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Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

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Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

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You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Birdwatching / Spatchcockalypse Now!!!

Spatchcockalypse Now!!!

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Spatchcock_Chicken_1

(a spatchcocked chicken preparing to rest)

Actually several hours ago for dinner. Since we’ve not had a recipe post for a while (cough, no pressure TaMara, cough), I’ve broken out the frilly apron, the tiara, and got to work. For dinner tonight I roasted a chicken. Specifically I spatchcocked it. For those not up on all the hip, culinary terms to spatchcock is to butterfly a chicken, game bird, or other type of poultry by removing the backbone and then grilling or roasting it. This is done so that the bird has a more uniform shape and the white meat won’t get dried out while you’re waiting for the dark meat to cook all the way through.

I preheated the over to 500 fahrenheit and cut the backbone out. Then I rubbed it all over with olive oil, then kosher salted, freshly cracked black peppered, and paprikaed liberally. I then placed the chicken onto my broiler pan, which has very nice drainage slits over the foil wrapped bottom catch pan. I inserted my probe cooking thermometer into the meatiest portion of one of the breasts, set the thermometer to go off at 150 degrees fahrenheit, and into the oven it went. You will want to keep an eye on it in case the skin darkens too fast you can lower the oven to 400 degrees, which is what I did with about 15 minutes to go. All told you’re looking at no more than 1 hour cooking time for a 7 lbs chicken.

When the thermometer measured the internal temp at 150 I took it out, put it on the lovely platter above, tented it with foil, and let it rest for ten minutes before slicing. I then finished off preparing the mashed potatoes and the lightly sauteed veggies. After ten minutes I drained the pan drippings/au jus into a gravy cup, sliced the chicken, took some more pictures, and took everything to the table. All in all an easy and tasty Sunday supper!

Spatchcock_Chicken_2

 

Reader Interactions

88Comments

  2. 2.

    JMG

    Looks delicious! For our Sunday supper, I bought two sirloins instead of one on Saturday, grilled them both, had one last night, and used the other for a steak salad tonight. A little lettuce, been beans, mushrooms, tomato, scallions. Olive oil and mustard dressing (Alice, my wide, cannot hack vinegar). Took all of 15 minutes to prepare.

  3. 3.

    HinTN

    So, we roasted a chicken and tore it off the bone. Stock is simmering and life is good. But … this backbone removal thing sounds interesting.

  7. 7.

    Alain the site fixer

    Tomorrow the new recipe plugin should go live, I plan to recreate this in it, if that’s ok Adam. I’ll preserve this post and make a new one with this recipe.

  9. 9.

    Keith P.

    Strangely, while I love roasted chicken (Thomas Keller has a nice, *simple* recipe, amazingly enough), I cannot stand the smell of cooked chicken fat that permeates my house for days afterwards.

  12. 12.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    I’ve broken out the frilly apron, the tiara

    You know the rules here Adam, pics or it didn’t happen.

  13. 13.

    CaseyL

    I know this is strange, but I prefer my chicken to be a little dry. Possibly because that’s how Mom served it while I was growing up. Juicy chicken to me is gross.

  14. 14.

    Schlemazel

    @HinTN:
    get a pair of kitchen shears (heavy duty scissors) just cut down both sides of the backbone. It is easy to lay the whole bird flat after that. We have been doing that with chicken for years now as it is easier to keep the white meat from drying out while the dark meat finishes getting up to temp.. Have not done it with a turkey yet but this might be the Thanksgiving for it.

  18. 18.

    Adam L Silverman

    @amygdala: Can I take the laces out of my wingtips first? Also, what do I wear with my black and grey suits if I cook them down for stock?

  20. 20.

    Adam L Silverman

    @CaseyL: I understand. There’s juicy but cooked and then there’s juicy because its not cooked. This was definitely the former.

    Also, the key to good chicken wings is to cook them – whether fried, roasted, or grilled – to extra crispy. This way they soak up the sauce beyond just having it sit on the skin.

  26. 26.

    amygdala

    @Adam L Silverman: You could save the laces to truss the Thanksgiving turkey, I suppose. As for replacement footwear, depends on how formal the occasion is. There’s always loafers or non-wingtip dress shoes.

  29. 29.

    ruemara

    Well, I’ve cooked for the week, did 3 massive loads of laundry and finished the prep work for the first day of work tomorrow. Only to find my green card is missing. This fucking year. I have other verifying documents, but I know I had my card at the start of the last job. Suddenly it’s not where it should be in the safe. Which means my next paycheck has to go pay for the car and my i90 fee. Stupid paperwork.

  30. 30.

    Miss Bianca

    Oh, this is more my speed. I wish I had held out for for something like this for my birthday dinner instead of pizza. I like pizza fine, but it does *not* like me. Sigh. I need to be firmer about these things with my friends. But I can’t stand to look a gift dinner in the mouth, so to speak…

  47. 47.

    Miss Bianca

    Thank you for the birthday good wishes, friends! Well, I just worked off part of that pizza – one of my neighbors I had dinner with just called – his son is visiting with his two hunky male pit bulls. And guess where little Miss Luna the Wonder Husky decided to take herself off to? So, much whistling and a hike part-way down the driveway with the flashlight before she comes running back. I have a feeling I know where she’s going tomorrow morning for coffee…

  48. 48.

    Lyrebird

    @ruemara: All the good wishes for finding it first!! My RC friends say St. Anthony is the entity who takes appeals for lost things… Not my religion, but I will ask almost anyone for help. (Not Trump, not Cthulu, but almost anyone else!)

    I cost my own project more than 800 buckaroos once bc I’d put my passport in the wrong pocket and not in the safe. Found it the next day, but needed new flights…

  50. 50.

    ? Martin

    Julia Child The Way to Cook has a nice lesson and recipes for spatchcocked birds. It’s also a good technique to use on the grill. It’s roughly an alternative to a rotisserie, if you happen to not have a rotisserie. Though if you ever get the opportunity, get one, because it’s extremely good – especially for Thanksgiving turkey.

  52. 52.

    ruemara

    @Lyrebird: Ouch. Bless the gods, may St. Anthony lead my card back home and may we all accurately remember where we put shit, as we age. I’m dead sure I have it… somewhere.

  54. 54.

    Miss Bianca

    @Major Major Major Major: Thank you! And vice-a-voyce-a, as the incomparable Judy Holliday put it, with your Part 2.

    @ruemara: OK, it is the completest superstition, but I do find myself saying aloud, “Oh blessed St. Anthony!” when I have to locate something. Surprising how often it seems to lead me to the right spot. Can’t hurt, anyway.

  57. 57.

    Adam L Silverman

    @p.a.: That’s a bricked chicken. You want to wrap the brick in foil and get it hot so you get heat from both sides as well as the pressure from the weight.

  58. 58.

    Mnemosyne

    It’s a good thing we walked to get drinks and dinner, ’cause I’m pretty buzzed right now. Strawberry Collins and a sangria. Now I’m going to lay on the couch and keep scoffing at the Sarah Maclane novel, because I can.

    Mnemo +2

    @Miss Bianca:

    Happy birthday, you!

  61. 61.

    Carlo Graziani

    @p.a.: Yes! I was going to say, “Pollo alla Diavola” (Devil’s chicken), AKA “Pollo al mattone” (Chicken with a brick), is very similar in technique. One doesn’t necessarily remove the backbone – a cut along it to open the chicken out, and then one presses down to hear some satisfying cracks from the breastbone end, until it is in fact a 2-D chicken.

    Typically, one would marinate it for a few hours in the fridge, in olive oil, lemon juice, pressed garlic, salt, and chopped fresh sage. A large ziplock bag is great for this part (and is very useful if one has to travel to a cookout with the chicken). Then, when the grill is ready, take it out of the bag, reserving the marinade to moisten the chicken on the grill. Lay it out on the cutting board, and coat it with ground pepper on both sides (the “Devil” part).

    At this point one could use a brick on the grill to press the chicken, but it is more practical to trap the chicken in a grill basket, because it needs to be flipped several times on the grill, and it’s kind of floppy otherwise.

    I find that it’s a good idea to make a very hot round pile coals that is not quite as wide as the full chicken, because fat drips from the chicken edges, and it is tiresome to keep putting out the giant fireball that ensues when the fat drops directly on the coals, which tends to carbonize the chicken and ruin the presentation. With the small-pile-of-coals techique, most of the fat bypasses the coals.

    It takes about 40-50 minutes, depending on the heat. Closing the grill lid (with vents open) helps trap heat and cook the chicken a little faster. The chicken should be turned every 15 minutes or so, and brushed with the reserved marinade. Which contains oil, which flares up when it hits the coals, so having a spray bottle or some other kind of flame-taming tech can come handy.

    The final result should be golden brown on the skin side, and cooked through to 165F in the thigh. Cutting on the cutting board is generally pretty easy, although the 2D geometry can be confusing if one is used to carving 3D chickens.

    This is a Florentine recipe, frequently served with “Fagioli all Uccelletto” (Little Birdie Beans), cannelini in a tomato/sage/olive oil/garlic sauce. Some other time, perhaps.

  62. 62.

    reality-based (the original, not the troll)

    @Adam L Silverman:

    A great thing to do with a spatchcocked/bricked chicken – tyler florences’s bricked chicken, with Mideast spices. Except I don’t like dried apricots in couscous – replace with golden raisins. the mint/yoghurt sauce is good, though. also, serve with warmed flatbread, brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with Za’atar.

    Now I’m hungry. and I just ate.

    recipe here

  64. 64.

    Ian

    paprikaed liberally.

    why???

    Also you shoulf try 160 on your chickens… I know they keep cooking after the flame but you are playing with very dangerous fire.

  66. 66.

    ? Martin

    Can I just say, if the MN, NJ, NY attacks were the best ISIS can manage, I don’t know why anyone is worried. We get an annual dose of pissed-off teenager that routinely proves more dangerous to the public.

  67. 67.

    Brachiator

    @? Martin:

    . .Can I just say, if the MN, NJ, NY attacks were the best ISIS can manage, I don’t know why anyone is worried.

    If these were the only ISIS attacks anywhere I might agree with you.

  68. 68.

    divF

    @Adam L Silverman: I’ve been doing the spatchcock thing for Thanksgiving turkeys for some years now. I lay the flattened bird on top of a bed of stuffing. Bird is cooked evenly, stuffing has lots of turkey juice flavor. The only disadvantage is that there are no turkey drippings for gravy, but life is full of hard choices.
    @Brachiator: Chicken Kiev – yum. Julia has a great recipe for that, including some rather salacious commentary (if done right, you cut into it and get a dramatic spurt of butter).

  69. 69.

    chopper

    I’ve broken out…the tiara

    I know this isn’t a Cole cooking post, or it would have said “tibia”.

  70. 70.

    chopper

    @divF:

    I almost always butterfly the turkey for xgiving. it cooks way faster. like half the time. and it cooks more evenly so the dark and white meat is just right.

  71. 71.

    chopper

    it’s hard to rationalize going through all the trouble to spatchcock a chicken but if you have a perforated pan, put the chicken in it on top of a layer of sliced sweet potatoes to catch all the drippings.

  72. 72.

    divF

    @chopper: Yup.
    Thinking about the gravy issue, it seems like one could roast the back (and neck) separately, and use the drippings and bones to make a good stock / gravy base.

  73. 73.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    Presentation, even simple elegance, is not my long suit in cooking and baking. So I am equal parts jealous and inspired.

    Looks really good, Adam.

  74. 74.

    divF

    @ThresherK (GPad):

    Presentation, even simple elegance, is not my long suit

    Me neither.

    The fiesta-ware-red platter adds to the elegant look (that seems to be a technique Cole uses, as well).

    ETA: In Cole’s case, this is not surprising – Fiesta Ware is manufactured in Newell, W. Va., just up the road (and river) from him.

  80. 80.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ian: Because I was making dinner for my Mom and she asked me to use paprika because she likes it. Since I only have one Mom and its hard enough raising parents these days, I acquiesced to her request. As for the temperature I counted on 10 degrees cook over time while it rested and I got it.

  81. 81.

    Adam L Silverman

    @? Martin: If NJ and NY were ISIL we would have heard from them by now on it. MN is clearly a self radicalization case and the Somali immigrant community has already condemned him and his actions.

  84. 84.

    Brachiator

    @divF:

    . Chicken Kiev – yum. Julia has a great recipe for that, including some rather salacious commentary (if done right, you cut into it and get a dramatic spurt of butter).

    That’s funny. And the commentary makes a lot of sense.

  85. 85.

    KlareCole

    Will have to try the spatchcockery method, Adam. Looked scrumptious. Happy Birthday Miss Bianca! A fellow Virgo. Odd that three terrorist type events in one day resulted in injuries, not deaths. Obviously not complaining. And they don’t all seem connected, even if Trump would like that. But just wierd.

  86. 86.

    Davebo

    Looks nice Adam but still, Dancing Chicken is so much easier, juicier and you get to drink beer by the pit!

  87. 87.

    chopper

    @Adam L Silverman: @Adam L Silverman:

    makes a mess, more shit to clean up. liquids everywhere. for me, when it comes to just a chicken it’s easier to stuff a few lemons in it and shove it in the oven.

    I got two kids and thus a family to feed and I don’t always feel like cleaning up even more crap. YMMV.

  88. 88.

    Jim

    We’ve been doing this for several years with our Thanksgiving turkey. We call it “brokeback turkey” in honor of the movie. Turkey bones are bigger than chicken bones, so it takes more effort, but it’s worth it. Cooks evenly and in a fraction of the time. The one downside is that you don’t have a whole-bird-on-a-platter to present to the assembled guests, with accompanying “Ooooooos.”

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