Spatchcock Chicken

Warning: images of poultry dismemberment ahead. Like, not live poultry or anything….but you will see the inside of a raw chicken.

I have no idea who came up with the term “spatchcock” when basically referring to a butterflied whole chicken. Whoever it was, was a cheeky bugger.

A spatchcock chicken is just a flattened whole chicken. You can cook it any way you would usually cook a whole chicken, but the flattening works really well for grilling a whole chicken. It cooks more evenly and faster. As my area was in the middle of a polar vortex, I was not prepared to grill my spatchcock…so I decided to roast it instead.

Here’s how you prepare the chicken:

1. Flip it over so that the back is facing up. With kitchen shears (or a combination of shears and a sharp knife), cut along one side of the backbone the entire length of the bird. My kitchen shears were not strong enough to cut through the “hip” so I had to use a sharp knife.

2. Repeat step 1, but cut along the other side of the back bone, removing it completely. Set it aside to make stock.

3. Spread the chicken open and locate the breast bone, which is indicated by a thin white strip right in the middle. With your sharp knife, cut just slightly into the breastbone, splitting it open. It should crack open easily. Press the sides down and the chicken will flatten out.

4. Flip the chicken breast side up, and press down gently on the breast to flatten it completely. Tuck the wings under the tops of the breasts. Spatchcocked!

Now you can roast away to your heart’s content. I liked roasting my chicken this way because the flatness allowed for a perfectly even distribution of herbs. I used a mixture of fresh thyme and rosemary.

I roasted this 3.5 pound bird at 375 for about an hour and it was perfectly done. The skin stayed so nice and crispy all over.

I can’t wait to try this in the summer when the BBQ is up and running!