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I do exactly the same re keeping a separate board for chicken (even from my general meat board) and the cleaning down routine afterwards with the anti-bac spray. Since having had a nasty bout of food poisoning about 5 years ago (which I don't think was related to chicken) I have been slightly paranoid ever since ... lol.

I cringe when I see cooks on TV handle raw chicken and then use salt and pepper grinders, pick up bottles of soy sauce, etc, etc, without washing their hands. Even when they do show some awareness, it's usually just to dip their fingers in a bowl under the counter for a split second.

It is tempting just to buy the boned chicken thighs and avoid the fiddle of doing it yourself, but I have found that the cook and strip method is pretty good and is a way around it.

One of my sons is a trainee chef, and as part of his 'preparation of poultry' assessment he has to joint up the legs and remove the long thin bone while leaving the rest of the leg in tact around the main leg bone, and with the skin undisturbed - it's like keyhole surgery and a real fiddle.

I said to him the other day: “I can't see you ever needing to do this once you leave college!” ... hopefully not, anyway.

Sounds great. I do agree - it's much more economical to buy a whole chicken rather than chicken pieces - you just need a good knife and not to be too squeamish! I keep a separate chopping board just for cutting chicken. It goes straight in the dishwasher when I've used it and then the surrounding area gets a get squirt of Dettox just to make sure I don't spread any bacteria around. I know a lot of Indian recipes, and French style casseroles do use chicken pieces on the bone but I can't get my fussy family to eat them. I've tried many times and I end up with long faces and abandoned plates with me saying "look at the meat you've left on there". It's the same with lamb stew.

I've been buying whole chickens of late due to the sharp rise in the cost of chicken pieces. I take the breasts off and use them as required, and then brown the legs, thighs, and wings in a flat casserole on the hob before adding chicken stock and then popping into the oven with the lid on. If the meat is slightly overcooked it will come away from the bone easily, while the flesh is still moist. Which is much quicker than boning out when raw.

Add some chopped onion, or mushrooms, veg, whatever, and there are many variations on a theme possible.

The other night I added some garam masala, and other spices, and although it wasn't exactly a curry, it was highly flavoured without being too hot.