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During this lesson I will explain different cuts of meat and
what they are best used for and there cooking methods.
Unfortunately I am unable to talk you through or show you
how to bone or cut the different joints, but there are
plenty of books on sale, on e bay or in the library that can
show you how.

CHICKEN

Chicken is known as a poultry, this refers to
domesticated birds that are reared under controlled
conditions for human consumption. Other birds that come
under poultry are Duck, Goose, Turkey, Guinea Fowl and

Quail. Whereas wild birds used for food are known as game;
such as Woodcock, Pigean, Wild Duck, Pheasant, Partridge and
Grouse.

The main cuts from a chicken are the breast, wing
(normally you would cut the tip of the wing off as there is
hardly any meat on it), whole leg, drumstick, thigh; to get
a drumstick and thigh you need to cut the whole leg almost
in half. If you turn the leg over so the flesh side is
facing up you will see a white line on the flesh (line of
fat), cut through this line and through the bone it should
cut easily in two. Now you have a drumstick and a thigh. In
total, once you have portioned the chicken you should have 2
drumsticks, 2 thighs, 2 wing pieces and 2 breast pieces. The
wing tips, carcass and any trimmings can then be used to
make a chicken stock. So in theory there shouldn't be any
part of the chicken that gets wasted.

For methods of cooking you can use chicken for roasting
(whole chicken and any of the cuts), shallow frying (breast,
thighs and wings) and braising (thighs, drumsticks, legs and
breast).

Below are some quality purchasing points for fresh poultry :-

The following points should enable you to identify poultry
in good condition for cooking:

-Skin Unbroken with no bruising or discolouration
-Smell Pleasant and fresh
-Breastbone Fine and flexible at the vent end
-Breast Plump, not bruised or discoloured
-Spurs Showing no signs of development
-Scales on legs Tight, fine and even

A sticky skin with a bluish-grey tinge and an unpleasant
smell indicate that the bird is deteriorating in quality.

BEEF

As you probably already know beef is obtained from
domesticated cattle. Another meat from the domesticated
cattle family is called Veal. This comes from calves that
are specially reared to produce animals with tender, pale
coloured flesh. The calves are usually slaughtered

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