The Strategy
Here is the way to carve a whole chicken, and you can do this with turkey too. You'll see the meat is already falling off the bone, and a few easy cuts along the joints give you white and dark meat for everyone at the table.
Technique Summary
Remove any trussing string, snap off the wings, take the legs off at the joint, then slice each breast down and away from the backbone. Cut the breast meat on a diagonal so everybody gets a little piece of white meat.
Chef's Checkpoints
- Pull each leg away from the body to find the joint, then run your knife along it. It comes right off.
- Don't miss the little piece on the breastbone. It's the most delicious piece of the chicken.
- Slice the breast on a diagonal, and save the last piece for the carver.