Boning chicken legs with a thin, hard knife

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perneto

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Hi all,

I'm looking for information on knife skills that does not assume soft western knives are used. In particular, this is the only way of boning chicken legs I know of:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy8k3xh45iM
(excuse my French :p)

It involves scraping the bones - not going to work well at all with a Japanese petty.
How do the Japanese do it?

Beyond chicken legs, I'd be very interested in any other knife skills information that works for thin hard knives.
(BTW, this is about to be back in print: http://www.bookdepository.com/Japanese-Kitchen-Knives-Hiromitsu-Nozaki/9781568364902)

Thanks!
 
Do you see how he removes the top part of the second bone around 1:45-1:55 in the video? You can do everything he does the same way, except wherever he scrapes, copy the technique he uses at 1:45. In other words, anytime you want to scrape, you can just shave the meat off the bone with little cuts like he does for the second bone. Or, you could flip your knife over and scrape with the spine (if it's not too rounded, this will work well) :p
 
I just did two chicken galantine tonight and used my Yusuke 210 suji/petty. No problem.

Love that Pepin video.
 
Somewhere in YouTubeLand there's a vid in a Japanese chicken butchering facility, and a woman demonstrates how they debone chicken legs using a honesuke. Don't have time to find now...
 
The same person who does the thighs does a badass whole chicken breakdown with a masamoto honesuki.
http://youtu.be/3fpKgXqhvtQ
I've been practicing that flow of movement it's hard to be that seamless.
 
Now that's awesome! There are lots of vids & different techniques out there to break down a chicken, but this makes the most sense to me. Similar in some ways to how I break down a chicken, but this guys got more skill and uses different parts differently than I do/can. Thanks again!
 
cclin said:
Mike, thanks for link! I learn some new skill..I'll try it at this weekend:)
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I'd consider it, but I have seven chickens I brined over night and am drying them to roast tomorrow night. I took the wish bones out already. I'll have to use both ovens for a change. Lucky it's been cold - I have them on racks in pans in between the back doors. :cool2:
 
mpukas said:
Now that's awesome! There are lots of vids & different techniques out there to break down a chicken, but this makes the most sense to me. Similar in some ways to how I break down a chicken, but this guys got more skill and uses different parts differently than I do/can. Thanks again!
Click to expand...

That method makes sense to me for yakitori, but otherwise, I like the skin on the breast.

That first video that turbochef posted demonstrated what I was talking about. Instead of scraping the meat off, the chef cuts it off the bones. I forgot to add earlier that you also have to dig around with your fingers a bit. If you watch the video closely, you'll see he cuts to expose the bone and once it's almost completely off the meat, he digs his fingers a little under the bone so that he has an opening for his knife to cut the last bit off each end of the thigh.
 
I am really keeping an eye out for a honesuki lately. Hope someone will post a rehandled Takeda one for sale soon :)
 
heirkb said:
That method makes sense to me for yakitori, but otherwise, I like the skin on the breast.

That first video that turbochef posted demonstrated what I was talking about. Instead of scraping the meat off, the chef cuts it off the bones. I forgot to add earlier that you also have to dig around with your fingers a bit. If you watch the video closely, you'll see he cuts to expose the bone and once it's almost completely off the meat, he digs his fingers a little under the bone so that he has an opening for his knife to cut the last bit off each end of the thigh.
Click to expand...

Most of the videos I've seen, they will scrape the bone. While the techniques vary the Chinese and Japanese use a method where strategic cuts are made and the meat is pulled off the bone. Martin Yan can break down a chicken in less then 18 seconds. The Japanese probably can break down and de-bone a chicken in less then a minute.

Jay
 
Hmmm now I have a hankering for a honesuki. My preferred method is Yan's. I've been trying to get into the cleaver style but only have the dexter version I got from the asian market. But with it I can reproduce Yan's method at about 25 secs. But that doesn't attribute anything to the deboning of legs. The deboneing of the legs seems to lead to French style of cooking anyway so what is the reference >?
 
I think there may be more then a few Chinese or Japanese Chefs who might disagree, especially when it comes to chicken.
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yeah, i know but i gotta give the man some respect. so props to him and all that. =D

Martin Yan can break down a chicken in less then 18 seconds.
Click to expand...

seen that too, and he even admits that his technique was based on jacques' boning style.
 
I worked off Jacques style for a bit. I love his bit with Julia @! But Martin streamlined it and it works. But he never bones a thigh/leg.
 
That Pepin video is very cool. The video with the Honesuki is also pretty cool, but pretty different end product from Pepin.
 
ol' pepin got me inspired and i just boned my first chicken. used an old global chef knife for fear of damage but i reckon many knives could do it. all rolled up with basil pesto and spinach, good times.
 
heirkb said:
That method makes sense to me for yakitori, but otherwise, I like the skin on the breast.

That first video that turbochef posted demonstrated what I was talking about. Instead of scraping the meat off, the chef cuts it off the bones. I forgot to add earlier that you also have to dig around with your fingers a bit. If you watch the video closely, you'll see he cuts to expose the bone and once it's almost completely off the meat, he digs his fingers a little under the bone so that he has an opening for his knife to cut the last bit off each end of the thigh.
Click to expand...

Here is a video, where the membrane, next to the bone is being cut off, instead of scrapped off. Thought you might like to see it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkesUyn-9Ls&feature=endscreen

Jay
 
Thanks all, I'm learning a lot!

A related question: is anyone breaking down and boning poultry with a deba? Would that be a bad idea? Is a honesuki/garasuki much better?
 
In the past I used a (inexpensive) Tosagata HD Deba....not that its a bad idea, but that style blade is both tall and thick....the petty/parer/honesuki/garasuki/boning knives just seem to get it done easier.


perneto said:
Thanks all, I'm learning a lot!

A related question: is anyone breaking down and boning poultry with a deba?...?
Click to expand...
 
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