Recently I set myself a challenge. Buy a whole chicken, learn how to cut it up and use all parts in different recipes. In addition, I set the rule to try a new dish with each part.

I did not make pictures of the progress yet, and as I most likely need a month to finish this chicken they will have to wait until Ill get another one. So for now there is only a lot of text and some links with good information.

Cutting up a Chicken

How to Cut Up a Whole Chicken is a very good video to get started. Especially the earlier parts worked very well for me. As I do not have kitchen scissors I did not follow the later part. Removing the breast I followed this video. It is for sure the part I struggled most with.

Other than shown in the first video I used the whole left over body (not only back bone) for making chicken stock. Its easier, you get more out of it. Also, especially during the first tries, it can be frustrating if you do not get all meat off the chicken due to a bad cut. When using all left overs for chicken stock you can eat the rest meat afterward.

Note: If you know that you want the skin on a certain part for some dish, keep it. If not just remove it all and make schmalz and gribenes (recipe below).

Parts and Recipes

Chicken Stock

There are endless recipes for chicken stock out there. Ive tried some with crazy spice mixes that were amazing if you use the chicken stock in other recipes (for example risotto). Though personally I’d prefer a classical one. I also prefer to have a bigger amount of chicken stock as I freeze a good part of it to use and eat it later on. Especially during winter times its just nice to have some at hand at any given time.

• left over bone structure of the chicken
• soup vegetables
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 onions with peel
• salt & pepper
• some oil

To get the best flavor for your stock it is suggested to roast the chicken. I tried to do this in the oven but trust me that is not worth it. Cleaning took longer than all meals that I cooked from that chicken combined and for me it just was not worth the taste.

Rather than that I preheat some oil in a big pot and fry the rest of the chicken as good as possible from all sides. Note that parts will stick to the pot fast. Try to scratch those off as good as possible. Once you cannot remove them or they get too dark remove the pot from the heat, add the vegetables, wait a bit and add the water. There is less flavor than roasting your chicken for 30 minutes in the oven. But its so much less work and good enough for me.

Let the stock simmer for a few hours (3-4). Once done, you can let it cool down. Afterward sieve the stock. You want to ensure that there are no bones in the final stock. Depending for what you use it you can get the vegetables out, wash them and add them to the sieved stock. You can also get any left over meat from the bones and add them to the stock, though again, be careful to not add any bones.

Chicken Schmalz and Gribenes

Cut up all removed skin into thin slices. Heads up, you will need a really sharp knife to do so or this will be very frustrating. Once done add it to a pan at medium heat. Depending on how fat the skin is this can take quite a while. Your goal is to get as much fat out as possible as well as to end up with very crispy golden gribenes. There should not be any soft parts (fat) on them. For me it took about 15-20 minutes. Get the gribenes and the schmalz out separately.

I have not used the gribenes in a recipe yet as they are very delicious with a bit of salt on their own. The schmalz however can be used in a ton of recipes like the chicken schmalz potato wedges

Chicken Breast

I think most people know what they can make with chicken breasts. As I had to try something new I finally came around to make indian butter chicken.

Legs or/and thighs

For those parts I tried to make indian chicken stew. Personally I would not cook it with boned thighs again as it is hard to eat. Either use boneless thighs or legs.

Chicken Wings

I really like to have frozen chicken wings at hand for a small portion of chicken soup. As my chicken stock usually does not last very long, for me this is a very good usage of a part of the chicken that I don’t know what to do else with.

If you want to go one step further than making chicken soup you can also go with chicken wing ramen. Its quite some work unless you have some other ingredients (such as noodles) already at hand, but it is totally worth it.