Must meat be deboned before being exchanged for other meat in equal measure?

Primary text

Al-Qadi ruled that exchanging parts of meat for other parts is not permissible unless the bones are removed, analogous to how honey cannot be exchanged for honey unless it is filtered. Ahmad's statements suggest permission without removing bones or drying the meat. In the narration by Hanbal, when meat is measured by weight, such as pound for pound (ratl bi-ratl), the ruling is absolute without imposing conditions. This is because the bone is an inherent adjunct to the meat by original creation and therefore does not require separation, similar to the pit in dates. Honey is differentiated because the intermixing of beeswax is a product of the bee's action, not an inherent quality of the original creation.