Jointing a Bird into Eight

A whole chicken is cheaper per kilo than any part of it sold separately, and jointing one takes about four minutes once you have done it half a dozen times. More usefully, it leaves you with a carcass, which is the only way to get stock without buying bones.

You need one sharp knife with a blade around fifteen centimetres. No cleaver, no shears except for the backbone if you prefer them, and no force. Every cut in this process goes through a joint or through skin — if you find yourself pushing hard against bone, you are in the wrong place by a centimetre or two.

The order

1. Wings. Pull each wing away from the body until you feel the shoulder joint. Cut through it — the blade should meet almost no resistance. Take the tip off each wing and put it straight in the stock bag.
2. Legs. Pull a leg away and slice through the skin between the thigh and the breast. Bend the leg backwards until the hip joint pops out of its socket, then cut through the exposed joint. Before you take the leg away completely, look on the underside of the back for the oyster — a small round of dark meat sitting in a hollow — and cut around it so it stays attached to the thigh.
3. Thigh from drumstick. Lay the leg skin down. There is a thin line of white fat running across the joint; cut straight down along it and you will hit the gap first time.
4. Breasts. Run the knife down one side of the breastbone, keeping the blade against the bone, and work the meat away in one piece. Repeat on the other side. For eight pieces, leave them whole; for smaller portions, cut each across into two.
5. What remains. The backbone, ribcage and any scraps. Chop it into three or four pieces so it packs tightly and freeze it until you have enough for a pot.

Why the joints matter more than the knife

Every one of these separations happens at a place the bird was already designed to bend. The shoulder, the hip and the knee are all ball or hinge joints with a capsule of soft tissue around them, and a sharp blade goes through that tissue as though it were butter. Bone is only ever an obstacle if you have missed.

The practical technique for finding a joint is to move the limb. Hold the body still with one hand and rotate the wing or leg with the other, and watch where the movement is actually happening. Put the knife there.

What you have gained

Eight pieces that cook at different rates, which is exactly the point. The breasts want fifteen minutes of high heat and nothing more. The thighs and drumsticks want an hour of gentle wet heat and will be tough and rubbery if given anything less. Cooked as a whole bird, one of those two groups is always compromised — which is why every roast chicken recipe is a negotiated settlement between them.

Jointed, there is nothing to negotiate.