39. CUTTING UP A CHICKEN.--When chicken that has been drawn is to be fried, stewed, fricasseed, or cooked in some similar way, it must be cut into suitable pieces. In order to do this properly, it is necessary to learn to locate the joints and to be able to cut squarely between the two bones where they are attached to each other. To sever the legs from the body of the chicken, first cut through the skin underneath each leg where it is attached to the body, as in Fig. 15, bend the leg back far enough to break the joint, and then cut through it, severing the entire leg in one piece. When the legs are cut off, cut each one apart at the joint between the thigh and the lower part, as in Fig. 16, making two pieces. To sever the wings from the body, cut through the skin where the wing is attached, as in Fig. 17, and bend it back until the joint breaks. Then cut it off where the ends of the bones are attached to the joint. When both legs and both wings are removed, proceed to cut the body apart. As shown in Fig. 18, place the chicken, neck down, on a table, and cut down through the ribs parallel with the breast and the back, until the knife strikes a hard bone that it cannot cut. Then firmly grasp the breast with one hand and the back with the other and break the joints that attach these parts by pulling the back and the breast away from each other, as in Fig. 19. Cut through the joints, as in Fig. 20, so that the back, ribs, and neck will be in one piece and the breast in another. [Illustration: Fig. 23] If desired, the breast may be divided into two pieces by cutting it in the manner shown in Fig. 21; also, as the back will break at the end of the ribs, it may be cut into two pieces there. Finally, cut the neck from the top piece of the back, as in Fig. 22.