Wanted Please - Harrogate / York / Leeds area

[Griffin]

All of a sudden young Percy Legbar has come of age After a morning of womanizing he started crowing at lunchtime. He's now calming down and collecting his thoughts in the garage before being despatched later. As there's not a lot of him I don't fancy the rigmarole of plucking & gutting all for a tiny roast. He's going to become the contents of a rather nice chicken & mushroom pie. Can anyone give me an idiots guide to removing his breasts & thighs please?

[TAJ]

This is without plucking & gutting and what we do unless we actually want a bird for roasting - a lot quicker.

 

Cut along the skin along the breast bone.

 

Then put your hand under the skin and separate it from the flesh.

 

Peel the skin back to reveal both breasts and use a knife to cut them off as close to the bone as you can.

 

The wings are probably not worth the time for the amount of meat.

 

For thigh/leg - just do the same peeling the skin back by running your fingers between the skin and flesh and using a knife as necessary.

 

We also take the liver out as we love chicken liver pate - the liver lies just under the rib cage, so once you have removed the meat if you break a couple of the ribs away (either side) from the breast bone you will reveal the liver which can be removed without gutting.

 

Good luck.

 

Tracy

[Redwing]

I do pretty much the same

 

With the legs I take them off at the hock then cut back to reveal the thighs, pop out the hip then pull the thigh away so the leg skin turns inside out then the hock bone pops out of the skin 'sleeve' (which has been turned inside out as you pull)

 

 

I use scissors to cut the skin rather than a knife, they seem to work better

[Lesley]

We do the same - and we do take the wings out (from the inside) as well as the dogs eat ehm and don't mind that they are all stringy!

[TAJ]

We do the same - and we do take the wings out (from the inside) as well as the dogs eat ehm and don't mind that they are all stringy!

 

OH does do wings on our meat birds - as they wanted advice on a Cream Legbar I assumed the amount of meat would be so small it would not be worth the effort with the wings.

 

Tracy

[Lesley]

We do the same - and we do take the wings out (from the inside) as well as the dogs eat ehm and don't mind that they are all stringy!

 

OH does do wings on our meat birds - as they wanted advice on a Cream Legbar I assumed the amount of meat would be so small it would not be worth the effort with the wings.

 

Tracy

 

I quite agree if it's a Cream Legbar for human consumption - not worth the effort - we only do them for the dogs because they eat the bones.

[The Dogmother]

I do the same as TAJ and Redwing recommend and it's my preferred method if I'm not roasting.

 

I keep the liver too, and the dog gets the neck and wings.

[Griffin]

Thanks for all the help It was a bit fiddly but I got there in the end. His two Marans companions are currently resting in the fridge but as they're considerably larger I'll prep those fully.

[The Dogmother]

This video is a good online resource for anyone who wants to learn how to joint a bird.

 

Note that the demonstrator is using a ceramic bladed knife - very sharp, but that they still leave a lot of breast meat on the carcass. I prefer to s"Ooops, word censored!"e the meat off against the bone, rather than slicing as it wastes less.

[deejmum]

This is an interesting thread. We have reared chickens from chicks which were hatched i my daughters school. When we took them on I promised my long suffering OH thet we would eat the boys (which turned out yo be 5 of them!). They are about 20 weeks old now and have all got really big. I reckon it is time

 

I have done a despatch and dress course which was very useful, however I had no desire at all to eat a chicken which I had recently gutted, I just could not get the process out of my head.

 

I like the idea of skinning rather that plucking and gutting. Does anybody know if you should hang the birds for a day or is it not so important when using the skinning method?

[Lesley]

I don't like a gamey flavour but I do like to 'hang' ours in a fridge for 3 to 4 days as I think it improves the flavour, it's all down to personal taste really. We pluck and gut ours straightaway and then put them in the fridge for a few days, then we either eat (if it's a singular one), freeze them whole or joint them.

[The Dogmother]

I've never skinned one myself but a friend does and says that it's easier. Much as I don't particularly enjoy plucking, leaving the skin on helps the meat to retain more moisture..... and besides Ilike salted, roasted chicken skin

 

I never hang with the guts still in as Alison from Hook Farm recommends - it stinks far too much when you come to gut them. I do the same as Lesley.

[TAJ]

A few of our jointed/skinned ones have been in the freezer in 24hrs. We pluck to have a few roasting bords, but they do take up freezer space - the jointed birds take up less freezer space and I do not miss the skin in curries, stir fries, etc - we certainly find it quicker, but do both depending on if we want them whole or not.

 

Tracy