Conflicting advice on which knife to use when cutting up a chicken, which should I use?
I recently took part in a knife skills workshop and during part of that workshop we were taught how to cut up a whole chicken into different sections.
I was expecting to use a boning knife for this task, but in fact our instructor had said that the best knife to use was in fact a paring knife as it is easier to use and handle when getting around the chicken. As a group, we typically worked around the joints, rather than trying to cut through them, to keep the cuts as neat as possible.
From looking online, almost all advice seems to advocate using a boning knife. I would like to go through the exercise of cutting up a chicken a few times at home, but I am now unsure which knife I need to be using for this task?
Best Answer
Boning and jointing are two different tasks. Cutting up a chicken into pieces is jointing, removing the meat from the bones entirely is boning, it sounds like you were jointing the chicken to me. Either knife will do the job, it's partly down to personal preference and what you have to hand. I've found that knowing where to cut is far more important than what you use to do it, and I've used used virtually every type of knife to joint chicken one time or another.
I've found that the flexibility of a boning knife is not helpful for many tasks, and between the two I would use a paring knife for boning as it's more direct. In my own kitchen I would use neither, instead I would reach for my 12cm (4.5in) utility knife, which is a slightly scaled up paring knife, it has more reach but it's still easy to handle. Boning knives are great for boning fish, but really not that much else.
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What type of knife is best for cutting chicken?
The Boning Knife The ultimate knife for cutting raw chicken is definitely a boning knife. This specialty knife has the proper curve and blade thickness for cutting around joints and sinew and removing fat. A boning knife also has the heft required for precision cutting but isn't too big or heavy to hold.What is each knife used for?
Larger chef's knives are used for cutting meat, dicing vegetables, disjointing some cuts, slicing herbs, and chopping nuts. Carving knives are used for slicing and carving dense meats. Slicing knives are used for cutting thinner slices of roast, fruit and vegetables.What type of knife is best for cutting raw meat?
The best knife for cutting raw meat is a chef's knife, which is also the most useful knife in the kitchen in general, as it can handle a great variety of different tasks.What kind of knife should be used when making small or delicate cuts?
What is a paring knife used for? The small but mighty paring knife is used to cut, chop and slice fruits and vegetables, but they can also be used for a multitude of other kitchen tasks.The Only Knife Skills Guide You Need
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Answer 2
This is a little bit of a frame challenge, but--you should own a paring knife even if you don't end up using it for this task. Paring knives are close to the top of the essential list (chef's knife, paring knife, serrated knife) and in particular of the essential knives they are just incredibly cheap.
Once you've corrected your situation so that you own a paring knife, you can just try using it for your task...if you aren't satisfied with how it does that particular task, then buy a boning knife. But you will use the paring knife for so many other things that it will certainly be worth it.
Answer 3
Just want to point out a possible safety issue I've run into when using my paring knife for this job. It's so slim and sharp that it will actually slice the tip of a joint clean off if the knife isn't going precisely between the bones — even when I'm not using much force. It's just the thinnest piece of bone you'll ever see, but it's razor sharp, and I worry that it could do real damage in the bellies of my three little kids. It's also not exactly a common occurrence, but it's enough to make me use a different knife.
Like @GdD, I use a significantly thicker but still short-ish and sharp utility knife. The extra thickness means that it can still cut into a bone, but will get wedged just that little bit — enough to give me feedback telling me I'm in the bone.
(FWIW, I also agree with @user3067860's advice of just buying a Victorinox paring knife because they're so useful, cheap, and good. Just not for this job.)
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