Poultry Glossary
  • Airline Breast: Boneless, skin-on breast with the first wing joint attached. These are normally sold split, and sometimes sold skinless.
  • Buffalo Wing: Normally the drummette and middle joint wing separated.
  • Butterfly: Describes a boneless chicken breast as whole. The term also describes a chicken cut along the back to allow it to lay flat.
  • Chinese Style: Birds sold with head and feet attached. (Same as Hofo.)
  • Frenching: Not what you might think! But rather a term that describes cutting the knuckle on the wing joint with a saw.
  • Gib Sets: A bag containing the neck, heart, liver and gizzard. Yum!
  • Glove-Boned: A boneless bird boned without breaking the skin. Depending upon the processor, the leg or the wing bones may be left in. (Same as Tunnel Boned.)
  • Gourmet Breast: Boneless skin-on breast.
  • Halal: Poultry certified as Muslim-Approved.
  • Hofo: Birds sold with head and feet attached. (Same as Chinese Style.)
  • Hot Wing: Normally the drummette and middle joint wing separated. (Same as Buffalo Wing.)
  • IQF: Chicken frozen in individual pieces. The chicken is frozen very quickly, within 60 minutes.
  • Jambonette: Chicken leg with boned thigh and with the knuckle of the drumstick cut out.
  • KFC: A term to describe a chicken cut in nine ways.
  • Kiev: Bone-in breast with the first wing joints attached.
  • Kosher: Poultry processed under the supervision of a Rabbi.
  • Matson Breast: Whole Airline Breast.
  • Pulled Chicken: Cooked chicken meat pulled from the bones by hand.
  • Pullet: A fully grown female chicken.
  • Single: A term used to describe one half of a boned breast.
  • Tunnel Boned: A boneless bird boned without breaking the skin. Depending upon the processor, the leg or the wing bones may be left in. (Same as Glove-Boned.)
  • USDA Grade: Grading is an optional service provided by the USDA Agriculture Marketing Service. Ready-to-cook chicken may be quality graded into one of three grades: US Grade A, B or C. Factors that affect the specified grade include fleshing, conformation, exposed flesh and missing parts. The presence of the USDA Grade A on chicken and further processed chicken products is an indication of the highest possible quality.
  • USDA Inspected: The USDA Food and Safety Inspection Service has been recognized as a model for food inspection services in many countries of the world. All U.S. chicken and chicken products offered for export must be inspected and passed by USDA/FSIS. A U.S. Inspected stamp on the chicken product was properly processed, has been inspected and is safe to eat.
  • WIG: A bird sold with the giblets.
  • WOG: A bird sold without the giblets.