.  To prep the legs, you must seperate the thigh and drumstick from each leg.  Find the knee joint by bending the thigh and leg together several times.  With the skin side down, cut through the joints of both legs.

Step 5.  Turn the chicken on its back and remove the wings from the body by cutting the wing just on the inside over the joint.  Pull the wing away from the body as you cut down through the joint.

Step 6.  Separate the breast and the back by cutting downwards through the joints on each side of the rib cage.

Step 7.  You can leave the breast whole or cut it into two halves.  To cut the breast in half, place the breast skin side down and cut the wishbone in two at the V of the bone.

Note: Once you've mastered this relatively simply technique, you'll save a bundle when you buy whole chickens as opposed to those expensive chicken parts at the supermarket!