Resting, Cutting Up, and Freezing a Bird

Chill and rest

After evisceration, birds go into ice water until the carcass reaches 40 °F ¹. Then they need to rest before freezing. Right after slaughter the muscles stiffen in rigor mortis; freeze a bird in rigor and it cooks up tough. Resting cold lets rigor pass.

NDSU Extension’s rule: chill home-slaughtered poultry in the refrigerator below 40 °F, 6 hours for broiler-fryers and 24 hours for older birds. Without fridge space, two to three hours in a large tub of ice water will do ².

Drain the birds well before cutting or packaging ¹.

Eight pieces

University of Maine Extension’s method, with a sharp 6-inch boning knife on a board that won’t slide (a damp towel underneath) ³:

1. Set up: breast side up, legs toward you. Don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink; it spreads bacteria around the kitchen.
2. Legs: loosen the skin between the leg and body, cut through it, bend the thigh back until the hip joint dislocates, and cut through the joint to free the leg. Repeat.
3. Breasts: cut down one side of the keel bone and follow the curve of the ribs to lift the breast meat off; repeat on the other side. The carcass that’s left goes into the stock pot.
4. Wings: cut through the wing joint where it meets the breast.
5. Thigh and drumstick: skin side down, find the line of fat over the knee joint, and cut along it through the joint.
6. Tenderloins and boneless thighs (optional): peel the tenderloin from the underside of each breast, and cut thigh meat away from the bone.

That gives two drumsticks, two thighs, two breasts, and two wings, plus the back and neck for stock ³. Kansas State’s options are the same: split birds for barbecuing, pieces for frying ¹.

Spatchcocking (butterflying) for the grill: cut along both sides of the backbone with poultry shears, remove it, turn the bird over, and press it flat.

Clean up: wash knives and board in warm soapy water, rinse, then sanitize with a scant teaspoon of bleach per quart of water, kept wet 2 minutes, rinsed, and air-dried ³.

Freezing

• Short term: in the refrigerator for less than 4 days ¹.
• Package flat and tight: wrap giblets separately; tie the wings and legs close to the body on whole birds; use freezer bags or freezer wrap ².
• Get the air out: put the bird in a bag and lower it into a pan of cold water; the water pushes the air out the top; twist the neck of the bag, seal it, and dry the bag ². A vacuum sealer does the same.
• Never stuff a bird before freezing: the stuffing cools and later thaws slowly enough to let bacteria grow ².
• Label with the date and contents; package in the portions you’ll use.

Pink meat, dark bones: meat around the bones of young broilers sometimes stays pink even when thoroughly cooked, and bones can turn dark maroon, especially after freezing. Both come from hemoglobin in young bones and are safe ². Use a thermometer, not color, to judge doneness.

Try it

Cut up one bird into eight pieces and the next into a spatchcock. Rest a third whole bird for 24 hours before freezing and roast it a month later; compare tenderness with a bird frozen after 6 hours.

What to take from this

Chill carcasses to 40 °F, then rest them below 40 °F (6 hours for broilers, 24 for older birds) so rigor passes before freezing. Cut through joints, not bones: legs off at the hip, breasts along the keel and ribs, wings at the joint, thighs from drumsticks along the fat line. Sanitize the board with a scant teaspoon of bleach per quart. Freeze flat, airless packages with giblets separate, never stuffed, and don’t worry about pink meat near young bones if it reached a safe temperature.