How do I carve roasted chicken?
Being able to carve a chicken (or any poultry or meat) is one of those survival skills I rank up there along with knowing how to sharpen knives and make good coffee. I highly recommend to anyone with a new or growing interest in cooking to take a basic knife skills class (check out culinary schools and local gourmet or kitchenware stores for classes). That’s where I learned the fundamentals of chopping, carving, and knife sharpening.
To carve a roast chicken, you need two tools: a sharp chef’s knife and a fork. After you pull the bird out of the oven, let it rest for about 10 minutes before you attempt to cut into it.
Step 1: Cut the thin layer of skin between the leg (drumstick) and the body of the chicken. Pierce the leg with a fork and pull the leg away from the body until you see the thigh joint. Slice through the joint and remove the leg. Do the same thing to the other side.
Step 2: Cut into the breast, next to the wing, to expose the wing joint. Cut through the joint and remove the wing. Ditto for the other side.
Step 3: Next, remove the breast meat by cutting vertically into the meat along the breast bone (the one that runs down the middle of the carcass). Then slice horizontally along the rib cage. This should loosen the whole breast so that it can be pulled off. Repeat on the flip side. (When cutting the breast meat into servings, slice crosswise across the grain.)
Roast chicken is one of my favorite, no-brainer meals. It’s so simple, I sometimes feel the need to fancy-up the table setting to make it more elegant -- and to look like the whole affair consisted of much more work than it actually did.
by Colleen Rush is the author of "The Mere Mortal's Guide to Fine Dining: From Salad Forks to Sommeliers, How to Eat and Drink in Style Without Fear of Faux Pas." She and her husband live in Chicago.
6/25/08
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