Artusi's recipe, drawn from The Art of Eating Well, my translation of his book, begins with the basics.

This is the easiest way to bone a chicken:

Cut off its neck half way down, snip off the wing tips, and the feet at the joint with the drumsticks. Don't clean the bird, but rather make a cut along the back from the height of the wings to the tail, and then, using a sharp, fine bladed knife, disarticulate the wings and pull them inside out, trimming the meat from the bones as you go. Repeat the procedure with the thighs and drumsticks, then scrape the meat from the bones of the carcass, which will come away in one piece, with the guts inside it. Leave the tiny bones of the coccyx, or, if you prefer, remove them and the wishbone.

Once you're done, remove the tendons nestled in the meat of the thighs and wings, and press the flash back in so the skin is outside.

Now that the chicken is boned, the next step is to stuff it. Assuming it's a large bird, you will need about 2/3 of a pound of veal, or proportionally less for a smaller bird. Mince the meat, then grind it in a mortar to reduce it to a fine paste, and mix it with a fist full of crumbled day-old bread (crusts removed) soaked in broth and squeezed dry, a half cup of grated Parmigiano, three egg yolks, salt, pepper, and, if you like it, a pinch of nutmeg. Finally, mix an ounce each of diced salt tongue and prosciutto into the stuffing; stuff the bird, sew it shut, wrap it in a cloth, and tie the cloth tight. Simmer the chicken for a couple of hours in boiling water to cover, then remove the cloth and sauté it till it browns in butter, and serve it with the following sauce.

Break the bones of the chicken, including the head and neck, and sauté them in butter with a minced mixture made with about a tablespoon each of pancetta, celery, and carrot, and two tablespoons of onion. Season the mixture with salt and pepper, add some of the broth in which the chicken cooked, which will be quite good, and simmer the sauce until it is done; strain it.

Before serving the chicken, remove the string with which its cavity was sewed shut.

A printer-friendly version of this recipe.
Other stuffed birds, and how to bone a bird.

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