The Most Straight-Forward Method For Separating Chicken Wing Drums And Flats
Are you team flat or team drum when it comes to chicken wings? There are two distinct parts to chicken wings; the drums, which look like tiny drumsticks with one bone inside, and the flats, which are the middle part of the wing that have two small bones and are, well, flat shaped. If you've never considered the difference between the two when faced with a basket of Buffalo wings, then you're missing out on one of the most passionate culinary debates since pineapple pizza, or if hot dogs are a sandwich.
Regardless of what team you're on, if you buy a package of wings from the meat section in the grocery store, you're gonna get both drums and flats, as most wings are sold intact. Sometimes you can get lucky with "party packs" of wings that are already separated, usually around events like the Super Bowl or Fourth of July, but most of the time you're on your own — unless you want to order them from the butcher counter and have a professional cut them for you. Separating chicken wing parts is a snap, however, you just need to know where to make the right cuts. Get comfortable with cutting your own chicken wings and you'll be on your way to breaking down whole chickens before you know it.
Cut the drums first
Separating chicken wings is simple: You just need to angle your knife into the joints between the pieces. Grab a wing and place it on a clean cutting board skin side down and take a look at where the three parts of the wing — the drum, flat, and wing tip — are joined. This is where you want to make your cuts. Don't just go whacking away at it with your knife, however. A good chef's knife can cut through chicken bones if it really has to, but there are angles in the joints where your cuts will get through much easier and result in a perfect-looking wings. Push your fingers around a little bit in the joints before you make any cuts to see where the bones meet like Martha Stewart does — that's where you'll be making your cuts.
Step one is to separate the flat and the drum. Hold the wing down with one hand and put your knife against the joint between the two big parts of the wing and make a cut. You can wiggle your knife around a little bit if you need to get in between the two bones and through the joint. Voila, you have drums! Go ahead and put that to the side because there's one more cut to make.
Cut the flat
Step two is to remove the wing tip from the flat. This is more for vanity's sake, as the wing tip has no meat but does have some crispy skin, and some restaurants serve wings wholly intact, including the wing tips. To get a perfect flat, however, you gotta cut that tip off. This cut is a little easier than the cut between the drum and flat because the joint and bones are much smaller.
Hold your wing against the cutting board again, still skin side down, and pull the tip of the wing out a little bit so that you can see where the joint separates. Now, place your knife blade in that spot between the bones and firmly press down to cut right through the joint. This cut doesn't need to be quite as clean as the drum cut, and a good sharp chef's knife will slice right through the cartilage of that little joint. You can then either toss out the wing tips, or save them in the freezer for your next chicken stock.
Now you can repeat your cuts on the rest of your wings and be ready for game day. An air fryer is perfect for making extra crispy wings at home, but you can also get some amazing results just in a regular oven.