Why do instructions for carving a chicken disregard the back?
Many instructions for carving a roast chicken don't mention doing anything with the meat on the back. For example, Mark Bittman in How to Cook Everything, describes how to cut the breast, leg, and wing from the bird, but doesn't say to do anything with the back (other than, presumably, to put it in stock). The back meat tastes perfectly fine to me, although it isn't a large pretty chunk like the other pieces.
Why aren't there instructions on how to carve it too? Should I serve up the back meat? Keep it for myself? Use it as a part of some other cooking?
Best Answer
Back meat on poultry tends to be rubbery, inaccessible, and there is relatively little of it. The meat is almost like other dark meat but is found only in thin sheets. Also since during traditional roasting the back meat is down in the pan it tends to be less cooked than is pleasant for dark meat.
It isn't practical to try and carve it because it is a ton of effort for just a little bit of not-very-good meat.
After carving off the major cuts I will use my hands to pull off any useful scraps- including some of the larger pieces of back meat. I save these pieces for my standard poultry scraps applications: pie, soup, and enchiladas.
Whatever is left gives up it's goodness into the broth when the carcass is boiled and is then fed, with the spent carcass, back to the chickens.
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How do you perfectly carve a chicken?
The best way to slice chicken is to cut against the grain, which gives you shorter muscle fibers, making the meat more tender. Find the grain by locating the tiny white muscle fibers that run in 1 direction. Use your knife to cut across them in 1 clean slice so the meat doesn't shred.What happens if you cut chicken with the grain?
Always leave your chicken to rest for at least 15 mins before carving. This will give you a juicy chicken that is a lot easier to carve. For a more succulent chicken, take it out of the fridge one hour before cooking to bring it up to room temperature.How to Cut Up a Whole Chicken | Melissa Clark Recipes | The New York Times
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