Tools of the trade...
We saw a truly informative video about knives. We all have our “kits”, which we carry around in cases, like ominous flutes. The knives are very, very sharp—basic kits include a 10-inch chef’s knife, 8-inch boning knife, 3-inch paring knife and a peeler among other tools. Several of us took turns sharpening on a stone, which involves precise angles combined with a Pilates-like twist of the upper body. This has to be good for the core. I worry for my fingertips.
The kitchen has stations, like an army has divisions. My first assignment is Receiving/Butchering/ Pot Wash. Receiving is a flurry of activity, putting away boxes of produce and icing down fish and meats. Meats go into the walk-in covered with plastic wrap; fish are in a drain/sieve pan in a hotel pan (square/rectangular stainless steel pans of various sizes), covered with plastic wrap, then with ice. They have to be re-iced daily. The exceptions are shellfish such as mussels, which drown, so must be iced under the drain pan. Pot wash is exactly what it sounds like—wet and greasy. Butchering is endlessly interesting, even for a semi-vegetarian like me—I think of it as surgery.
Facing his fate with courage and determination
I can now break down a chicken (fortunately for me, headless, footless and plucked) into eight parts in a couple minutes. Here’s how:
1. On the chicken’s backside, make a shallow cut with your knife down each side of the backbone.
2. Hold the chicken up by the tail and cut through the ribs on both sides all the way down to the neck following the shallow cuts, taking care not to cut through the breast meat. Keep the backbone for the stockpot.
3. Open the chicken up and take out the firm piece of cartilage that runs inside the breast by making a close cut with the tip of your knife around the V-shaped end and getting your fingers under the upper bony part (you’ll leave the wishbone in). Cut the breast in half by pressing down on the knife where you’ve just removed the cartilage and bone (you’ll split the wishbone in half).
4. Flip each side over and press down with your fingers between the upper thigh and breast—make a clean cut there on both sides.
5. Separate the thigh from the drumstick by feeling for the joint between them, and cut around and through it.
6. On the breast, feel for the wing joint closest to the breast meat, and cut through (the tips are pretty useless, but you can use the larger part of the cut wing for “drummettes”). This configuration—with the bit of wing left on—is called an airline cut.
7. Make a diagonal cut on each breast to separate it into 2 equal pieces: Voila! An 8-piece chicken!
