How To Cut Up A Chicken

Our answer

Nigella's Slow Roasted Garlic and Lemon Chicken (from NIGELLA SUMMER) uses a large chicken that has been cut, or jointed, into 10 pieces before roasting. You can ask your butcher to do this or you can attempt it yourself. First you need to remove the two wings and the legs, cutting the legs across at the joint so that you get two thighs and two drumsticks. You then cut away the backbone (this is easiest done with sturdy kitchen scissors or poultry shears) to give the breasts still on the bone (called a "crown"). Remove the wishbone then cut through the breastbone lengthways to give two whole breast pieces and cut each breast in half across.

You now have 4 breast pieces, 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks and 2 wings, a total of 10 pieces. You can also replace the chicken pieces with a mixture of thighs and drumsticks, if this is easier. We prefer these to chicken breasts as most chicken breasts are sold skinless and off the bone and they tend to become dry during cooking.