Ina Garten makes everything look easy. If you’ve ever made the Barefoot Contessa’s roast chicken with bread and arugula sal you know it’s a cinch, but even she confesses that carving up your bird takes practice. Luckily, the chef extraordinaire is sharing her not-so-secret tips and tricks. In an Instagram post, Garten reveals she has a trick for slicing the breast off a roast chicken that helps ensure everyone gets a little of that flavorful skin. After all, who wants to eat tasteless chicken?
First, in her step-by-step tutorial, you will love that Garten claims not to be an expert. The first thing she does is cut the string that binds the chicken’s legs together before cutting the legs off in their entirety. She explains that when maneuvering the knife, you want to “wiggle it down until you find where the bone is attached,” and make that big cut. She then separates the thigh and the leg with one big cut. And then comes the breast, which she slices entirely off with a vertical cut, removing the entire piece of meat off the carcass. “I think it’s how Julia Child used to do it,” Garten explains, then slicing it horizontally across in thicker slices before artistically placing it on her platter.
Use a sharp knife
If you find cutting the breast meat off intimidating, find the breastbone before making an incision and use it as your North Star before carving along each side. How does this cut ensure flavor? The cookbook author notes that every portion gets some of the crispy skin that is super tasty, along with the juicy white meat. This is definitely a basic knife skill and technique you need to know and worth filing under Ina Garten’s best tips for cooking chicken.
Make certain you start with a sharp knife because cutting through bones and meat can be difficult otherwise. That said, Garten’s knife skills are mesmerizing and she makes it look like she has done it a thousand times over — because she probably has. Even Jennifer Garner dropped a note to the chef asking, “How often do you sharpen your knives, Ina? Also I miss you, I’m calling you today!” After watching that video and reading the comments, Garten’s followers think the “Alias” star is just fishing for an invite to eat chicken with the “store-bought is fine” advocate. Can you blame her?
