How To Cut-Up A Whole Fryer And $ave Money


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Whole Fryer




Chicago Cutlery


I know, I know this has nothing to do with antique furniture upholstery. But in my early years I was once a retail meat cutter. Today, yes I do furniture upholstery work, but I also like to cook (yes it shows) and I also sell Chicago Cutlery Knife Sets in my My EBay Store. Chicago Cutlery is synonyms with professional quality cutlery. You don't need a Chicago Cutlery knife to cut up a whole fryer but it does help to have a good sharp knife. You also need a clean cutting area and a clean cutting surface that you can wash with hot , soapy water when the job is completed.

The first thing that you need to do is go to your favorite grocery store and purchase a nice, plump whole fryer. I always watch for sales and I can pick up nice fryers for 69-89 cents per pound. This fryer I believe cost me under $5.00. When you are at the store buying your whole fryer notice how much per pound already cut-up fryers and fryer parts are per pound. 

Once I have the fryer at home I place the package in the sink and open it up. This allows all of the fryer juices to escape and go down the drain. While in the sink I remove the giblets and neck from the cavity of the fryer. I also remove the excess fat around the opening of the cavity. At this time I go ahead and cut the tail portion off of the fryer. These pieces that I have removed can be thrown away (which is what I do) or can be retained, frozen and used for soup stock at a future date. I then thoroughly wash the fryer in cold water, filling the cavity with cold water a couple of times to get all of the chicken juice out. I then pat dry with paper towels and place on my clean cutting surface.

Once I have finished with the above steps I place the fryer breast side down. When you are cutting a fryer, with a knife, you are cutting between the joints. I grasp the wing tip and wiggle the wing around to find the joint between the wing and the body of the fryer. I cut through that area and repeat the process on the other wing.

wing portion

the wing is in three parts. The wing tip, the middle and the portion closest to the body of the fryer. I separate these potions, again finding the joint area and cutting through those areas.

Meaty Wing Portions



I throw away the wing tip portion or you can add it to your soup stock collection and use at a later date.




Separating Leg/Thigh Portion

The next step is to lay the fryer on its back. Grasp the end of the fryer leg and wiggle the leg to find where there thigh is attached to the body. Cut down through the meat and through the soft joint. Repeat this process on the other leg/thigh portion.




Separate Leg/Thigh Portion

Take the leg/thigh portion and again wiggle it around to see where the joint is and cut down through the meat and through the soft joint. Repeat this process on the other leg/thigh portion.




Back /Breast Portion

When you have detached the leg/thigh portion you will have the breast and the attached portion. Grasp the one end of the back (tail end) and sharply bend backwards away from the breast portion. This action will break the bone and you can then finish by cutting through the meat to detach this back portion away from the breast portion.



Back/Breast Portion

 

What you will have left is the breast with back portion. I take this piece and lay the breast side on the cutting board. I securely grasp my knife and lay it in the middle of the back. I take the palm of my other hand and lay it across the top edge of the knife pointing my finger out away from the knife. I then, with a sharp, forceful motion push the knife down through the bones and meat until the portion is cut in half.

Two Breast Portions

You are finished.




Ready To Cook

 Here you have, I believe there are 12 different fryer portions ready to bake, fry or grill using your favorite recipe. When finished cutting up the fryer make sure that you dispose of any paper towels that you used to wipe up the chicken juice. You must also thoroughly clean the cutting area, the cutting board and your knife with hot soapy water.




Amy Coleman Cookbook

 For a limited time when you purchase a Chicago Cutlery Knife Sets you will receive an Amy Coleman Cookbook for free.





Chicago Cutlery Knife Sets

I hope that this information was helpful. Look for more posts like this one in the future. Have a good day.

Beautiful Antique Eastlake Rocker

Antique Eastlake Rocker



Before

 I found this beautiful Eastlake rocking chair at a local flea market. I believe that the chair is from the early 1900's and was probably reupholstered sometime in the 1950's. The fabric that I removed was the old frizee type that was common in the 1950's. The spring system needed to be retied but the frame was in remarkable condition. Notice the stick and ball detail in the arms.




Stick and Ball Arms

 I carefully stripped the chair down to the bare frame removing all of the old tacks, upholstery and padding. I did find a layer of rubberized horse hair covering the springs and a layer on the inside back. I retained this horse hair and reused it in the restoration. I them streched 4 1/2 inch juste seat webbing on the bottom or deck of the chair. I have a special webbing stretching tool and I weave the webbing as I stretch and attach it to the frame. I then proceeded to attach the original coil springs to the new webbing deck. Once that was accomplished I hand tied the spring system using jute sping tying twine and incorperating an eight way hand tied system.

When the spring system was installed I covered the springs with jute burlap and replaced the horse hair on top of the springs. I then started to "build up" the seat with cotton batting. I am a traditionalist when it comes to restoring old chairs and I always use cotton batting, like the original, and never use foam rubber (yuk). When I was satisfied with the look and feel of the seat cushion I procedded to apply the fabric.



Beautiful Fine Wood





Check Out The Detail



Detailed Craftsmanship



I like to choose fabrics that are modern yet lend thmselve to compliment to age of the furniture. This particular fabric is a durable hard faced fabric that features black, gold, green and maroon colors in a geometric stripe. After I expertly applied the fabric I trimmed the chair. I did not use the traditional "Scroll Gimp" and decorative tacks but made a "double welt" trim using the same material cut on the bias (diagonal).

When I was through upholstering the chair I reattached the rocker base and the original one coil rocker springs. I then cleaned and polished the wood to highlight the beautiful wood grain. This chair is for sale in my eBay store.

How To Install Replacement Platform Rocker Springs

These are a pair of  Heavy Duty Platform Rocker Springs that I sell in my eBay store Anu Direction. These units are a common replacement rocker spring for many antique and vintage rocking chairs and also used on many recliner chairs both vintage and modern. Even though these platform rocker spring units are made of heavy duty sprung steel they will wear out and break eventually. With a little elbow grease and some common hand tools you can easily replace them your self.

The first thing that you need to do is turn your chair upside down to gain access to the old springs to remove them from the chair. As shown in the top photo there is a flange, with three mounting holes, on both sides of the coil spring units. One mounting flange will be attached to the frame of the chair and the other side is mounted to the rocker base. Sometimes when removing the old springs you will find that some screws have been bent or broken and you will need to remove these old screws the best way that you can without damaging the original mounting hole on the wood frame and base.

Once you have the old springs removed you will be ready to install your new platform rocker springs. Attach one side of the spring to the frame of the chair into the original mounting holes. If the old screws are unusable or the mounting holes have been elongated you will need to purchase new mounting screws. Sometimes you will need to purchase a little larger screw than the original screw. Just make sure that the new screw is not to large to not fit through the mounting hole or to long as to go through and be exposed on the other side. You will notice that the mounting holes are not in a line. The center hole is a little above the two side holes. Once you have the platform rocker springs attached to each side of the chair place the rocker unit in the chair.

When you have the rocker base in place you will see that the mounting holes do not match up. You will need to "spread" the coils to get the mounting holes to match up with the rocker base mounting holes. I use a large flat regular screwdriver for this purpose. Jam the screwdriver between the coils and manipulate the rocker unit and screwdriver so that one of the outside mounting holes match up with the rocker base mounting holes. You will have to hold the screwdriver and the rocker unit in place while you insert the screw into the rocker base.

Once you have one end mounted properly inserted move to the other side of the spring and repeat the process. When you have the two ends in place the middle hole should be lined up with the rocker base. Repeat this process on the other side of the chair.

There that wasn't so bad was it? This process shouldn't take more than a half hour to an hour to accomplish. With some rocking recliners that swivel you have to remove the swivel base in order to access the rocker units. These platform rocker spring units have been used in the furniture industry since the 1950's. Thank you for reading my blog and there will be more upholstery tips in future blogs.