Coles deli worker reveals how she shreds roast chicken at 'lightning speed': 'Best thing I've ever learnt'

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

A deli worker has revealed the 'insider secrets' Coles employees use to shred roast chicken at 'lightning speed' – and it requires no knives or special equipment.
Ellie, who regularly shares insights into her day-to-day job at the supermarket giant, posted a video demonstrating her well-honed technique for rapidly shredding chickens using just her hands.
The 22-year-old deli worker's viral video showed her explaining that hand shredding multiple hot roast chickens is a standard task carried out throughout the day in-store.
At regular intervals, unsold roast chickens are taken from the warmer to be shredded, chilled and sold at the deli counter as cold meat.
The deli worker explained that many customers prefer to buy cold shredded chicken for a salad or sandwich, but don't want to commit to a whole chook.
She originally intended for her 'chicken shredding tutorial' to serve as a guide for other deli store workers tasked with the same job.
But the video has caught the attention of tens of thousands of people, thanks to its clever shortcut that simplify the daunting task of shredding a whole roast chicken.
Popping on two-layers of gloves to protect her hands from the heat, Ellie explained that the first step was to pull the skin back from the chicken and discard it.
'And why is that? You want to release some of the heat (from the hot chicken)... And we don't want the skin in our shredded chicken,' Ellie said.
From there, Ellie pulled the chicken apart, piece by piece, using of her both hands.
Wrapping her hands around the chicken breasts, Ellie demonstrated how to neatly and cleanly lift them off before piling them on an empty tray.
The next step was to grab one of the drumsticks and flip over the chicken to easily access the underside.
Using both hands again, Ellie lifted each chicken thigh simultaneously, demonstrating how it 'comes off really quick' – before adding the pieces to her tray pile.
'You don't want any of the dark meat (for shredded chicken) though, so make sure, you're not getting any of that,' she advised.
The deli worker explained that it's store policy to extract around '450 grams from each chicken', alluding that the breast and thigh alone were sufficient, and that the remainder of the chicken would be discarded.
Ellie explained that the next step was crucial - making sure no bones were left behind in the pile of chicken pieces.
'This is what we do: we've got our gloves on (and you just) mush it down. You're pushing it down, getting it into every crevice of the (tray),' she explained.
Ellie demonstrated this pressing motion, showing how the clever technique reveals any stray bones.
Once she was satisfied that the chicken was bone-free, Ellie moved on to the final shredding stage.
Working systematically across the tray, Ellie explained that she was simply 'squishing' and 'kneading' the chicken through her gloved fingers to pull it apart.
'There you go – quick and easy,' Ellie concluded.
Her video has been viewed more than 330,000 times - with some fellow deli workers stunned that they'd never been taught the systematic method.
'I work at Woolies and couldn't help myself, might need to pass this expertise onto our deli crew,' one supermarket employee said.
Many roast chook lovers said the shredding technique had transformed the daunting, messy task into something far more approachable.
'Honestly the best thing I've ever learnt from working at Coles. Comes in handy so much at home,' one said.
'I feel very prepared for chicken shredding,' another shared.
Some offered an alternative method for quickly removing chicken pieces from the carcass.
'An even faster way is to massage the chicken in the bag it literally falls off the bone,' one suggested.
When one Coles customer exclaimed that the technique could potentially be saving her money, Ellie helpfully chimed in that difference was marginal, detailing the pricing breakdown of hot roast chicken versus shredded deli chicken.
'$12.50 roast chicken = approx. 450g shredded, that's approx. $27.8/kg,' she said.
'We sell the shredded chicken for $27/kg but have to sell it within the day so often discount it by about 7pm. But you do get the rest of the chicken with the rotisserie.'
Some said they were 'mind blown' after seeing the chicken shredding technique while another joked: 'Do I work at Coles? No. Did I watch the whole thing? Yes'
Others agreed that even though they had little practical use for knowing how to shred a chicken, they found it 'satisfying' to watch Ellie complete the task with ease and efficiency.