Stuffed birds not only taste good, but they also look good. Boneless stuffed birds look even better and less efforts are required to eat them. It does take patience to prepare them, but with a little practice it will be very easy to do. Once the skills are acquired, one can bone any type of birds.
How to Bone a Bird
For the first time, it is recommended to bone a chicken instead of, say, a duck or a turkey, because a duck has less meat and a turkey is too big. The chicken is ideal for practice. After one gets familiar with the techniques, one can try with a pheasant or even a quail.
Directions for Boning a Chicken
- Find a comfortable working surface and sit on a chair. The whole process will take some time.
- Clean the chicken and pad it dry.
- Use a small sharp knife and make a small cut at the place of the wish bone.
- Reach the wish bone with the finger and break it gently. Cut the meat around the wish bone and take the fragments out. Be careful not to cut or tear the skin, because it helps keep the shape.
- Feel gently with the fingers and start sliding the knife close to the chest bones. Slowly lift the meat from the bones, with the help of the knife or simply with the fingers.
- Cut around one shoulder and find the wing joints, break them gently and continue cutting the meat away from the bones. Turn the wing inside out and go on separating the meat with the knife or fingers. Simply cut off the wing tip when it is turned inside out.
- Do the same for the other shoulder and wing. Be careful to take out all the small broken bone fragments.
- Continue separating the meat from the bones along the chest. It is easier to take out the whole main carcass than breaking it into fragments.
- When one gets to the leg, like for the wing, work on one side at a time.
- It may be necessary to separate the meat from the bones at the back in order to reach down to the legs comfortably. Work slowly and find the right angles. It is important not to force at the back, because that is the place where the skin can be torn easily.
- Break the leg joints and separate the meat from the bones, bit by bit, and slowly try to turn the chicken inside out. Cut the meat in other parts that is attached to the bone preventing the turning over.
- Work on the other leg.
- When the leg bones are taken out, the chicken should be inside out. Cut all the remaining meat from the bones carefully.Take out the main carcass.
- Do not worry if some pieces of meat have been cut out. As long as the skin is whole it does not matter, but there is no need to worry either if the skin gets a bit torn, because it can be sewn later.
- Gently turn the chicken back inside and it is ready to be stuffed.
Tips for Stuffing and Sewing Chicken
It is always recommended not to over-stuff the chicken, because then it is more prompt to bursting during cooking. Beware especially if the stuffing is rice, which will swell a little during cooking.
Do not waste the bones and save them for making stock.
The recipe for stuffing a giant zucchini includes a light stuffing with onions, cranberries and grapes which is good for chicken also.
Directions for Sewing the Chicken
- After putting the stuffing, sew all the openings. Use food grade threads and a sharp needle.
- Thread the needle and leave 10 cm (4 inches) on one side while having the other end uncut.
- Start sewing the openings.
- When it is finished, cut the end that is attached to the roll of thread. Leave around 5 cm (2 inches). Do the same for the other end that is already cut. Do not tie the ends of the thread.
- After the chicken is cooked, simply pull the thread from one end and it will come out easily, and the chicken will stay intact.
An Elegantly Stuffed Bird
Do not be discouraged at all if the first chicken does not look as well as one wants. Practise makes perfect. It will taste very good anyway with one's favourite stuffing. Then it will be time to move on to other types of birds and prepare a truly sensational dinner.
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