Section 1
Butchery
Eight cuts, and the joints between them.
Nine tenths of cooking a chicken well is deciding what it is going to be before the knife goes in. This section is the breakdown itself: where each joint actually separates, why the socket beats the saw, and the two or three cuts that change what every later section can do with the pieces.
All 5 guides in Butchery
- Eight Cuts, One CarcassTwo wings, two thighs, two drumsticks, two breasts — and the oysters most people leave behind. Where each joint actually separates, and why finding the socket beats sawing through bone.
- Why the Thigh Is Not the BreastOne muscle worked constantly and the other barely at all. Myoglobin, connective tissue, and why they want opposite cooking.
- Spatchcocking, and What It FixesRemoving the backbone flattens the bird so thigh and breast finish together. The one structural fix for the central problem.
- Boning a ThighFollowing the bone with the knife tip rather than cutting toward it. The technique that unlocks half the preparations on this site.
- Trussing, and Whether It HelpsWhat tying actually changes about airflow and cooking rate, and the honest case that it is often cosmetic.