62. To offer variety in the serving of chicken, as well as to present an
easily carved bird, the process known as _boning_ is often resorted to.
Boning, as will be readily understood, consists in removing the flesh
from the bones before the bird is cooked. Boned chicken may be prepared
by roasting or broiling. In either case, the cookery process is the same
as that already given for poultry that is not boned. If it is to be
roasted, the cavity that results from the removal of the bones and
internal organs should be filled with stuffing or forcemeat, so that the
bird will appear as if nothing had been removed. If it is to be broiled,
stuffing is not necessary. Cooked boned chicken may be served either hot
or cold. Of course, other kinds of poultry may be boned if desired, and
if the directions here given for boning chicken are thoroughly learned
no difficulty will be encountered in performing this operation on any
kind. Boning is not a wasteful process as might be supposed, because
after the flesh is removed from the bones, they may be used in the
making of soup.
[Illustration: FIG. 31]
[Illustration: FIG. 32]
[Illustration: FIG. 33]
[Illustration: FIG. 34]
[Illustration: FIG. 35]
[Illustration: FIG. 36]
[Illustration: FIG. 37]
63. Before proceeding to bone a chicken, singe it, pull out the pin
feathers, cut off the head, remove the tendons from the legs, and
take out the crop through the neck. The bird may be drawn or not before
boning it, but in any event care must be taken not to break any part of
the skin. With these matters attended to, wash the skin well and wipe it
carefully. First, cut off the legs at the first joint, and, with the
point of a sharp knife, as shown in Fig. 31, loosen the skin and muscles
just above the joint by cutting around the bone. Cut the neck off close
to the body, as in Fig. 32. Then, starting at the neck, cut the skin
clear down the back to the tail, as in Fig. 33. [Illustration: FIG. 38]
Begin on one side, and scrape the flesh, with the skin attached to it,
from the back bone, as in Fig. 34. When the shoulder blade is reached,
push the flesh from it with the fingers, as in Fig. 35, until the wing
joint is reached. Disjoint the wing where it is attached to the body, as
in Fig. 36, and loosen the skin from the wing bone down to the second
joint. Disjoint the bone here and remove it up to this place, as Fig. 37
illustrates. The remaining bone is left in the tip of the wing to give
it shape. When the bone from one wing is removed, turn the chicken
around and remove the bone from the other wing. Next, start at the back,
separating the flesh from the ribs, as in Fig. 38, taking care not to
penetrate into the side cavity of the chicken, provided it has not
[Illustration: FIG. 39] been drawn. Push the flesh down to the thigh, as
in Fig. 39, disjoint the bone here, and remove it down to the second
joint, as in Fig. 40. Disjoint the bone at the other joint, and
remove the skin and meat from the bone by turning them inside out, as in
Fig. 41. If the bone has been properly loosened at the first joint of
the leg, there will be no trouble in slipping it out. When this is done,
turn the meat and skin back again, so that they will be right side out.
Then proceed in the same way with the other leg. Next, free the flesh
from the collar bone down to the breast bone on both sides, proceeding
as in Fig. 42. When the ridge of the breast bone is reached, care must
be taken not to break the skin that lies very close to the bone. The
fingers should be used to separate the flesh at this place. When the
sides and front have been thus taken care of, free the skin and the
flesh from the bones over the rump. After this is done, the skeleton and
internal organs of the undrawn bird may be removed, leaving the flesh
intact. The skeleton of a chicken will appear as in Fig. 43.
[Illustration: Fig. 40]
[Illustration: Fig. 41]
[Illustration: Fig. 42]
[Illustration: FIG. 43]
[Illustration: FIG. 44]
[Illustration: FIG. 45]
If the boned chicken is to be roasted, the entire chicken, including the
spaces from which the wing and leg bones were removed, may be filled
with highly seasoned stuffing. When this is done, shape the chicken as
much as possible to resemble its original shape and sew up the back. The
chicken will then be ready to roast. If the boned chicken is to be
broiled, shape it on the broiler as shown in Fig. 44 and broil. When
broiled, boned chicken should appear as in Fig. 45.