Portion the chicken before or after cooking?

corblimey

I have a raw chicken sitting at home that I was going to roast tomorrow. Usually, I roast the whole chicken and portion it afterwards. I eat as much as I can, and freeze the rest.

This time, I'm thinking of portioning it first (legs, wings, thighs, breasts) and cooking it directly on the hob as the need arises over the next few days. Is this a good plan, generally? Is divvying up a chicken easier cooked or raw? Anything extra I would need to do before doing this, in order to prepare the chicken? I normally just season it and slam it in the oven when roasting.

Dizzyblonde

I often cut up a chicken if I'm not going to use it all at once.
I turn it over and cut it down alont the spine - this will 'spatchcock' it and you can open it out like a butterfly. Then when you turn it over it's easy to see where to cut to get the portions you want.
It makes a change from just having leftover roast chicken for days on end.
I'll often roast half at a time - with a rub made from garlic, lemon juice and rind, sage and a little olive oil. You could use the other portions for things like chicken chasseur, chicken stew etc.

DreamC

I would usually roast a whole chicken - season it nicely, sometimes stick a whole lemon into it... there are a lot of variants. I also use roasting bags for roasting (and sprinckle a little of flour into it before placing the bird in - this will give the skin a nice brownish crust).

When it's ready, I will cut it into posrtions (for me it's easier this way). After dinner I just bone the leftovers and use the meat in a day or two for making another meal - for example quick and easy

Chicken Enchiladas

1/4 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons butter
4 (approx) Green Chili pepers, de-seeded and chopped small (tesco has them usually, but can be omitted if you want)
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 Tablesopoon milk
1/4 teaspoon cumin
2 cups cooked, chopped chicken
12 flour tortillas
1 can condensed cream of chicken or mushroom soup
1 carton sour cream or creme fraiche
1 cup milk
shredded cheese (any kind)

In skillet, cook onion in butter til soft, over medium heat. Stir in 1/2 of chopped chili peppers and remove from heat. Could also add chopped or tinned tomatoes too. Set aside.

In medium mixing bowl combine softened cream cheese, 1 T of milk and cumin, add onion mixture and chicken. Stir til combined. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of the chicken mixture onto each tortilla near an edge; roll up. Place filled tortillas, seam sides down, in a greased rectangular baking dish.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine soup, sour cream, 1 cup milk and remaining green chili pepers. Pour the soup mixutre evenly over the tortillas in the baking dish. Cover with foil and bake in a 200 degree oven for about 35 minutes or till heated through. Remove foil. Sprinkle enchiladas with cheese and return to oven and bake about 5 minutes or until cheese melts.

corblimey

Yeah, I tried to portion the raw chicken this past weekend, and it just didn't work out very well. Very messy job not helped by the crappy knives I was trying to use. Hopefully it comes with practice, because to be able to do fried chicken legs and thighs on sunday and chicken curry with the white meat yesterday meant that I wasn't eating roast chicken for 3 or 4 days in a row.

rubadub

In the past I have ripped all the skin off, scored it deeply in the thick bits, butterflyed it as described above, and baked in ~45mins on a high heat. I then just let it get fairly cook and strip all the meat off. I hate having to get rid of fat etc, tearing the skin off before cooking means there is not much mess.

These days I am just getting ready roasted ones, they are on a permanent offer (i.e. those fake offers, ALWAYS half price) in dunnes. Think it is O'Kane, about 1.1 or 1.2kg chicken for €4.60 I think, maybe €5. When you compare it first it does not seem great value, BUT when you cook a 1.6kg chicken it loses a lot of weight, so really this is bigger. Plus no electricity to cook, no messy cleanup either. They also do 2 smaller chickens in a pack for about 6.50 or €7. Cheaper than a roll in a deli.