KNIFE SKILLS IN THE KITCHEN
Understanding the anatomy of the skeleton, muscles, and ligaments makes meat, poultry, and game easier to cut and carve.
Anatomy of Meat
Animals have a strong and complex skeleton to support a heavy frame of long muscles. Muscle fibers, often over 12in (30cm) long, can be easily seen, as a coarse grain, in tough meat from mature animals and in continuously used muscles such as the neck and forelegs. Connective tissue sheaths the muscles in blue-white membranes; sometimes visible as a transparent silver skin, like the kind surrounding beef fillet, sometimes as a hefty sheet of gristle, as in brisket. At the end of the muscle, the connective tissue becomes a shiny, white tendon, anchoring the muscle to the bone. When boning a leg of lamb, you will see a tendon in the center of the ball and socket joint.
Use gravity to your advantage when boning meat or slicing off gossamer connective tissue, such as from a fillet of pork: hold up the bones and let the meat and fat fall to the work surface, giving you a better view so you can cut precisely and avoid cutting into the muscle. Don’t slice away too much gristle—the meat will simply fall apart. Instead use a slow cooking method, as in braising oxtail, and the gristle will dissolve. Poultry and game birds have a featherweight skeleton and light and dark muscles: muscles that are exercised more frequently store more oxygen and provide dark meat. Chickens and turkeys do little, if any, flying and have tender, white breast meat, or wing muscles, but darker legs. Game birds such as wild duck, on the other hand, consist only of dark meat and have much stronger leg tendons.
The challenge of preparing meat, poultry, and game for the table requires a range of cutting tools. These include a cleaver and boning knife for heavy work; a long, fine knife and meat fork for carving and slicing; scissors and scalpel for crackling or pork skin; small knives for scoring fat; a granton knife for cold cuts; and even an electric slicer for paper-thin slices of ham. Poultry shears are needed to trim feathers and breast bones, and paring knives to cut birds. If you would like to “break down” a carcass into smaller cuts and joints yourself, get a real butcher’s block, which is much lower than a normal work surface, and a scimitar. Cooking meat on the bone gives you a chance to carve it with skill and a flourish at the dining table, to the admiration of your guests.
BEEF
Beef is cut from the carcass of our largest farmed animal, and yields tough and tender meat, all of which can be delicious, depending on how we butcher, cut, cook, and carve it.
Cutting Across the Grain
Braises, casseroles, stews, and other slow-cooked dishes demand tough meat, full of flavor. To enjoy them, the meat must be cut across the grain and cubed—it would be very stringy and unpleasant otherwise.
Slicing
Trim the fat, using a straight-edged slicing knife. The “grain” of the meat is formed from developed muscle fibers. This is recognized easily in cuts of tough meat with a coarse grain such as brisket, chuck, and topside. Slice the meat first, then cut into cubes or rectangles, working at right angles to the direction of the muscle fibers.
Cutting With the Grain
The fillet is the least-used muscle in the beef carcass. It is recognizable by its satiny texture. Aged fillet is so tender that you do not have to cut across the grain.
Cutting Cubes
Cut the fillet crosswise into 3in (7.5cm) pieces, then cut each piece into slices against the grain, about 3in (7.5cm) square and 1in (2.5cm) thick. You could use a scimitar or a small slicing knife. Lay the slices flat and then cut the squares into 3x1in (7.5x2.5cm) strips.
Carving Entrecôte Steaks After Grilling
Prime, tender cuts of meat like entrecôte, or sirloin, steak are also suitable for grilling, which is either cooking on an outdoor grill or on a ridged cast-iron grill pan on top of the stove.
Carving
After grilling, allow the steaks to rest, then use a small slicing knife to slice each steak diagonally against the grain into 4 or 5 thick slices, using a gentle sawing.
One of the simplest culinary techniques, roasting requires little more than basic skills in managing temperature and timing. After roasting, transfer the meat to a carving board, cover loosely with foi action with the knife.
1. To carve, stand the roast with the ends of the bones facing up. Steadying the meat with a carving fork on the fatty side, and using a sawing action with the slicing knife, cut downward between the bones and the meat to separate them.
2. Discard the bones and put the chunk of meat, fat-side up, on the board. Cut downward across the grain into thin slices, again using a sawing action with the knife.
Quick Tip
Letting the meat rest for at least 15–30 minutes after roasting allows the muscles to relax so the juices are retained within the meat and carving is easier. The meat will not get cold during this time—as long as it is not cut into, it will stay hot inside.
LAMB
The best-quality meat will come from the back half of an animal, in particular the fleshy hindquarters. The toughest cuts come from those parts of an animal that move the most
Boning a Saddle of Lamb
This classic technique of boning a saddle of lamb from underneath keeps the saddle whole—and gives a beautiful meaty joint that is perfect for stuffing. First, detach any kidneys and reserve for stuffing.
1. Strip off the membrane covering the fatty side of the saddle. Turn over and remove the 2 fillets from either side of the backbone. Work from one side of the bone outward, stroking against it with a flexible boning knife until the fillet is released. Repeat on the other side. Reserve the fillets.
2. With the tip of your knife, loosen the outside edge of one end of the backbone, then cut around and underneath it on one side, working toward the middle. Continue stroking with your knife along its length, gently lifting up the bone to help release it from the meat.
3. Repeat the stroking and lifting technique on the other side and then work the knife under the backbone so that it comes free, taking great care not to pierce through the skin. The two “canons” of meat underneath will now be revealed.
4. Clean the meat and fat from the flaps by stroking with your knife from the middle outward— keep going until you get to the fat on the skin and the flaps are smooth. Square off the edges, making them about 5in (12cm) from the canons. Turn the joint over and very lightly score through the fat and skin with the tip of the knife.
Also known as carré d’agneau, this is one of the best roasts imaginable, with a crisp outer crust and sweet, juicy meat within. When preparing an untrimmed joint, aim to protect the single lean muscle, which runs next to the backbone, and don’t cut it inadvertently off the ribs.
1. On one side of the joint, there is a cartilaginous and soft shoulder blade. Lift up the flap and cut it out with a flexible boning knife, holding the knife blade flat to avoid cutting into the muscle. Reserve it for stock.
2.Slip the boning knife beneath the membrane, which is often papery and crackly, and with your other hand, rip it off, exposing the fat. If the fat is too thick, shave off in layers with the boning knife.
3. With a small chef’s or utility knife, cut between the ribs, running the blade as close as you can to the bones, to expose them and release the flap of fat—and a bit of meat—that holds them together.
4. Holding the knife blade about 1½in (4cm) away from the muscle, slice off the fatty flap. If you prefer really lean meat, cut closer to the muscle. Reserve the flap and trimmings to make stock.
5. Lay the rib bones on the cutting board. Take a cleaver (either an Asian one or a Western one) and, with one stroke, chop off the ends of the bones so that they all come off in a straight line. With the utility or chef’s knife, carefully strip off the fine skin that surrounds the bones for an attractive presentation.
6. Hold the joint upright. With your cleaver, chop off the backbone, also called the chine, from the fattest end of the muscle. Try to do this with just one or two clean and accurate strokes. If you leave any traces of backbone on the joint, it will prevent you from slicing the cutlets apart after cooking.
Quick Tip
For barbecues, most cuts of lamb are excellent because they are small. Butterflied leg of lamb will feed a crowd. Alternatively, cut the legs, best end, and loin into chops and cutlets. To keep the outside of the joint from charring and the inside being undercooked, marinate the meat first in yogurt and herbs.
Butterflying a Leg of Lamb
The secret of boning any piece of meat is to understand the anatomy. A leg is made up of three bones – pelvic, thigh, and shank. The pelvic bone is at the widest end, the shank at the narrowest. This technique is ideal for meat that is to be grilled or barbecued.
1. Place the lamb fleshiest side down. Starting at the widest end, take hold of the pelvic bone while you work around it with the tip of a boning knife to expose it. Now make an incision down from the pelvic bone, through the skin and meat, to the bottom of the leg.
2. Work the knife around the thighbone, stroking all the way around close to the bone, to release it from the meat. Work with the tip of the blade, using short strokes to prevent tearing.
3. Using small stroking movements with your knife, always keeping the blade against the bone, keep going past the ball and socket joint and on down the length of the shank bone.
4. When you get to the bottom of the leg, cut through the sinew and tendons to release the end of the bone. You can then lift out all three bones (pelvic, thigh, and shank) in one piece.
5. Open out the meat so that it lies flat away from the knife, and make horizontal cuts with short stroking movements through the thick meaty “wings” on either side.
6. Open out the wings to reveal the boneless butterflied leg. If the meat is very uneven, cut slivers of flesh from the thickest parts and rearrange them in the thinner areas.
Tunnel-Boning a Leg of Lamb
This is a technique for the adventurous cook (or your butcher), but it is not at all difficult. Time and patience are all you need—and a freshly honed boning knife with a firm blade. Work slowly and consistently and you will be amply rewarded with a meaty whole joint with the bones “tunneled out,” which can be stuffed, wrapped, and carved with ease.
1. Place the lamb on a board with the fleshiest side face down. Starting at the top of the leg, locate the pelvic bone with your hand and grip hold of it while you work around it with the tip of your boning knife to expose it. Keep as close to the bone as possible.
2. After the pelvic bone is exposed, slowly tunnel your way inside the leg, working all the way down the attached thighbone to the bottom. Keep picking up the meat and turning it over to get the best grip, taking care to keep the knife close to the bone so that you do not cut into the surrounding flesh.
3. When you get to the bottom of the thighbone where it joins the shank bone at the ball and socket joint, grasp the end of the thighbone like a hand le. Using the knife like a dagger, sever the ball and socket joint, at the same time pulling and wiggling the thighbone with your hand to work it free.
4. Having taken the thighbone out, repeat the boning process with the shank bone in exactly the same way until you get to the very bottom of the leg. At this stage it is very easy to see the “tunnel” that you have created.
5. Stop working on the inside and pull the shank bone through to the outside of the leg so you can get at it easily. Now continue working around the bone with your knife until it is released and the leg is completely bone-free. You can use the bones to make stock.
Quick Tip
Feel free to roll the meat back and forth as you work (do whatever you feel most comfortable with), taking care not to tear the lobes of meat apart from each other. It is important to keep the joint as whole as possible, so that it does not fall to pieces when carved. If the thighbone is proving difficult to sever from the ball and socket, either use a heavy cleaver or rest the joint on your thigh and snap the bone into two pieces.
Carving a Leg of Lamb
Remove the lamb from the oven. Transfer to a carving board. Cover loosely with foil and leave to rest in a warm place for 15–30 minutes.
1. Holding the roast upright by the bone, slice off the plump “lobe” of meat (the front of the thigh) by following along the bone with a long slicing knife. Now stand the roast on its cut surface and slice off the larger lobe of meat on the other side (the back of the thigh) by working your knife along the bone with a sawing action.
2. Remove the remaining meat from the bone so you have three chunks of boneless meat. Lay the chunks on their flat, cut sides, and carve thick slices downward and against the grain, allowing 1 slice per person. The slices should be thick, almost like steaks. If they are too thin, they will be bloodless and the meat will be dry.
Apply this Skill
Studding a joint with rosemary and garlic imparts flavor to the meat. This technique can be applied to any joint. Tear the tops off the rosemary and halve each garlic clove lengthwise. Make 12 incisions in the fat side of the lamb with the tip of a paring knife. Insert the rosemary and garlic into the slits in the meat.
PORK & HAM
Belly pork is a wonderful joint if prepared in the right way with a long, fine knife. On the bone, it provides the popular, Chinese-style spare ribs.
Slicing
After boning, take the joint and square it off: cut it into a neat rectangle of even thickness. Trim away any excess fat. It is very easy to cut into slices of a similar thickness—simply press hard on the joint.
Slicing Pork Tenderloin
Be very gentle with this fillet: the meat is exceptionally sweet, tender, and delicate. Once the muscle sheath (connective tissue) is removed and the fillet is cut into portions, it cooks in minutes.
1. Slip a boning knife under the muscle sheath without piercing the fillet. Pull up the sheath and run the blade over the meat surface with a gentle sawing action, to separate the strip of tissue from the fillet.
2. To slice the fillet evenly into 2½–3oz (70–80g) portions, mark it out from the center: first in half, then in quarters, then in eighths, before you begin to cut. Use a fine knife, such as a utility knife.
Shaping Medallions
Choose large pork fillets from the butcher to make these elegant medallions. Pork fillet, like beef fillet, is exceptionally tender and uniform in shape, so these are really easy to do.
1. Squeeze the fillet gently, to make it stand proud and firm. Use a utility knife to cut it into seven equal portions about 1½in (4cm) long; they should look like little logs at this stage. Stand the pieces on their ends.
2. Wrap a piece loosely in the corner of a large piece of muslin. With the side of a santoku blade, hit and flatten before squeezing it into a round with smoothing motions. Tighten the muslin as it takes shape.
3. Each piece of fillet should be formed into a perfect round, or medallion, ready for pan-frying. This technique can also can be used with beef fillet.
Carving Ham on an Electric Slicer
Use this machine for a boned joint of air-dried meat, such as Parma ham, Serrano ham, Bresaola, saucisson, or large salamis—especially those with fennel seeds. Cut only enough slices to eat at any one time. When you want to use the slicer, cut away a collar of skin (and any fat) to a width of about 2in (5cm) with a serrated knife. If you cut away any more, the meat will dry out and you will have difficulty cutting and serving it later. An electric slicer is also wonderful for cooked octopus, peeled and cleaned melons, and all cold meats.
Serrano Ham
Make sure that the machine is running smoothly and choose a setting to determine the thickness of the slices. Push the meat down hard in the carriage, turn on the machine, and run a few test slices to make sure that the thickness is as required.
Slicing Ham Terrine
A terrine should be wrapped tightly and chilled in a refrigerator for at least 24 hours and up to four days, before being removed to cut it into picture-perfect slices. A ham and parsley terrine is shown here. Even slices with a sharp slicing knife, cut the terrine into 1in (2.5cm) slices with plastic wrap still intact. Lay flat and peel off the wrap; slide on plates with a fish slice or palette knife.
Top Technique
To line a terrine, lay out three rectangles of plastic wrap on top of each other. Wet the terrine and line it with the film, so it overhangs. Add filling; pull one long side of the wrap tightly over the top. Repeat on the other side. Fold up the short ends. Top with a foil-wrapped cardboard rectangle and wrap the whole terrine very tightly in at least three layers of cling film.
Carving Ham off the Bone
Ham freshly carved off the bone has a sweet juiciness and is perfect for serving at parties. Follow the internal bone structure, and take off the meat in three lobes. Use three knives for the best results.
1. Use a long slicing knife to cut off the fat, then a flexible boning knife to remove the large lobe from the shank to the remainder of the ball and socket joint.
2. Follow the contours of the bone, which is now exposed, keeping your wrist flexible and twisting the blade, so the blade strips off all the meat.
3. Take off the two remaining medium and long lobes. Use the slicing knife to cut off the remaining sweetest and juiciest slivers that are close to the bone.
4. Place each lobe of ham with its flat side on the board and use a granton knife to carve the ham into thin slices. Serve them whole.
Scoring Fat for Crackling
There are four simple steps to get crackling (crisp skin): score the rind, rub it with salt and oil, roast at a high temperature for first 15 minutes, and do not baste the joint at all during roasting.
Scoring
Cut across the width of the rind with a freshly honed paring knife or a scalpel, keeping the lines parallel and close together. First work from the middle toward one edge, then turn the meat around and work from the middle toward the other edge. This is easier than scoring in a long line.
Carving Roast Pork
Transfer the meat to a carving board, cover loosely with foil and leave to rest in a warm place for 15–30 minutes.
1. Steadying the meat with a carving fork, slice with a small slicing knife between the crackling and the meat so the crackling lifts off in one piece.
2. With scissors, cut the crackling in half crosswise to end up with short pieces that are easy to eat.
3. Carve the meat downward and across the grain into thick slices, using a sawing action with a small slicing knife.
OFFAL
Offal should be eaten as soon as possible. The most famous dishes involving poultry livers are generally made into terrines or pâtés, but are equally good when fried as part of a salad, pasta, or rice dish.
Preparing Kidneys for Frying
Supermarkets and butchers will prepare kidneys for frying, but they do not always do the job well. If you deal with them yourself, you can be sure of a good result.
1. Carefully pull away and discard the white fat (suet) that surrounds the whole kidney— it will come away quite easily.
2. Lay the kidney upside-down. With the point of a paring knife, cut around the fatty core and pull it away to release the membrane covering the kidney.
3. Discard the core. Peel the membrane off the whole kidney—it will slip off easily when you tug with your fingers.
4. Cut the kidney into bite-sized pieces following the natural lobes, then cut out the fatty cores from each piece. The kidney is now ready for frying.
Slicing
Calf’s liver is excellent for frying because it cooks very quickly over high heat. For six people, buy a piece weighing 13⁄4 lb (800g). Cut away any membranes and arteries with a utility knife or small slicing knife, then thickly slice the liver.
Cleaning Chicken Liver
Trimming chicken livers are always a good value. To clean chicken livers, cut away any green patches, membrane, and the fibers around the center of each with a paring knife.
CHICKEN
A fresh bird should have skin unblemished by dry patches, be plump relative to its size and weight, and should show no sign of bruising. Patches of dry skin indicate that the bird has been stored badly or frozen and it will need lots of extra butter or oil during cooking in compensation. Bruising is generally a problem with game birds that have been shot. Red patches will turn dark and unsightly during cooking. The cutting method is identical for all poultry and the objective is to loosen the flesh from the bone with as little loss of flesh as possible. Focus on your own safety—use a regularly honed knife, keep the blade as close to the bone as you can, and never cut toward your hand.
All poultry divides into two main parts, breast and legs. The winglets can be left attached to the breast or served separately as desired. Whether the breasts are halved or the legs further subdivided into thigh and drumstick will vary (see pp166–8), but this will be a matter of portioning, cooking time, or convenience rather than any major separation of differing types of meat.
Removing the Wishbone
Removing the wishbone is important if you want to make carving of the cooked bird or dissection into joints a great deal easier.
1. Lay the bird on its back and lift the flap of skin from around the bird’s neck. Run your finger around the neck cavity and you will feel the wishbone just in from the edge.
2. Using a freshly honed paring knife, scrape the flesh away from the wishbone so that it is exposed and clearly visible.
3. Run the blade of the knife just behind the bone, then use your fingers to lift and twist the wishbone free. Pull the skin back into place.
Cutting a Bird Into Four Pieces
If you intend to cook the bird in any way other than whole, you will need to know how to dismantle it into its component joints. All poultry is formed in the same way, so the difference between jointing a turkey and a partridge will be one of size rather than technique. Ducks and geese are configured slightly differently, with long breasts and comparatively short legs. This affects carving, but in essence they too are taken apart in the same way, with similar knives.
1. Remove the wishbone from the bird, then cut down through the skin between the leg and the carcass, with a small slicing knife or utility knife.
2. Bend the leg back as far as you can. The tip of the leg bone, a ball and cup arrangement with the backbone, will pop free.
3. Cut the leg away from the backbone, then repeat the process with the other leg. Each leg may be divided into thigh and drumstick.
4. Pull the wing out to its fullest extent, then use poultry shears to cut off the winglet at the second joint from the wing tip.
5. If a crown (the 2 breasts and wings on the bone) only is called for, snap the backbone of the bird at its halfway point.
6. Using poultry shears, remove the lower end of the backbone, which has no meat attached to it.
7. If the breasts are to be cooked on the bone, cut along the breastbone from neck to tail. Trim away any unwanted sections of backbone.
8 This is the chicken cut into 4 pieces. The legs take longer to cook than the breast, so for some recipes you will need to cook them separately.
1. After cutting the bird into 4 pieces, use poultry shears to cut through the ribs two-thirds of the way along each breast and at an acute angle.
2. Each leg can be further divided. Locate the joint above the drumstick connecting it to the thigh and, with a small chef’s knife, slice through to divide.
3. This is the chicken cut into 8 pieces. Many braising dishes call for the chicken to be divided into 4 or 8 pieces before cooking.
Spatchcocking a Bird
A spatchcocked bird has been flattened and transformed into something more two-dimensional, which can be grilled evenly. Poussins (baby chickens) are ideal for spatchcocking, and young guinea fowl, quail, and squab (pigeon) can also be prepared in this way.
1. Turn the poussin upside down. Using poultry shears, cut along one side of the backbone, then cut along the other side and remove the backbone completely. Open up the bird and turn it over.
2. Using the heel of your hand or the flat side of a large chef’s or santoku knife, lightly crush the bird all over. This tenderizes the meat so it cooks more evenly. With a freshly honed chef’s knife, cut a few slashes into the legs and thighs for the same reason.
3. Push a skewer through the left leg to the right wing and another skewer through the right leg to the left wing.
4. If desired, the spatchcocked bird can now be marinated before being grilled or it can be roasted in the oven.
Detaching the Breast Section From the Bone
If the breasts are to be cooked as fillets, cut the breasts away from the bone. Work from the thick wing end downward. The breastbone will act as a natural brake, so you can press firmly on either side of the central bone and follow its contours.
1. Using poultry shears, cut away the ribs and the backbone. Work from the thickest (wing) end of the breast toward the narrowest part.
2. Using a boning knife, separate the meat from the bone by following the contours of the breastbone, cutting the fillet neatly away
3. Locate the small inner fillet on the underside of the chicken breast and slice any connecting membrane to remove it.
Cutting a Pocket Into a Breast Fillet
For stuffing the breadcrumbs of the stuffing should provide a good seal, but it helps if the stuffing is securely wrapped by the meat, so cut a pocket about 1½in (4cm) deep in the side of the breast fillet with a paring knife.
Boning a Thigh
The thigh is easier to bone than the drumstick, because the bone is straightforwardly positioned and visible. Keep the knife blade as close as possible to the bone itself and always cut away from your fingers. Also, angle the blade slightly toward the bone rather than away from it.
1. Place the thigh skin-side down on a cutting board. Use a small, sharp boning or paring knife to locate the bone at one end.
2. Cut through the flesh down the length of the bone. Draw the knife down the underside of the bone and cut the bone free.
Boning a Drumstick
The drumstick has a series of long, hard tendons along its length, which can complicate things but are best ignored rather than removed. Once the point of the knife is in contact with the bone, use a scraping motion to free the bone from the surrounding meat.
1. Starting from a point halfway along the drumstick, insert a small boning or paring knife through the flesh to locate the bone; slice along it to expose it fully.
2. Open out the fkesh and cut carefully around the bone to free it from the flesh.
Boning a Leg
There are occasions when boning poultry is an advantage—for quick braised dishes, perhaps—and occasions when it is essential, for example when the meat is to be deep-fried or flattened into escalopes.
1. Place the leg skin-side down. Cut with a small chef’s knife halfway through the flesh at the start of the thigh bone. Cut along the bone to the knuckle. Scrape to expose the bone, then ease it from the meat.
2. Perform the same operation from the knuckle down to the end of the drumstick. The bones will be exposed, but they will still be joined at the central knuckle joint.
3. Lift the bones up and away from the flesh and carefully use the knife to cut them free from the knuckle. A series of short nicks with the tip of the knife will do the trick.
Chopping a Whole Raw Bird
An alternative method to jointing a chicken or duck is to use a Chinese cleaver. A cleaver with a longer, narrower blade is available for duck. It is easier to use a cleaver on a low work surface.
1. Place the chicken, breast-side up, on the cutting board. Remove the legs in the normal way, through the soft cartilage of the joint, with a quick chop. Then chop off the wings from the breast, cutting through the soft cartilage of the joint.
2. Turn the chicken over. Bring the cleaver swiftly down close to one side of the backbone in one sweep, which will cleave it in half. Carefully chop out the spine from the other half, without damaging any of the breast beneath it.
3. Chop through each breast (while it is still on the bone) to produce even, thin slices.
4. Chop through each thigh to cut it into even slices, but leave the drumsticks intact.
Carving Chicken
There are two aspects to carving poultry, one of which is better tackled by the traditional carving knife. This is the slicing of the breast into thin strips, especially on large birds such as turkey. The other is the division of the bird into joints and this is better done with a chef’s knife.
1. Place the bird on its back on a cutting board. Hold it with a carving fork and use a carving knife to cut the skin between the leg and the breast. Next, draw the knife down and cut close to the breast.
2. Lift the leg backward to release the bone from the body. This enables the cooked meat in crevices on the backbone to be taken off in one slice. Repeat the process for the other leg.
3. Hold the bird steady with the fork. Keeping the knife as close to the breastbone as possible, slice downward and lengthwise along one side of the bone to release the breast. Repeat on the other side.
4. You now have two legs and two breasts. To serve equal portions of both white and brown meat, divide these in half. Carve the breasts at a slight diagonal into equal pieces and put to one side.
5. Slice each leg through the joint to separate the thigh and drumstick. Place all the carved meat with the stuffing on a dish and serve.
skillful carving leaves the least waste with very little left on the bone or carcass.
Tools of the Trade
A carving fork has a long stem leading to short, curved prongs; when held in reverse, these secure the meat without damaging it. For serving, use a fork shaped like a tuning fork with two long, straight prongs and a short stem, good for prodding and jabbing.
OTHER BIRDS
Ducks, with their denser texture and elongated breasts, need different handling than chicken. The point of carving however is simple—to render the meat easy to eat and presentable.
Carving Turkey Legs
Separate the legs by cutting the skin between them and the main body. Press back each leg until it disconnects, then cut away the upper edge from the main body.
Drumstick
To carve the drumstick, hold it upright by the bone and use a small slicing knife to cut the meat downward into strips.
Thigh
For really large specimens, cut the bone cut out of the thigh, with a small utility or paring knife. Slice down along the thigh to expose the bone, then cut beneath it and remove. Slice the brown meat into strips.
Keep the knife very close to the carcass and slice downward and lengthwise along one side of the breastbone to release the breast. The breast will come off in one piece.
Carving
Lay the breast or a boned whole breast joint, flat-side down, and slice with a sharp slicing knife in the way you would cut a loaf of bread.
Rendering the Fat From Duck Breasts
The sole drawback of duck for today’s tastes is the fat content. There is plenty. All types of duck have a thick, rubbery membrane between the breast meat and the skin, making it impossible to remove.
Removing Fat
Take a freshly honed knife, e.g. a paring knife, a Japanese knife, or a scalpel, and slash the skin and fat, but not the flesh, in a tight crisscross pattern. Once the breast is cut, the fat will run out as it cooks.
Carving Goose & Aylesbury Duck
Goose and domesticated Aylesbury duck are carved more like chicken than wild duck. The meat will be cooked through and should be tender, so splitting the bird into sections rather than cutting into strips is needed.
1. With the bird on its back, cut the skin between each leg and breast using a long slicing knife. Lift the leg away from the body so that the thigh bone pops out, and cut it away at the base.
2. The leg can now be divided through the joint into thigh and drumstick. Keeping the carving knife as close as possible to the body, slice downward and lengthwise along one side of the breastbone.
3. Each breast will come off as a whole piece that may be subdivided into as many pieces as needed. The larger the piece, the longer it will retain heat. If desired, carve each breast on the diagonal into slices.
The flesh of wild duck is denser and darker than other poultry and needs to be carved thinly. The secret of successfully carving a duck is to hold the breast in a vicelike grip so that it can be safely and easily sliced. Any strength and pressure should be on the hand holding the meat in place, not on the hand wielding the knife.
1. Keep a small slicing knife close to the breastbone at all times and slice downward along the bone to remove each breast fillet.
2. Hold the breast firmly in place with a carving fork, then slice each breast lengthwise into four strips. These can be fanned out or the breast can be reformed into its original shape.
Quick Tip
Wild duck is delicious if the breast is served pink and the legs are still juicy. Turn up the oven when you take out the duck. Carve off the legs through the joints, located underneath. Wrap in a layer of foil, with the pink sides of the legs facing upward. Place as high as possible in the oven while you carve the rest of the duck.
JOINTING A RABBIT
Start by placing the rabbit carcass so that it lies facing toward you with its back on the work surface, to get a good view of the cavity. The butcher will have removed most of the viscera.
1. Remove the kidneys and then snip out the liver with kitchen scissors; reserve. Turn the rabbit over, with its cavity downward. To see where each muscly leg joins the loin, pinch the flesh at the top of the thigh.
2. With a short boning knife, cut in an arc through the ball and socket joint, toward the backbone. Run the blade along the backbone for the final part of the scooping cut; the leg should come away cleanly.
3. Cut off the other leg and turn the rabbit around so the exposed backbone points away from you. Lift each foreleg, slip the blade under the spade end of the shoulderblade and cut off close to the rib cage.
4. Remove the other foreleg. Use the heel of a large chef’s knife to cut off the remains of the backbone: if needed, press on the spine of the knife to cut through the cartilage and bone in a single chop.
6. Turn over the rabbit and tuck the flaps under. Cut through the rabbit, at the lower end of the rib cage, to leave just four rib bones attached to the loin. Square off the flaps, parallel to the torso.
Fully Jointed Rabbit
Wild rabbits prepared in this way may be stewed or used in a casserole; domestic rabbits may be braised. Use the bones for making a sauce or gravy. The liver and kidneys may be chopped and fried in butter and served hot on pastry croûtes.
By CHARLIE TROTTER, MARCUS WAREING, SHAUN HILL & LYN HALL in the book 'Knife Skills in the Kitchen' Published in the United States by DK Publishing, New York, 2008, p. 141-181. Adapted to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.
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