Help me dissect a raw turkey ...

[Batard]

Hello fellow food-lovers.

I have a large turkey defrosted from Christmas. I want to remove the entire breast, rib cage and all, from a whole turkey. Like the roasts they seal pre-frozen at the supermarket. That way I can roast the breast and make soup from the rest of the carcass.

I am not a butcher, and while I have the tools I need to do it, I would prefer not to just hack away at it and make a mess. Is there a technique or method to do this that I can follow?

Thank you all.

Edited February 22, 2008 by Batard (log)

[melkor]

Pull each wing away from the bird and trace around the base of the wing with the tip of your knife, you should be able to see the joint and remove the wing. With the bird on a cutting board with the legs facing up, one leg at a time take the thigh and push it down towards the board, slice the skin between the thigh and the carcass and then cut along the base of the thigh staying close to the carcass to remove the leg and thigh. You can remove half the backbone by cutting along the base of the breastbone towards the backbone on both sides of the breast then flipping the bird and folding the backbone over on itself. If you want to separate the two breasts from each other, you'll need to remove the backbone entirely (use kitchen sheers) and then split the breastbone.

[scubadoo97]

Here is a link you may want to look at

http://www.asianonlinerecipes.com/cooking_...fabrication.php

[Henry dV]

Apologies for the bird being a pheasant and a skinned one at that, but I hope this helps !

Starting at the base of the breastbone, insert the knife to one side of the bone, then slide the knife forward until it hits the wishbone. Remove the knife and slide it down the innerside of the wishbone to remove the maximum amount of meat(see below)

Return the knife to the base of the breastbone and follow the ribs towards the spine and forward toward the wingc the breast will fall away from the carcase (as below)

Cut away from the wing joint.

[Peter the eater]

Some good advice already - I'll add use your fingers. If I get distracted or forget the anatomy while cutting, I just get in there and feel around. Breast meat can be separated quite easily from the bone or cartilage with some finger pressure.

Since you are going for the bone-in breast it shouldn't be too tricky - go with the cleaver or shears.

Is it a butterball?

[Henry dV]

My apologies, I should have read the post fully, you want a "Crown roast" !

[Batard]

Thanks for the advice guys. I took my time and felt around, and did a pretty clean job of it. Not as fast as Hung Huynh did on Top Chef (did anyone else see how fast he broke down those chickens in one of the competitions?), but it all worked out.