Cooking & Baking

Cut the skin along the backbone and then pop the legs out of their joint. Do the same with the wings. Slice the chicken away from the carcass until the breast meat is free. At this point you should have the carcass and the rest of the chicken with thigh and drumstick/wings attached.

Begin at the thigh and scrape the meat from the bone to the drumstick. Continue to the nub at the tip of the leg. You have basically turned the leg quarter inside out. Shove the bones back into the leg quarter and break the bone as close to the nub as you can with the back of a chef's knife. Extract the thigh/leg bones and you have a chicken with no bones except the wings.

Lay the bird out breast down and spread stuffing over the butterflied chicken, stuffing it inside the legs where the bones once were and roll it into a shape similar to the whole bird. It's kinda like a chicken sausage. Roast until a thermometer reads at least 165f (or whatever makes you feel safe).

Remove the wings, slice the bird in 1/2 inch serving pieces, reassemble the wings and serve. Festive and great at serve yourself gatherings.

I was once quite good at this but that was long ago and far away in another life . . .