[3 - 3] favor and this is Kenji I'm at home and
[3 - 5] I'm going to show you how to break down
[5 - 6] a chicken today and we're also gonna
[6 - 10] make some chicken stock now there are
[10 - 11] multiple ways to break down the chicken
[11 - 12] so I'm probably gonna make this video
[12 - 13] more than once but today I'm going to
[13 - 15] show you sort of like the classic way
[15 - 17] we're gonna end up with two airline
[17 - 19] chicken breasts we're gonna end up with
[19 - 20] a couple of wings we're gonna get end up
[20 - 22] with drumsticks and thighs and we're
[22 - 24] gonna end up with a carcass that we can
[24 - 26] use for stock so start off you have your
[26 - 28] chicken here right you got your your
[28 - 30] neck here the neck we can go right into
[30 - 31] the popper stock what I really like to
[31 - 33] do first well wash my hands cuz I just
[33 - 38] touched the raw chicken what I generally
[38 - 40] like to do is before I even begin
[40 - 42] there's going to be as few points in
[42 - 45] here where you want either a kitchen
[45 - 47] towel if you don't mind it getting raw
[47 - 50] chicken on it or what I do is I use some
[50 - 52] paper towels and what I do is I tear
[52 - 54] them off and have them ready here so
[54 - 56] that I don't have to handle the roll of
[56 - 58] paper towels with chicken coated hands
[58 - 61] while I'm going all right so I got my
[61 - 64] towels here two different knives you
[64 - 66] want one sort of big heavy-duty thing I
[66 - 67] got a cleaver you can also you just use
[67 - 69] a heavy-duty chef's knife one knife one
[69 - 71] that you don't mind getting beat up and
[71 - 73] then a sort of more precision knife it
[73 - 75] can be a light chef's knife it could be
[75 - 77] a boning knife it could be an you know
[77 - 79] anything that's sharp and maneuverable
[79 - 82] so to start we're gonna take the sharp
[82 - 84] knife slit the skin just a little bit
[84 - 86] above each leg like that and then we
[86 - 88] pick it up by both legs and you kind of
[88 - 91] twist them until the bone pops out right
[91 - 94] there you see very easy and then holding
[94 - 97] it by the leg you kind of go in through
[97 - 99] here and right back here you can see
[99 - 100] there's this little chunk of meat that's
[100 - 101] called the oyster you want to make sure
[101 - 105] that comes with you so you cut all the
[105 - 106] way around the oyster and then you
[106 - 108] should be able to slip the knife very
[108 - 111] easily into the joint and there you've
[111 - 115] got one leg and then the other side you
[115 - 116] did the same thing so make sure you pick
[117 - 119] it up hold it by the leg you get under
[119 - 121] that oyster so that it comes with you
[121 - 124] there you go got a second leg now if you
[124 - 125] want to break these down into a
[125 - 128] drumstick and the thigh you can feel
[128 - 131] right where it bends you know I should
[131 - 132] be able to slip right in through that
[133 - 135] joint and there you go you've got now a
[135 - 139] and there you go you've got now a drumstick and a thigh let me get a UH
[139 - 141] what can I use here I'll throw
[141 - 144] everything under this second board for
[144 - 156] now again you feel oops and sometimes
[156 - 160] you missed and that's fine then you go
[160 - 162] right through that joint you'll know
[162 - 163] when it's when you're in the right space
[163 - 165] because your knife will go through with
[165 - 166] very little force if you feel like
[166 - 168] you're really jamming or like going up
[168 - 169] against the bone is probably because you
[169 - 170] are going up against the bone which
[170 - 171] means you want to kind of reposition
[171 - 173] your knife alright so now we got this
[173 - 175] now so to get an airline chicken breast
[175 - 177] what you do is you hold it by the wing
[177 - 181] like this pick it all the way up put
[181 - 183] your knife right here about hat so this
[183 - 186] is the wing joint the the first first
[186 - 187] wing joint you put your knife about
[187 - 189] halfway through slip through the skin
[189 - 191] and then with your knife pushed against
[191 - 193] the bone you just kind of spin the whole
[193 - 198] chicken around okay until it's cut all
[198 - 199] the way through and then what you can do
[199 - 202] is you hold here you hold the chicken
[202 - 204] here and you flip it backwards like this
[205 - 207] and the wing pops right off leaving you
[207 - 210] with this nice little sort of clean bone
[210 - 212] here okay and then you can do the same
[212 - 220] thing on the other side like that flip
[220 - 224] it back wing comes right out next what
[224 - 226] we want to do is we want to get rid of
[226 - 228] the the wishbone you don't have to get
[228 - 229] rid of the wishbone but I find it makes
[229 - 232] the rest of this much easier to do so
[232 - 233] the wishbone is like so you have it here
[233 - 236] the breast side facing up okay the
[236 - 238] wishbone is the y-shaped bone that runs
[238 - 239] so this is the keel bone right through
[239 - 240] the center of the breast and the
[240 - 242] wishbone attaches right here in this
[242 - 244] kind of wise shape so what you want to
[244 - 246] do is you want to lift up the skin and
[246 - 249] feel for the bone and then run your
[249 - 252] knife tip along the top of that bone
[252 - 255] just like that and then run it
[255 - 259] underneath the bone like that and then
[259 - 263] do the same thing on the other side
[263 - 265] okay and now here's where you use your
[265 - 267] first towel so actually once it's done
[267 - 268] like that you can feel get your fingers
[268 - 270] you see you got my I got my fingers
[270 - 272] behind it there's one side of the bone
[272 - 273] and there's the other side of the bone
[273 - 276] got my fingers behind it there and I can
[276 - 277] pull it forward
[277 - 280] oops and if it breaks you make a wish
[280 - 282] pull it forward and then this this part
[282 - 284] of it pops right out and then what you
[284 - 288] do is you take your first how'll you use
[288 - 291] it to get a grip and it comes right out
[291 - 293] that's one side of it and I'll get the
[293 - 295] other side now it's totally fine if it
[295 - 297] breaks it's also totally fine to leave
[297 - 299] it in there just makes butchering the
[299 - 301] next bit a little bit easier if it's if
[301 - 302] it's out all right there's the other
[302 - 304] side so this is what the full bone looks
[304 - 306] like just like that you see it's a Y
[306 - 309] shape that can go into the stockpot
[309 - 311] alright so now what we're gonna do is
[311 - 313] we're gonna cut our airline breasts out
[313 - 316] so we got mmm ice we got our keel bone
[316 - 319] here we take our sharp knife and we run
[319 - 323] it right along one side I usually do it
[323 - 325] along the left side first so run it
[325 - 328] along the left side there okay and then
[328 - 330] you can actually just use your thumb to
[330 - 339] kind of push the meat away from the bone
[341 - 341] okay and then once you get down to this
[341 - 342] little last bit you can use your knife
[342 - 345] again and if you're uncomfortable with
[345 - 347] you know pushing pushing raw chicken
[347 - 348] meat with your thumb you can do the
[348 - 349] whole thing with the knife it doesn't
[349 - 351] really matter and what we're looking for
[351 - 355] you see how this this joint rotates
[355 - 357] right there we want to make sure that we
[357 - 359] find that find that rotation on the
[359 - 362] inside which is right over here and get
[362 - 364] our knife in between that bone that book
[364 - 369] joint and the carcass
[373 - 373] and you end up with this which is an
[373 - 374] airline breast we can trim off this
[374 - 378] little excess skin here airline breast
[378 - 382] plus a tenderloin let's put that over
[382 - 388] here and with this guy we do that little
[388 - 388] jacques pepin
[388 - 391] trick where we take our towel again a
[391 - 396] clean towel we first expose just a
[396 - 397] little bit of the end of that ligament
[397 - 399] there you see that little little
[399 - 402] ligament right there and then what you
[402 - 406] do is you grab the end of it with your
[406 - 411] towel and just scooped you don't grab
[411 - 415] the paper towel hold there and you can
[415 - 419] just hold down and then scrape off the
[420 - 425] meat and there you get a chicken tender
[425 - 430] with no ligament in it and then that
[430 - 435] ligament comes right off here okay and
[435 - 437] now for the second side second side is
[437 - 439] always a little bit harder to do just
[439 - 440] because it's not balanced but you
[440 - 442] basically do the exact same thing so the
[442 - 446] knife along one side of the keel bone
[446 - 449] you follow the contour I'll do this one
[449 - 450] with the knife so you can see without
[450 - 451] doing the thumb thing just follow the
[451 - 452] contour of the bone with the tip of your
[452 - 460] knife okay you find that little joint
[460 - 464] here which is right see you've had this
[464 - 465] moves here and then you can find the
[465 - 468] other side of it inside there it's right
[476 - 476] let me see if I can show you more
[476 - 478] closely so this is moving like that
[478 - 482] right and then over on this side you can
[482 - 487] see where it meets right here you see
[487 - 489] right there it's where me there's like a
[489 - 490] little ball and socket joint so you make
[490 - 492] sure your knife gets in between that lap
[492 - 499] joint right there you got it and then
[499 - 502] you get your second and I'll I'm breast
[502 - 503] this one see the Tenderloin is still
[503 - 505] attached you can leave the tenderloins
[505 - 509] attached if you want or you can take
[509 - 517] them off if someone come to mangled a
[517 - 518] little bit and yeah that's how you
[518 - 523] that's how it comes off and you get your
[523 - 524] second airline breast there what do we
[524 - 531] got here we got wing wing thigh thigh
[531 - 536] drumstick drumstick breast breast um you
[536 - 538] don't need a boning knife by the way so
[538 - 539] let me show you about boning knife is
[539 - 556] real quick I just get my hands [Music]
[556 - 558] [Music] I don't know where my bunny yeah well
[558 - 560] this is similar to a boning knife so
[560 - 561] bony knife is something that looks like
[561 - 562] similar to something like this
[562 - 564] usually a boning I people actually have
[564 - 566] this is a full lap fish fillet knife but
[566 - 567] a bony knife is pretty similar a little
[567 - 570] bit flexible you know very very sharp
[570 - 572] and thin blade so you can easily get in
[572 - 575] and around all the bones and it usually
[575 - 576] has a little heel which you use for kind
[576 - 578] of scraping bones like frenching things
[578 - 580] you don't need a boning knife I remember
[580 - 582] once when I was a working at Cook's
[582 - 583] Illustrated we used to do all these
[583 - 585] guides for you know the best knives
[585 - 586] whatever we were at an editorial meeting
[586 - 588] we were trying to figure out what to do
[588 - 589] for the next equipment test and I
[589 - 593] suggested doing a boning knife and so
[593 - 594] this was at the all staff editorial
[594 - 596] meeting go so it's like at the time is
[596 - 597] probably thirty of us sitting around a
[597 - 601] table and then the I won't say his name
[601 - 604] right now but and the calls in from his
[604 - 608] house and for these meetings and I
[608 - 609] remember suggesting saying hey what
[609 - 611] about if we do boning knives and uh and
[611 - 613] then he said over the conference phone I
[613 - 615] don't know about you Kenji but at my
[615 - 619] house we don't do a lot of boning anyhow
[619 - 622] it was funny people people silently
[622 - 625] cracked up nobody laughed out loud I
[625 - 626] don't know maybe I'm gonna have an
[626 - 628] immature sense of humor but oh yeah so
[628 - 630] what you can do is you can take your
[630 - 631] chef's knife or not in this case I'm
[631 - 632] gonna I'm gonna take a cleaver we're
[632 - 634] gonna prep this Parker's for stock first
[634 - 637] what I do is I lift it up open it up so
[637 - 638] that the backbone is on one side and the
[638 - 640] breastbone is on the other then I just
[640 - 644] kind of chop right down the middle just
[651 - 651] like that and then I kind of roughly
[651 - 654] chop it up like that you really don't
[654 - 657] need to be precise at all the only goal
[657 - 659] here is to kind of increase surface area
[659 - 661] a little bit for more extraction when
[661 - 663] you're making your stock that goes right
[664 - 667] okay now I'm gonna do a bunch of random
[667 - 672] aromatics that I had in my fridge a leek
[672 - 674] really you can do whatever you want you
[674 - 676] know the basics are you want something
[676 - 678] kind of oniony so an onion or a leak or
[678 - 680] aliens this is a kind of western-style
[680 - 682] stock so I'm using uh onions leeks I'm
[682 - 684] gonna leave the skins on I don't mind
[684 - 691] them carrot and some celery I would say
[691 - 693] at the very minimum you want the onion
[693 - 696] in there everything else kind of
[696 - 698] optional onion carrots celery of those
[698 - 699] sort of classics the mirepoix
[699 - 702] and then I also got some thyme from the
[702 - 704] garden a few bay leaves and some black
[704 - 708] peppercorns and that's it if I was doing
[708 - 710] like a chinese-style stock like a simple
[710 - 711] homestyle Chinese stock what I would do
[712 - 714] is I would do some scallions and ginger
[720 - 721] or if I was doing a Chinese superior
[721 - 723] stock I would do chicken I would also
[723 - 725] had some pork bones I would add some ham
[725 - 727] and then I would add some dried seafood
[727 - 730] like flounder and if I was doing say a
[730 - 735] stock for something like I don't know
[735 - 736] like a hot and sour soup like a hot and
[736 - 737] sour Thai soup I would probably add some
[737 - 740] lime leaves in there I would add some
[740 - 742] lemongrass so you know stock is really
[742 - 744] really whatever you want to do the
[744 - 745] important part is that it tastes good
[745 - 747] and you and you use what you have on
[747 - 748] hand it's not it's not saying you should
[748 - 750] be making a shopping list or necessarily
[750 - 752] it's really you know stock is something
[752 - 754] that you should be making out of odds
[754 - 759] and ends it's really sort of a kitchen
[759 - 761] efficiency and and frugality measure
[761 - 764] more than anything else so what we're
[764 - 766] gonna do now is just going to bring it
[766 - 770] to a simmer and if you want to you know
[770 - 773] if you want like a super clear broth
[773 - 774] what you can do is bring it to a simmer
[774 - 777] and then dump it all out sort of wash
[777 - 778] the bones and that sort of gets rid of
[778 - 780] some of the impurities I never bothered
[780 - 781] doing that what I'm gonna do is I'm just
[781 - 782] gonna bring into a simmer and then I'm
[782 - 784] just gonna skim it every once in a while
[784 - 787] there so there's proteins and scum like
[787 - 789] like minerals and stuff that come that
[789 - 791] leach out of the bones that you don't
[791 - 792] necessarily want in the stock and so
[792 - 795] what happens is they form like a scummy
[795 - 797] bubbly layer on the surface which you'll
[797 - 799] see and you just kind of skim it off and
[799 - 800] go you don't honestly you don't even
[800 - 802] really have to skim it off all it does
[802 - 803] is will make your stalk a little bit
[803 - 805] sort of cloudy or and a little bit not
[805 - 807] quite as clean tasting which I don't
[807 - 809] think is such a big deal anyway
[809 - 810] at a restaurant you would have sort of
[810 - 812] like a big big pot of chicken stock
[812 - 814] simmering on the back of the stove and
[814 - 816] basically you know you're trained that
[816 - 817] any time you walk by it if you're
[817 - 819] cooking if you're on the line any time
[819 - 821] you walk by the stockpot and you see
[821 - 822] that there's any sort of fat or
[822 - 824] impurities on the top you would skim it
[824 - 825] off so it kind of gets regularly skimmed
[825 - 827] off it's kind of a group chore that
[827 - 828] everyone in the kitchen would
[828 - 831] participate in as it goes a chicken
[831 - 833] stock only needs to simmer for maybe two
[833 - 835] hours or so two-three hours something
[835 - 836] like a veal stock with a lot more
[836 - 839] gelatin that you want to extract that
[839 - 840] you start collagen that you want to
[840 - 841] extract and turn into gelatin
[841 - 843] something's gonna give that rich texture
[843 - 844] and mouthfeel something like a beef
[844 - 847] stock or a veal stock you would let it
[847 - 848] simmer for more like I don't know eight
[848 - 851] to twelve hours sometimes even 24 of
[851 - 852] course you can continue simmering a
[852 - 855] chicken stock until the bones really
[855 - 856] almost completely break down and that's
[856 - 857] what becomes known as sort of a bone
[857 - 861] broth that's what sort of a thick
[861 - 864] chicken a Python chicken broth a ramen
[864 - 865] broth made out of chicken would be like
[865 - 866] you simmer it until the bones start to
[866 - 869] break down and you really fully extract
[869 - 870] all the minerals and all the protein and
[870 - 871] everything in there and it turns into a
[871 - 873] sort of rich cloudy stock so that's just
[873 - 877] a you know a rich stock a rich stock is
[877 - 879] what people call bone broth these days
[879 - 880] even though it's been around for a long
[880 - 883] time all right so now I got my chicken
[883 - 885] parts here you know what I'm just gonna
[885 - 886] go ahead and throw those chicken wings
[886 - 887] in the stock also because I don't think
[887 - 889] I'm gonna use them for anything and
[889 - 892] they're gonna add some nice gelatin so
[892 - 895] the more connective tissue that a piece
[895 - 897] of meat has so that's you know like the
[897 - 900] tendons and the ligaments also the skin
[900 - 902] the more connective tissue in there the
[902 - 904] richer it's gonna make the broth and so
[904 - 906] chicken wings actually make for a nice
[906 - 911] rich broth so two chicken feet and I
[911 - 914] think that's the end of this video huh
[914 - 915] at some point I'll show you how to cook
[915 - 917] these airline chicken breasts maybe
[917 - 919] tomorrow and then we'll do some stuff
[919 - 920] with the drumsticks and the thighs as
[920 - 924] well yeah thanks for coming by I'll see
[925 - 928] oh um sorry before I go let me quickly
[928 - 932] show you a good way to freeze your
[932 - 934] chicken so when you're freezing anything
[934 - 937] so the enemy of freezing is thickness
[937 - 938] you want things to freeze quickly
[938 - 939] because you don't want there to be a big
[939 - 941] differential between the center
[941 - 943] and the edges so if the edges start to
[943 - 945] freeze and the sender's still raw as
[945 - 947] this sort of works it slowly works its
[947 - 948] way in it ends up rupturing a lot of
[948 - 950] cells and that means that when your meat
[950 - 954] then defrost it loses a lot more
[954 - 956] moisture so what you wanna do is you
[956 - 957] want to freeze as quickly as possible
[957 - 958] which means getting things into a thin
[958 - 961] layer so what I do for example if I'm
[961 - 962] gonna freeze my chicken breast I get him
[962 - 964] into a bag that just fits him like this
[964 - 965] and then here's the trick for getting
[965 - 967] most of the air out if you don't you
[967 - 968] know you could cryovac these of course
[968 - 971] you don't have to here you close the bag
[971 - 974] up so that just a little hole is
[974 - 975] remaining here and then you take a
[975 - 977] little bucket of water and you lower it
[977 - 979] in what happens is this is called the
[979 - 980] water displacement method and what
[980 - 983] happens is as you push it in the water
[983 - 987] forces the air out and then just before
[987 - 990] that last bit goes underwater you seal
[990 - 994] it off and you end up with you know not
[994 - 997] completely air free but a very very
[997 - 1001] tight almost air free seal and that's
[1001 - 1003] great because it well air is what
[1003 - 1004] exposure to air is what gives you
[1004 - 1006] freezer burn um freezer burn is a
[1006 - 1009] sublimation so when ice transitions
[1009 - 1012] directly from a liquid to a solid that's
[1012 - 1014] called sublimation you know it doesn't
[1014 - 1015] turn into water first and that's what
[1015 - 1016] how that's what gives you freezer burn
[1016 - 1018] and in fact that's actually also what
[1018 - 1022] goes into the freeze drying process that
[1022 - 1024] that's how the freeze drying process
[1024 - 1026] works they intentionally cause
[1026 - 1028] sublimation by putting a vacuum on
[1028 - 1032] frozen unfrozen foods but it's not good
[1032 - 1034] for your chicken and that's how you end
[1034 - 1035] up with freezer burn how you end up with
[1035 - 1038] this sort of weird weird fibrous
[1038 - 1040] sections of your chicken or meat or
[1040 - 1042] whatever it is so dry out the bag here's
[1042 - 1043] the other trick put it on an aluminum
[1043 - 1046] baking sheet aluminum is a very good
[1046 - 1048] conductor of heat so when you take this
[1048 - 1050] and then place it into the freezer the
[1050 - 1052] aluminum conducts a lot of heat away
[1052 - 1054] from the chicken so that it freezes
[1054 - 1057] faster similarly when you're thawing
[1057 - 1058] whether it's for thawing chicken or
[1058 - 1060] thawing steak or thawing anything that
[1060 - 1061] you want to thaw if you put it on an
[1061 - 1063] aluminum baking sheet it'll thaw about
[1063 - 1064] twice as fast as if you just leave it on
[1064 - 1066] the cutting board and that's very
[1066 - 1067] important for when you're freezing
[1068 - 1070] things so what I do is I put it in
[1070 - 1072] I'll let it
[1072 - 1076] let it freeze in a single layer and then
[1076 - 1078] once it's completely frozen take it off
[1078 - 1079] to the baking sheet and just thought
[1079 - 1080] store it however the hell you want it
[1080 - 1083] all right now I'm really going to see
[1083 - 1085] you next time I'm gonna skim that
[1085 - 1087] chicken stock now it's been simmering
[1087 - 1090] for two or three hours we got a little
[1090 - 1092] sidetracked on my daughter and I went
[1092 - 1096] fishing from our wagon we kept
[1096 - 1098] megalodons I'm gonna give it one last
[1098 - 1100] final skim so this is like most of the
[1100 - 1101] guns that I've been pulling off as it
[1101 - 1103] goes I haven't time as I mentioned I was
[1103 - 1106] out of the house for like an hour I know
[1106 - 1108] some people are scared to leave things
[1108 - 1109] simmering on the stovetop while they're
[1109 - 1111] out of the house some I'm not that
[1111 - 1114] scared as long as you keep it on low
[1114 - 1116] enough of a simmer all right that's
[1116 - 1119] about good enough so now I'm gonna take
[1119 - 1122] this and all I'm gonna do is go through
[1122 - 1124] a fine mesh strainer if you have like a
[1124 - 1126] xinhua you can do that - I got a chinois
[1126 - 1128] I might I want to get it super clear I
[1128 - 1130] might pass it through that later machine
[1130 - 1132] was like the pointy tall pointy guys
[1132 - 1134] with the really fine mesh on them
[1134 - 1136] they're also kind of expensive so I
[1136 - 1138] don't think you necessarily need to have
[1138 - 1144] one there you go I'm gonna let this drip
[1144 - 1148] drip down like that and by the way these
[1148 - 1150] carrots and stuff make excellent
[1150 - 1153] excellent dog treats but there you go
[1153 - 1154] that's all that's chicken stock so out
[1154 - 1156] of like one this was like a two and a
[1156 - 1157] half pound chicken a pretty small guy
[1157 - 1159] it's out of one chicken I get about a
[1159 - 1162] little over a quart a pretty rich
[1162 - 1164] chicken stock this will be rich enough
[1164 - 1168] that I think it'll turn into a you know
[1168 - 1170] become gelatinous as it sets you could
[1170 - 1173] also then continue to reduce this put it
[1173 - 1175] back on the stove in a skillet very very
[1175 - 1176] slowly reduce it skim it well as it goes
[1176 - 1179] so that there's no fat in it and reduce
[1179 - 1181] it down into a sort of chicken jus which
[1181 - 1183] is sort of like a gelatinous thick
[1183 - 1185] really nice mouth coating sauce that's
[1185 - 1187] excellent for chicken but what I'm gonna
[1187 - 1189] do with this one I'm gonna save it we're
[1189 - 1192] gonna use it in a pan sauce for those
[1192 - 1194] chicken airline breasts that we took off
[1194 - 1196] earlier so that'll be a different video
[1196 - 1198] for another time but it's good to see
[1198 - 1201] y'all again see you later