Video: Boning and Grilling Chicken Legs

One of the most useful skills I've been perfecting this fall working in the En Japanese Brasserie kitchen is boning chicken legs and thighs. I've boned dozens of these suckers so far and I can tell you that knowing how to do so is extremely practical, and useful at home, too. Give it a try. To help us out, I asked Chef Abe-san to demonstrate his jammin' technique in the video below. Notice that he's using a specialized (and very cool) Japanese boning knife, but a sharp utility knife works fine, too -- thanks, Abe-san!

Okay, so once you deboned the chicken, now what? Well, you can prepare the steamed chicken recipe I recently posted, or, you can do like Abe-san does at En, and grill the chicken, like the comely dish pictured above. (Alternatively, you can stick it in the broiler, which works great). Salt the bird just before you put it to fire. When it's ready, follow Abe-san's lead again and slice it up and serve with his tasty garlic soy sauce on the side (dip pieces of chicken into the garlic soy sauce). Preparing this accent is a snap: Combine 2 parts soy sauce with 1 part garlic-infused oil. You can add a clove or two of crushed garlic to taste, too, to give it some kick. Easy. And damn good.

Here's the video:

Posted by Harris Salat in Chicken | Permalink | Comments (4) | Email | Print

Comments (4)

Hey Harris, Very useful video..thanks and hope you are well! Your blog is amazing and keeps getting better! marco-

marco chiabo | Posted 11:27 07 December 2009

Thank you so much for this useful information- I just didn't know how to do it "right". Here in Germany I tried to buy boned chicken,no way. So I had to learn how. After I have watched your video I removed the bones from 6 chicken legs... Now we have a lot chicken meat for teriyaki... What I really would like to know: is this a special knife?Because I have some japanese knifes here and one of them looks very similar. Does it have a name? Thank you! Amato

Amato | Posted 17:48 31 January 2010

Hi Amato, thanks for your comment -- glad to hear you're boning those chickens! Abe-san was using a specialized chicken knife but you can use any sharp knife. -- Harris

Harris Salat | Posted 01:04 01 February 2010

Hey Harris! Thank you for this great post. As Amato I,m also from Germany, so there's the same problematic for me. I already tried it once, but after "deboning" I felt so sorry for the chicken that died just to be mistreated like that, that I didn't try it again ;-) Keep up the good work, as a half japanese growing up in Germany I always crave for authentic Japanese recipes. Moe

Moe | Posted 12:41 23 February 2010

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