How to: spatchcock a chicken
When you spatchcock a chicken and lay it out flat, it marinates more fully since there is no hollow inside where things get lost, you can really get the marinade into the front and back of a flattened chicken. AND, the cooking time is shorter.
Spatchcocking, in my opinion, is the most fun anyone can have with a chicken, so if you've never spatchcocked a chicken before – do it.
It's grotesque, surgical, technical, and it'll kind of make you feel like a pro. In all honesty, I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did. Cutting out the spine was a little gruesome but it was thrilling, it made me feel like a surgeon. And then flipping the chicken and hearing the sternum crack when flattening it out with the palm of my hand was way more satisfying than it probably should have been.
Here's a short how-to on how to spatchcock a chicken.
1. You begin with a whole chicken that's been cleaned and pat-dried.
2. Directions I was following told me to cut out the spine from the bung-hole end first. But, what I quickly found was that it was much easier to start cutting the spine out from the neck-end, BECAUSE, you can much more easily decipher where the spine is. So I start cutting out the spine from the neck end by cutting on both sides of the spine.
3. When my scissors are down near the other end, but not quite all the way there, I turn the chicken around and start cutting from the bung-hole end. Now I can see where I need to cut in order to meet my cut-line that I started from the neck-end. do this until your spine is completely cut away.
4. Flip the chicken down with the cut-side on the board. Spread open the chicken as much as you can, without forcing it.
