Spatchcocked Chicken

Here's a new thing for me.  I rarely cook a whole bird, and this was the first time I did a spatchcock.  It almost didn't happen because the bird was still frozen solid the night before.  Seriously, three days to defrost a 5 lb chicken?  I finally gave up and ran it under cold water until it was workable.

So what is spatchcock, and why would you do it?  It's simply cutting out the backbone, then breaking the breastbone, so the bird lies flat.  This allows it to cook faster and more evenly.  I don't know why the process has a funny name, instead of calling it butterflying.

It's very easy to do, far easier than taking apart a chicken.  You still get to carve it afterwards, if that is something you like to do.  It works with any species of fowl.  You may need dedicated garden clippers and time at the gym to do a turkey, but the anatomy is the same

1.  Lay the bird spine-side up.  Going either through the neck or tail, cut the bones on either side of the spine.  Guess they would be ribs.  Remove the spine.  I put mine in a saucepan with the giblets and made broth.

2.  Flip the chicken over so the breast is up.  Spread out the legs a bit.  I'm short, so I stood on my kitchen step to get leverage.  Press down until the breastbone snaps and it's easy to spread out the chicken more or less flat.

3.  Either grill or roast.  I put mine on a rack (with a few extra thighs because one chicken wasn't enough for 7 people) and seasoned with salt, pepper, and tarragon.  Rubbing it all over with oil first will help to keep the meat moist.  Use any spice, herb, rub, or sauce you would use for a roasted whole chicken.  Cook to an internal temperature of 160, then let rest 10 minutes before carving.

Serves about 6, depending on size of chicken

Difficulty rating  π