Boning the Bird--Tips for the Neophyte : There are no problems to worry about when faced with the task of cutting and boning a whole chicken--as long as you have a talented guide like syndicated columnist Merle Ellis to follow. His step-by-step techniques make this culinary chore a breeze.

There’s no need to sweat over boning a chicken once you have tuned in to the bird’s anatomy, says Merle Ellis, syndicated newspaper columnist of The Butcher series. He guarantees that once you’ve mastered the techniques of cutting and boning a whole chicken and its parts, you’ll get a winning response at the table.

With boning knife (a sharp utility knife also works well) and sharpening steel in hand, the noted butcher slowed his usually swift, skillful knife maneuvering to demonstrate two useful techniques: boning a whole breast and boning a whole bird and stuffing it. Learning to bone a breast, rather than buying boneless ones, can give you tremendous savings in the market. Ellis claims that it’s easier to bone the whole bird once you’ve learned how to bone the breast, which is the main part that is boned. The wing and drumstick are usually kept intact to retain the original shape of the chicken.

“Boning the chicken involves a lot of pulling apart to find the joints,” he says. “Chickens are nice guys . . . they have spaces in their joints to help you.” So by wiggling the chickens and wriggling a knife along the bone you can easily find the soft spots of the joints. In boning the breast, he says, “a lot of books tell you to cut down along the bone and lift the meat off the bone; it’s so much easier if you lift the bone out of the meat.”

Here are Ellis’ step-by-step techniques on boning: Boning a Whole Breast

Place the whole breast, skin side down, on a cutting board. Turn the heart-shaped breast so that the pointed tip is away from you. At the wishbone end facing you, in the center of the cleavage, is a little tip of white cartilage. Cut through this.

Put down the knife and press fingers against the ridge of the breastbone. Bend it back for keel bone to pop loose. Work fingers down to loosen meat, then lift out the entire bone, including cartilage at pointed end.

Extending back from each of the two rib cages toward the point are two long, thin bones. Slide the tip of the knife under one long bone, loosening it to make a handle. Lift out the handle. Turn the breast around and lift out other long bone. Remove wishbone. Boning and Stuffing Whole Chicken

Place chicken, breast side down, on cutting board with tail end toward you. Make incision from tail down to neck (or from neck to tail) without going all the way through bone. Gouge out meaty oysters with thumb. Lifting skin and oysters with one hand, and using only point of knife, make small cuts as close to bone as possible, freeing meat from backbone.

Cut through thigh joints. Cut through the tips of the little rib bones to loosen the backbone. Bend back and lift off the backbone. Cut through the little cartilage at the center of the wishbone end.

Put down the knife and press fingers against ridge of keel bone. Bend it back for the keel bone to pop loose. Work fingers down sides to loosen meat, then lift out entire bone, including cartilage. Slide the tip of the knife under each skinny long bone extending back from each of two rib cages, then loosen and remove.

Cut through wing joints and pull out rib cages. Leave wing bones attached. Carefully break or cut through joint between leg and thigh without cutting skin underneath. Scrape down the meat around the thigh bone. Pull out the thigh bone, leaving drumstick intact. Repeat with the other side.

Fill gaping holes with loose breast meat fillets to get a solid slab of meat. Place stuffing on top of meat. For double-stuffed chicken, place half of stuffing on meat, then top with one boneless chicken breast, flattened slightly. Spread with remaining stuffing. Top with two peeled hard-cooked eggs placed along center. Bring both sides of chicken together.

Fasten with long skewers, placed at one-inch intervals from neck down to tail. Pull neck skin and skewer to close. Lace up with about a yard-long piece of string. Straighten the skewers and turn the bird over. Close up front openings with wood picks.

Mold bird back to original shape. Tie up legs with small piece of string. Tuck wings under. Place in roasting pan and bake at 350 degrees 1 1/2 to two hours or until golden brown, covering with foil for the first third of the time.

Coming late this spring is a videotape by Merle Ellis on everything one needs to know about chicken preparation. For more cutting-up information and money-saving tips on poultry and other meats, refer to Ellis’ book, “Cutting Up in the Kitchen” (Chronicle Books: $6.95), which may be ordered from most major bookstores. Another book, “Cooking on Camera,” co-authored by Neva Ellis, offers a collection of recipes and meat-cutting tips from a former cable TV program of Ellis’. This may be ordered by sending $6.95 to: Butcher’s Supply, P.O. Box 907, Tiburon, Calif. 94920.