The Benefits of Being Your Own Butcher: A Hands-On Approach to Preparing a Whole Chicken

As we stand here at Key Baka, surrounded by the tools and ingredients necessary for our culinary adventure, I'm excited to share with you why it's best to butcher your own chicken. For those who may be new to the world of cooking, let me explain: butchering a whole chicken not only allows you to explore new flavors and textures but also saves you money in the long run. By buying a whole chicken instead of individual parts, you can expect to save at least half of what you would have spent on each separate cut.

Now that we've established the benefits, let's get started with the process. Our first task is to remove the head. Take your knife and position it somewhat flush to the end of the breast. With a smooth, sweeping motion, make sure to cut through all the little bits and pieces, as they'll be saved and turned into various dishes later on.

Next, we need to take out the spine. This might not be the most conventional activity, but trust me, it's essential for our journey. Pick up the chicken and locate the cavity, which should be upright and pointing towards you. Now, take a line down one side of the spine, followed by another line on the other side, making sure to cut through both points with your knife.

As we continue, notice how the chicken starts to take shape, like a Roman helmet. This is where our knife becomes an extension of our hand, cutting through the meat with ease and precision. With each smooth motion, we're bringing this entire process closer to completion.

At this point, we have the rest of the breast intact, and it's time to get creative. We'll take a large thick piece of country bread and roast it on top of the chicken, allowing the juices and flavors to infuse into the bread. It's like having our own personal chef, minus the hefty price tag.

As we near the end of our journey, let's talk about separating the white meat from the dark meat. Take a closer look at the inside of the thigh and notice the line that separates these two parts. With your knife tip, find this spot and make a smooth cut, allowing you to twist and separate the two.

With our chicken now divided into its various components, it's time to think about what we can do with each part. The wings, for example, will be taken to stock, providing us with a flavorful base for future dishes. We've also got a generous amount of boneless meat, which can be used in a variety of recipes.

Throughout this process, I want you to remember that the most important thing is having fun and experimenting with new flavors. Don't be afraid to try new things or make mistakes – it's all part of the learning experience. And who knows, you might just discover your new favorite dish!

As we wrap up our culinary adventure, I want to express my gratitude for being a part of this journey with me. It's been an absolute pleasure sharing my knowledge and expertise with you. If you're new to cooking or looking to expand your skill set, I highly recommend giving butchering a whole chicken a try. Not only will you save money, but you'll also have the satisfaction of knowing that you created something delicious from scratch.

Before we say goodbye, don't forget to subscribe to our channel and join us on future culinary adventures. Until next time, keep cooking and remember – practice makes perfect!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is the first time I've ju-jitsu the chicken I have a high kill count I'm on today we're going to learn why it's best to b yob b be your own butcher hey everyone I'm Jimmy I'm here today at Key Baka with Chad Colby so why is it best to actually butcher something like this yourself it's best to butcher a whole chicken because you're going to have more interesting food at home doing this you're going to force yourself to learn how to cook some of these other parts it costs less essentially right to buy a whole chicken as opposed to it being cut up individually Parts it it should cost at least less than half in that case let's begin the butchering where should we start uh the first thing we're do is we're going to take off the head here have your knife be somewhat flush to the end of the breast and do a c theone all these little bits and pieces are going to be saved and turned into a multitude of things all right what's next okay next we're going to take out the spine we're going to don't hear that every day pick this guy up the cavity is upright and then the spine is towards me we're just going to take a line down one side and then just down the side of the spine not directly down the middle and then from the other way here too just marking a line down I'm just going to come through the side and then come straight down and through ah and you did a nice clean cut all the way through yes we're going to take it from the other side that other line and if you can see my knife here the closer I have it to the heel the more sort of Leverage you have on it exactly you can always just kind of take that back pull on it and wherever there's any you can do some nice clean easy cuts and and then there's two points that we're going to be cutting through right here MH and right here as simple as that and then the other side it's kind of shaped like a Roman helmet if you were and we still have the rest of the breast here so at this point you can almost be like damage control coming on the inside and making sure you're not leaving any meat this is something that we'll do in the restaurant that's really beautiful we'll take a half chicken we'll take a large thick piece of country bread and we'll roast it on the bread and all those drippings all those flavors cook into the bread oh wow and later you get the bread crispy basically it's like chicken fat French toast that sounds so good there's a little bit of the wishbone here you can feel for it right on the very top of the breast kind of Mark around it I kind of just pushed it out with my fingers then I can kind of pull out it and see exactly where I need to have that come out so the next cut if we were going to take this into quarters would be to separate this between the white meat and dark meat come on the inside of the thigh here Mark through the skin and come out and you can kind of twist and it comes right off where I didn't even go through bone if I go on the inside here I can see a line that goes between the thigh I should be able to do this just using the tip of my knife finding a spot where I don't cut through bone I can come straight down we're going to take this to mining a little joint here taking that Wing straight off tip goes to stock you can have these two pieces you can take this into two pieces you can take off all these bones in the bottom you got a little bit of the rib cage here we've taken something that might be around $3 a pound and we've taken something out of it that might cost you 710 are you ready and convinced that you can do this at home yes especially if it's going to save me a crap ton of money my girlfriend and I will experiment with many chickens and it'll be very tasty hopefully so thank you so much for teaching me this was really informative and really fun to learn Fun by the way not a word I would normally use when talking about butchering a chicken but this is an exception don't forget to subscribe to the bun appetite YouTube channel guys and until next time keep butcheringthis is the first time I've ju-jitsu the chicken I have a high kill count I'm on today we're going to learn why it's best to b yob b be your own butcher hey everyone I'm Jimmy I'm here today at Key Baka with Chad Colby so why is it best to actually butcher something like this yourself it's best to butcher a whole chicken because you're going to have more interesting food at home doing this you're going to force yourself to learn how to cook some of these other parts it costs less essentially right to buy a whole chicken as opposed to it being cut up individually Parts it it should cost at least less than half in that case let's begin the butchering where should we start uh the first thing we're do is we're going to take off the head here have your knife be somewhat flush to the end of the breast and do a c theone all these little bits and pieces are going to be saved and turned into a multitude of things all right what's next okay next we're going to take out the spine we're going to don't hear that every day pick this guy up the cavity is upright and then the spine is towards me we're just going to take a line down one side and then just down the side of the spine not directly down the middle and then from the other way here too just marking a line down I'm just going to come through the side and then come straight down and through ah and you did a nice clean cut all the way through yes we're going to take it from the other side that other line and if you can see my knife here the closer I have it to the heel the more sort of Leverage you have on it exactly you can always just kind of take that back pull on it and wherever there's any you can do some nice clean easy cuts and and then there's two points that we're going to be cutting through right here MH and right here as simple as that and then the other side it's kind of shaped like a Roman helmet if you were and we still have the rest of the breast here so at this point you can almost be like damage control coming on the inside and making sure you're not leaving any meat this is something that we'll do in the restaurant that's really beautiful we'll take a half chicken we'll take a large thick piece of country bread and we'll roast it on the bread and all those drippings all those flavors cook into the bread oh wow and later you get the bread crispy basically it's like chicken fat French toast that sounds so good there's a little bit of the wishbone here you can feel for it right on the very top of the breast kind of Mark around it I kind of just pushed it out with my fingers then I can kind of pull out it and see exactly where I need to have that come out so the next cut if we were going to take this into quarters would be to separate this between the white meat and dark meat come on the inside of the thigh here Mark through the skin and come out and you can kind of twist and it comes right off where I didn't even go through bone if I go on the inside here I can see a line that goes between the thigh I should be able to do this just using the tip of my knife finding a spot where I don't cut through bone I can come straight down we're going to take this to mining a little joint here taking that Wing straight off tip goes to stock you can have these two pieces you can take this into two pieces you can take off all these bones in the bottom you got a little bit of the rib cage here we've taken something that might be around $3 a pound and we've taken something out of it that might cost you 710 are you ready and convinced that you can do this at home yes especially if it's going to save me a crap ton of money my girlfriend and I will experiment with many chickens and it'll be very tasty hopefully so thank you so much for teaching me this was really informative and really fun to learn Fun by the way not a word I would normally use when talking about butchering a chicken but this is an exception don't forget to subscribe to the bun appetite YouTube channel guys and until next time keep butchering\n"