Knowing how to joint a chicken

Joint and SAVE! Buying and jointing a whole bird will not only save you money, it’s better for the environment and your tastebuds, too. What’s more, Red Barn’s slow-grown whole chickens are at 10% off until 23 September 2018, making it totally worth the effort. Therefore, this is a great skill to have. Here’s a guide to help you.

Choose your chicken wisely.

We recommend choosing a slow-grown chicken, such as ours.  Grown over a minimum of 60 days (that’s over double the age of an average ‘get big quick’ supermarket bird) allowing plenty of time for the chickens to roam around the farm and strengthen their bones. The result? A juicier bird with more naturally occurring vitamins, minerals and collagen, that’s so full of flavour, your tastebuds will agree that’s it’s worth using up every part possible. A slow-grown 2.5kg chicken will give you 5 meals for 2 people.

Cutting off the wings

Grip the wing at the base and bend to dislocate the joint. Pull the wing away from the bird, and cut around the wing bone to remove the wing. Repeat on the other side.

Joint chicken leg

Pull the leg away from the breast, then carefully cut downwards between the leg and breast to open up the joint. Keep going until you reach the joint holding the leg to the rest of the carcass and dislocate. Cut the leg away from the rest of the bird, making sure to keep the chicken thigh intact. Repeat on the other side.

Unless you want to keep the legs whole, separate the drumsticks from the thighs. With a knife, expose the joint holding the drumstick to the thigh, then use your hands to dislocate. Cut the drumstick away from the thigh, making sure to keep chicken thigh intact. Repeat with the other leg.

Removing the chicken breasts

Run your knife down one side of the breast bone, slowly cutting the breast away as close as possible to the centre bone.

Once you reach the centre of the carcass, cut around the bone to remove from the breast. Repeat on the other side.

You’ll now be left with a bare carcass.  Then, you can simmer the carcass with root veg and peppercorns for a nutritious broth.

Now, you’ve got your five cuts of meat (breasts, thighs, drumsticks, wings and carcass,) you can start cooking.

Credit: Farmdrop UK – Thank you for the images and instructions