# Justifying the honesuki



## BillHanna (Mar 17, 2021)

Me and the boy broke down a chicken today! He did the right leg, then got grossed out lol. He enjoyed watching me finish though. I’d give us(me) a 6/10. I think it wasn’t bad for a first time, but I left some meat behind.


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## tostadas (Mar 17, 2021)

Well worth it!


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## Koop (Mar 17, 2021)

Looking good. I break down 1 or 2 chickens per week. My wife and I agree that buying whole chickens and breaking them down ourselves results in fresher, better chicken than packaged chicken parts. Honesuki justified!


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## BillHanna (Mar 17, 2021)

My local grocery store sometimes has them 3USD ea. Last day on the shelves. Those are the birds I’m aiming for. Maybe occasionally get a “good” one.


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## DeepCSweede (Mar 17, 2021)

I got a Marko years ago and it was one of my better purchases. Pull the trigger, you won't regret it. I broke a duck down with mine just last night.


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## HumbleHomeCook (Mar 17, 2021)

Awesome!

Good for you getting him involved!

I never worry too much about leaving some meat behind because I always use the carcass and bones for stock or soup.


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## HumbleHomeCook (Mar 17, 2021)

Also, what's the knife?


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## Carlo (Mar 17, 2021)

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Awesome!
> 
> Good for you getting him involved!
> 
> I never worry too much about leaving some meat behind because I always use the carcass and bones for stock or soup.



Nothing makes me happier than a bunch of chicken carcasses in a zip lock bag in my freezer! 

Cute kid. Wish my boy was ready for a knife but it would end badly.


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## BillHanna (Mar 17, 2021)

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Also, what's the knife?


Yamashin shirogami 1 from CKTG

The carcass is in the freezer now, waiting for scrap vegetables


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## Midsummer (Mar 17, 2021)

I use mine to reduce rack of lamb to small lollipop chops. One of my better purchases.


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## HumbleHomeCook (Mar 17, 2021)

BillHanna said:


> Yamashin shirogami




Cool. A honesuki is on my short list and that is one I was looking at. How do you like it?


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## BillHanna (Mar 17, 2021)

No complaints. The spine was sturdy scraping along bones; nice and stiff. Can’t wait to break down another.


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## HumbleHomeCook (Mar 17, 2021)

BillHanna said:


> No complaints. The spine was sturdy scraping along bones; nice and stiff. Can’t wait to break down another.



Cool, thank you sir.


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## BillHanna (Mar 17, 2021)

It’s only one bird but no reactivity as well. Getting through joints was easy, but I’m not sure if that’s more sharpness or design.


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## MarcelNL (Mar 17, 2021)

Good for you to bring in the kid!
Joints should be easy, when the knife is sturdy enough to avoid chipping you just follow the path of least resistance and slide through.
First time I broke down a whole chicken I was amazed how easy it was

BTW; what do those animals eat  , I mean the fillets look large enough to be from a Goose


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## BillHanna (Mar 17, 2021)

Exactly. It Felt EASIER than the vids made it look. That’s a first.

He’s already had his first burn and first cut. Now all he needs is to curse out a server, and run out of something on a Friday night.


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## DavidPF (Mar 17, 2021)

MarcelNL said:


> BTW; what do those animals eat  , I mean the fillets look large enough to be from a Goose


North American chickens have been systematically bred to be oversized. I think I read that some of them can hardly even walk, and I know that some of them are extremely aggressive (with each other), an accidental side effect of the breeding program.


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## BillHanna (Mar 17, 2021)

@MarcelNL I AM hoping to find some more natural sized birds from a local farm. 

The boy wanted to weigh everything. I remember the breasts came out to 1lb 9.1oz


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## DavidPF (Mar 17, 2021)

BillHanna said:


> 1lb 9.1oz


712 grams


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## MarcelNL (Mar 17, 2021)

BillHanna said:


> @MarcelNL I AM hoping to find some more natural sized birds from a local farm.
> 
> The boy wanted to weigh everything. I remember the breasts came out to 1lb 9.1oz


do they breed those animals near a nuclear breeding plant


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## HumbleHomeCook (Mar 17, 2021)

MarcelNL said:


> do they breed those animals near a nuclear breeding plant



It really is incredible. When I buy "standard" chickens from the major grocery stores they all are like that these days. It's crazy. The breasts are probably as big and heavy as the whole chickens of my youth.


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## BillHanna (Mar 17, 2021)

Three Mile Island _IS_ nearby lol






Three Mile Island | TMI 2 |Three Mile Island Accident. - World Nuclear Association


Three Mile Island: In 1979 at Three Mile Island in USA a cooling malfunction caused part of the (TMI 2) core to melt. The reactor was destroyed but there were no injuries or adverse health effects from the Three Mile Island accident. Some radioactive gas was released a couple of days after the...




www.world-nuclear.org


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## orangehero (Mar 17, 2021)

DavidPF said:


> North American chickens have been systematically bred to be oversized. I think I read that some of them can hardly even walk, and I know that some of them are extremely aggressive (with each other), an accidental side effect of the breeding program.



So the chickens already do the job of plucking each other?


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## DavidPF (Mar 17, 2021)

orangehero said:


> So the chickens already do the job of plucking each other?


Neatness is not their specialty, and unfortunately nobody tells them you're supposed to leave the skin on.


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## orangehero (Mar 17, 2021)

DavidPF said:


> Neatness is not their specialty, and unfortunately nobody tells them you're supposed to leave the skin on.



Sounds like you just gotta wait a little longer and it will select for itself.


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## DavidPF (Mar 17, 2021)

orangehero said:


> Sounds like you just gotta wait a little longer and it will select for itself.


When you aim to sell them all, I guess that idea gets less attractive.


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## Chips (Mar 19, 2021)

American's like cheap, big breasts. They've been systematically bred to produce larger and larger breast meat such that they often cannot even stand up for long periods of time. They grow so fast that their bone density in their legs don't develop fast enough to support their massive breasts. I believe the pecking and fighting is (in the industry) and acceptable result and marginal cost, as a result of their very stressed and short living conditions and confinement. 

I can't remember the name of the documentary but there was one that came out about a year and a half ago that detailed the plight of the industrial scale chicken farmer and how badly they're manipulated and controlled by the few, massive corporations that distribute chicken.

OP, your picture is awesome! Get them on it while they're young! He'll be due for his first pocket knife in a few years!


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## childermass (Mar 19, 2021)

Chips said:


> I can't remember the name of the documentary but there was one that came out about a year and a half ago that detailed the plight of the industrial scale chicken farmer and how badly they're manipulated and controlled by the few, massive corporations that distribute chicken.


I guess you are talking about 'Food, Inc.'. I watched that one and it's a real eye opener.


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## BillHanna (Mar 19, 2021)

DavidPF said:


> 712 grams


Y’know, I really should use the scale with him more, and toggle back and forth. Maybe just maybe both measures can become relatively natural for him at a young age. Converting on the fly, even.


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## DavidPF (Mar 19, 2021)

Meh ... No need to toggle ... Ounces don't matter enough to continue using 

Once you know this:




... and that if you fill it with water it weighs 1000 g ...

then you kind of know everything there is to know about metric for food. (And for most other things too.) After that it's just multiplying and dividing things by 10.


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## Shavely Manden (May 20, 2021)

HumbleHomeCook said:


> It really is incredible. When I buy "standard" chickens from the major grocery stores they all are like that these days. It's crazy. The breasts are probably as big and heavy as the whole chickens of my youth.



Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I have to agree -- chickens are just ridiculous. It makes using older recipes calling for whole chickens incredibly annoying, since they all assume a 2-3lb chicken, which is significantly smaller than the smallest "fryers" in the store! It's at the point that if I see a kosher bird under 4lb, I just automatically get it and stick it in the freezer if we're not going to use it soon. Even Grow and Behold, which does nice, free-range meat, has ~3.5lb chickens.


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## Michi (May 20, 2021)

Stop cooking chicken. Problem solved


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