What a funny word, right? Spatchcock? No, I don’t rightly know where the word comes from. Sounds vaguely Olde English. In any case, it’s just a way of describing how you prepare a fowl (chicken, turkey, etc) for cooking by cutting out the backbone and flattening it out. Plus it makes people giggle.
Why spatchcock? Well, it can cut down on your cooking time when cooking a whole bird. It can be easier to flip/maneuver a whole (albeit large) piece of chicken rather than eight or more individual pieces. Also, it allows you to properly season the chicken both inside and out, because you now have full access to the interior of the chicken. Finally, this seems to be the way to cook a chicken so that the white and the dark get done at the SAME TIME!! I’m totally sold on the technique.
Spatchcock Chicken
Serves 4
1 whole chicken, 4 to 5 pounds
Olive oil
Lime juice
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
Indian spice mix (I use Penzey’s Tandoori Seasoning)
Ground chile powder (I use ground chipotle)
Prepare your spice rub: Pour a couple of good glugs of olive oil in a small bowl. Add a couple of squirts of lime juice. Add a couple of teaspoons of kosher salt. Add a goodly amount of ground pepper. Add a tablespoon or two of Indian spice mix. Add a spare amount of chile powder — depends on your palate — could be 1/8 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon. Mix it all together — you are aiming for a gloppy paste. If it’s too thin, add a little more India spice mix. If it’s too thick, add a little more oil or lime juice.
On to the bird! Stick your hand up the chicken’s you know what and check for and remove the giblets. Put them aside. I’m a fan of the liver, the CGP likes the kidneys, and the dog gets the heart.
Turn the bird belly side down so the back is up. Using your poultry shears, cut up one side of the backbone, from arse to neck. I usually start up the right since I’m right-handed. Rotate the bird 180 degrees, and cut down the OTHER side of the backbone from neck to arse. Save that backbone for stock. Your bird should look something like the one to the right.
Now, put use your hands to open that chicken like a book. You should hear a slight crack on the underside, but you can open her up, flatten her out, and flip her over like the pictures below. Slather the spice rub all over, top and bottom. Loosen the skin over the breast and thighs and smear some spice paste under the skin too.
Wash your hands like crazy. Now’s the time to prep your grill and get it heating. Let the chicken hang out on the counter up to an hour. The rest time will help the seasonings do their thang.
Aim for 375F. Put the chicken skin side down on the grate. Shut the lid and ignore it for 20 minutes (except to make sure it didn’t get above 400F). Open the grill, flip the bird over, and walk away for another 20 minutes. Now’s the time to get your meat thermometer. You need to measure a thigh in it’s meatiest place — you are looking for 165F. Check the breast too — again — 165F. Check again at 5 or 10 minute intervals if the bird needs a little more time.
This was a particularly busty bird. The thighs hit 165F before the breasts were ready. I just pulled them off (the joints gave no resistance — just needed to trim the skin a bit with a small paring knife) and let the breasts go another 10 minutes. Served with char-grilled brocco-flower (drizzled with olive oil, salt, pepper, and tandoori seasoning) and some garlic naan from the freezer of my local Southeast Asian market.
