Deboning a Whole Chicken

Directions

1. Rinse the chicken and dry well with paper towels.
2. Using the poultry shears, snip off the wing tips and discard.
3. Turn the chicken onto your work surface and cut out the back and discard.
4. Return to cold, running water and rinse well again. Dry with paper towels.
5. Flatten the chicken breast side down and using your knife, cut the membrane on the under side of the breast. This will reveal the keel bone. Using your fingers, loosen the keel bone until you can neatly remove it from between the breasts. Takes a bit of practice to do neatly.
6. Now, trace your finger at the top of the breast and locate the ends of the wishbone. Pull gently and then twist to remove once you see the joints.
7. If you want to remove the rib bones, use the blade of the knife to slowly scrape along the edges of the rib cage. Follow the ribs until they separate as one unit from the meat.
8. If you want to keep the entire chicken intact, you can also remove the thigh bone by using the blade scraping technique described in the last step. Otherwise, separate the two leg/thigh portions from the intact breasts. You'll now have three portions.
9. At this point, I like to remove any excess fat, membrane, or cartilage that may remain, being careful not to remove any skin.
10. What will remain is three large portions of very clean chicken that broil or BBQ with lots of flavor. The breast portion looks a bit like a valentine's heart with wings. Give you any ideas?
11. To broil, season with whatever you like, broil on low for about 15 minutes skin side down. Turn and broil skin side up taking care not to burn the skin. Use an instant read thermometer. For me, chicken is done when it registers 165 degrees internally. Let rest for a few minutes before cutting.