Spatchcock that chicken!

 

Spatchcocked chicken

Isn’t that a great word—spatchcock? Basically, it’s a method for cooking chicken. Scholars aren’t sure of the origin, but they think it comes from eighteenth-century Ireland. I find a little etymological confusion—since cock is another name for a rooster, maybe the term comes from spatching a cock. Except roosters are tough and stringy, and we don’t cook them. Maybe they did back in Ireland at the time. My theory falls apart though because I couldn’t find a definition for spatch, except in some arcane numerology systems or spatchcock cooking. The latter is circular—defining a word for itself.

All that aside, spatchcocking is a wonderful way to cook chicken. You need a good strong pair of kitchen shears. Flip the chicken onto its breast and cut along one side of the backbone, as close to the bone as you can. Then cut along the other side and remove the backbone. Turn the chicken over, and press both hands on the breastbone, as though you were giving artificial respiration. You’ll hear it crack. The spread the chicken out flat. This way it cooks faster and more evenly, and the meat is tender and moist, the skin crisp. It involves a lot of butter.

We’ve done it a couple of times. I don’t have much strength in my hands, so Christian does the actual spatchcocking. After that it’s fairly simple, though it involves the careful process of putting herb butter under the skin of the bird. Note that you must prepare the chicken hours ahead. Here’s what I did.

Turn the chicken skin side down, and season liberally with salt and pepper. Turn it back skin side up and put herb butter all over under the skin, careful not to tear the skin. For the breast you can start at what would be the lower end of the bird and work the butter around carefully with your fingers. It’s sticky work, and you just have to do the best you can. For the thighs and legs, start at the hip joint. Ignore the wings, though many recipes suggest you clip off the tips. Dry the chicken with paper towels before you add the butter. One recipe suggests reserving any left-over butter to pour over the bird before serving. Since I like the crisp skin, I prefer to pass the remaining butter rather than douse the whole bird.

Herb butter

It takes about a half a stick of softened butter to treat a three-to-four lb chicken.

Mix into the butter:

2 tsp. minced parsley

1 tsp. lemon zest

A pinch each of whatever herbs you want—thyme, marjoram, rosemary (go light with its strong flavor), basil, oregano, herbes de provence. I’d avoid such distinctive flavors as dill, cilantro, etc. And don’t overdo—choose maybe three herbs. You don’t want to get it what one of my kids calls “too herbal.”

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper—use white pepper if you have it.

Place the bird on a greased, rimmed cooking sheet (what I call a jellyroll pan) and place it, uncovered, in the refrigerator for at least two hours. Overnight seems excessive to me but six hours is a good idea.

Roast at 450^o until juices run clear and skin is nicely browned but not burned. Forty to fifty minutes. I have found my new Breville oven cooks a bit hot, so we lowered the rack a notch and turned the heat back to 400^o. The chicken was done in forty minutes. You may have to adjust for your oven. Let it sit and collect itself for ten minutes before slicing. Serve with reserved herb butter if you want.

 You can also shorten the cooking time for the Thanksgiving turkey with this method. The internet has lots of recipes for spatchcocked turkey, but it takes a lot more hand strength.