Not as hard as you think…

OLIVE TREE FARM: Hope you have a go, but make sure your knives are super sharp!

IN my quest to learn more about food preparation here at Olive Tree Farm, I decided last year to have a go at de-boning a chicken.

One of my friends does it regularly and said it wasn’t as difficult as it looked. After a quick search on the internet, I found a video on You Tube, where an experienced butcher showed how it was done, from start to finish in just over 5 minutes. The first attempt took me about an hour or so, mainly due to my knives not being sharp enough. Since then I have done it probably another 6 or so times, each time it got easier, although I still watch the video to remind of the order in which to proceed.

This week, I used my new knives, bought as a present for Christmas, and what a difference they made. It isn’t something that can be explained easily in writing, so I would recommend you watched the video, this is the link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dworCHCm3ts).

This time however, I did it slightly differently and after removing all the bones, and keeping the skin intact, I added an extra chicken breast, which I butterflied and placed in the centre of the meat instead of using stuffing. I then formed it into a cushion shape, tying with strings to keep it all together (see photo). Can I just add, it still takes me longer to remember how to do the butchers knots and tie it all together, than it now takes me to actually bone out the chicken.

It may sound a bit of a waste of time but trust me. The half hour or so spent is well worth it. The end result after roasting, gives you a lovely piece of meat, which is far easier to carve when you come to serve it, and it looks quite pretty as well.

I brushed it with a little olive oil and sprinkled some herbs over it, and cooked it surrounded by vegetables in the middle of the oven on 190 deg C, for about an hour and a half. It does cook faster than a whole chicken usually does. Hope you have a go, but make sure your knives are super sharp!

You can follow the progress of Olive Tree Farm on Facebook, so search us out and give our family page a like. We look forward to seeing you there!

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