Place the chicken on a cutting board set inside a rimmed sheet pan. This will catch the drips. Place your carving fork into the breast and wiggle your knife in between the joint of the thigh where it connects to the breast. Separate the whole leg and then you can cut the thigh and drumstick apart.
With the boning knife, find the joint between the thigh and the leg. Cut through this section so that you have two pieces.
Repeat steps 1 and 2 for the leg quarter on the opposite side. You should now have two leg portions and two thighs.
Once you have the legs removed, you can slice off the breast meat. Slice down the center, rubbing the knife against the center bone. Cut straight down the center and then slice the breast along the bottom to remove it from the center dividing bone.
Repeat this on the other side. You may miss the mark a bit and have some chicken meat remaining on the bone. That’s okay, you can remove this and use it in soup or casseroles. Repeat the process on the other side, so that both breast portions are removed from the carcass.
Lastly, slice away the wings, again wiggling your knife into the joint to separate the wing from the carcass.
Serve immediately.
Notes
You should have eight pieces ready to serve. There may be remaining bits of meat on the carcass. Don’t leave this behind. If folks are waiting to be served, go ahead and enjoy the roast chicken. Then later, come back and with your fingers remove any small bits of meat left on the carcass.There are two little nuggets of meat on the back of the chicken that you don’t want to miss. These are called the oysters. They don’t look particularly pretty, but they are super tasty!The French call them “what the fool leaves behind.” Don’t be a fool! Remember to remove those.Promptly store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator, for up to 4 days.Nutritional values are approximate and based on ⅛ the chicken.