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Just realized I've been deboning chicken thighs all wrong for 15 years
I was at a demo last month at the local meat lab in Portland (free workshop, highly recommend). The guy running it watched me for about 30 seconds and goes 'you're fighting the oyster, not following it.' Turns out I was digging into the meat instead of sliding the knife along the bone curve. All those years of hacking away and I could have saved 5 bucks a week in wasted meat. Has anyone else had a moment where a simple tip from a stranger completely changed your cuts?
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fisher.charlie4mo ago
What exactly was the 'fighting the oyster' guy doing different?
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hannah_wright4mo ago
Different approach actually. I watched a few butchery videos on YouTube and decided the whole "follow the bone" thing is overrated for home cooks. The oyster thing makes sense in a pro kitchen where you're doing 50 thighs in an hour, but for a few at home I actually get cleaner meat by just cutting the bone out with kitchen shears. Way less waste than trying to be fancy with a knife, and I don't have to worry about scraping my knuckles. Plus shears let me get right up against the bone without mutilating the meat. Tried the knife method for a month after reading that and went back to my old way. To each their own though.
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jesse_craig263mo ago
Heard a buddy of mine try this exact thing with a whole chicken once. He watched one of those YouTube gurus and spent like 45 minutes trying to do the whole bone follow technique with a boning knife. Ended up with shredded meat all over his cutting board and a mess on his hands. His wife came home and just grabbed the kitchen shears and had it done in under ten minutes with barely any waste. He told me later he felt like an idiot for overcomplicating it. So I get where you're coming from. Shears are probably the smarter play for most people, especially if you're not trying to impress anyone with your knife skills.
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