Buying whole chickens is cheaper per pound and better for your cooking, but only if you are not intimidated by the bird. Breaking one down takes about five minutes once you have done it twice.
What you need
A sharp boning or chef's knife, a cutting board, and a bowl for the bones. No shears required, though they help with the backbone.
The eight pieces
1. **Legs.** Cut the skin between the thigh and the breast. Bend the leg outward until the hip joint pops. Cut through the joint. Repeat.
2. **Split leg into thigh and drumstick.** Find the fat line running across the joint and cut straight through it.
3. **Wings.** Pull the wing away from the body, feel for the shoulder joint, cut through it.
4. **Separate breast from back.** Cut down along the rib line on both sides and lift the breast section free of the back.
5. **Split the breast.** Cut down one side of the breastbone. Two boneless or bone in breast halves depending on how you cut.
6. **Keep the back and any trim.** This is stock.
Work through joints, not bone. If you are sawing, you are in the wrong place. Move the knife a quarter inch and try again.
Four meals from one bird
**Meal one, roast or grill:** the two breast halves, seasoned simply and cooked hot and fast.
**Meal two, braise:** thighs and drumsticks in a pan with onion, garlic, stock, and whatever herbs you have. Dark meat from a pasture bird is the best part of the animal.
**Meal three, wings and snacks:** roast the wings hot with salt and pepper.
**Meal four, stock and soup:** the back, wing tips, and any bones from the first three meals go into a pot with water, an onion, a carrot, and a bay leaf. Simmer gently for hours. Strain, cool, freeze in quart jars. That stock turns into soup, risotto, and pan sauce all month.
Why pasture chicken breaks down differently
Our Grey Broilers have more developed legs and firmer connective tissue than a supermarket bird. Joints take a bit more intent. The payoff is meat with better texture and dark meat with real flavor.
Get a bird
Whole, frozen pasture-raised chicken is available by preorder on the chicken pre-sale page, with pickup at the farm in Conway.
