To make chicken, duck, fish, and meat dishes that are both visually appealing and delicious, preparing the raw meat before cooking is a crucial step. Many people find raw meat difficult to cut, especially poultry with skin and fish. To cut the meat into neat shapes, besides having a sharp knife, the technique is also very important. There is a specific technique for cutting meat with skin.
Hyo from South Korea, a gold medal winner at the World Culinary Competition, explains that it's difficult to cut skinned poultry like chicken and duck into neat shapes, especially chicken legs and duck breasts. This is because the main components of the skin are collagen and elastin. Collagen is tough and has high tensile strength, while elastin is highly elastic and easily stretched.
Therefore, when cutting skinned poultry, place the side with the skin facing up. This solves the problem effectively. It not only saves effort but also results in neatly shaped cuts. A helpful tip is to place the poultry in the freezer for half a day to slightly firm it up. This way, the meat is less likely to crumble and the cuts will be more uniform.
When cooking larger fish, to ensure the flavor penetrates, it's common to slice or cube the flesh. Fish is easy to crumble because its texture is delicate, soft, and tender. Therefore, when cutting fish, place the skin-side down and make an angled cut. It's best to cut in the direction of the fish bones to prevent the flesh underneath from being crushed when cutting through the tougher skin. The correct method is: first, observe the direction in which the fish flesh grows, then make an angled cut to slice the flesh off.
Furthermore, cutting fish fillets requires extra care, as they are very easy to crumble. The primary principle is not to slice them too thinly. Moreover, since fish muscle fibers generally lack toughness, if the slices are too thin, they are more likely to fall apart during cooking. For dishes like Boiled Fish or Stir-fried Fish Fillets, the fillets should be cut to a thickness of about 0.5 centimeters to ensure the dish is beautiful in color, aroma, and taste.