Instructions

1. Set the chicken, breast side up onto a cutting board with the legs toward you.

2. Splay out the wings and legs so the chicken sits flat on the cutting board.

3. Bend the legs upward until the hip joint pops out. Sever the legs at the hip with the chef's knife.

4. Cut each chicken leg between the top of the drumstick and the thigh to separate it.

5. Use your knife to feel for where these join on the bend in the leg to determine the cutting location.

6. Hold the end of a wing up and away from the body and cut it off where it meets the rest of the chicken. Repeat with the other wing.

   Optionally, separate each of the wings into the wingette and drumette by cutting at the joint in the middle of each wing.

7. Stand the bird on end on the cutting board and insert your knife between the backbone and the rest of the chicken and push your knife vertically through the chicken to remove the spine. Set this aside for stock, if desired.

8. Set the remaining chicken breast up on a cutting board and place your knife along the center breastbone. Press down on the knife with both hands to split the chicken breast into two pieces. For even frying, cut each half of the breast in half to create breast pieces closer in size to the dark cuts.

9. Prepare your chicken pieces for frying according to your recipe.