Spatchcocked
Roast Chicken
By FBWorld Team
Making
this recipe requires getting some poultry shears and removing
the backbone of the chicken. That way you can flatten
the chicken out in the pan. This method produces juicy
chicken, and faster cooking times.
Here
are your instructions:
Remove the gizzards from the chicken and discard. Pat
the chicken dry with paper towels and set it on a cutting
board. Flip it onto its breast and using sturdy kitchen
shears, remove the backbone by cutting carefully down
each side of the bone, starting at the tail end of the
bird. The entire inside of the chicken should be exposed
when you're finished.
Author
Notes: My default method for roasting chicken
involves smearing an herby, garlicky butter under the
skin, so it's in direct contact with the meat. Then, I
simply truss and roast at high heat for the first twenty
minutes, lowering the oven temperature to 350 to finish.
While
this process always results in juicy, tender legs, on
one more than one occasion it has failed to yield the
same results with the white meat, which remains forlornly
attached to the bird, rejected until every last scrap
of dark meat has been devoured. For some reason, the other
week I decided to spend five extra minutes and spatchcock
- or butterfly - my bird before applying the usual ministrations.
A couple of snips with my kitchen shears, and the backbone
was no more. Laid flat in the roasting pan, the breast
and legs on an even plane, the chicken cooked in record
time. When I cut into the breast, I could immediately
see that it was juicy and succulent. For the first time
in a long time, I chose white meat instead of dark. -
Merrill
Stubbs
Serves
4 to 6
Ingredients:
4 tbls. Soffened Butter
Zest of one Lemon
2 fat cloves Garlic, (minced)
2 tspn. Thyme Leaves, (roughly chopped)
1 1/2 tspn. Dijon Mustard
Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 4-lb. Organic Chicken
Procedures:
1. In a small bowl, combine the butter,
lemon zest, garlic, thyme, mustard, a teaspoon of salt
and some pepper. Set aside.
2.
Remove the gizzards from the chicken and discard. Pat
the chicken dry with paper towels and set it on a cutting
board. Flip it onto its breast and using sturdy kitchen
shears, remove the backbone by cutting carefully down
each side of the bone, starting at the tail end of the
bird. The entire inside of the chicken should be exposed
when you're finished.
3.
Sprinkle the cavity thoroughly with salt and pepper, and
then flip the chicken over so that it lies flat. Trim
any excess deposits of fat from around the cavity, and
gently slide your fingers under the skin and ease it away
from the meat, around both sides of the breast and both
legs. Carefully smear the compound butter underneath the
skin all over the meat, being careful not to break the
skin. Reserve about a tablespoon of the butter, and then
spread that evenly over the skin, followed by a generous
sprinkling of salt and pepper.
4.
Lay the chicken in a shallow roasting pan just large enough
to accommodate it and put in the refrigerator for an hour
or two (this will help the skin crisp more when you cook
it).
5.
When you're ready to make dinner, heat the oven to 425
degrees and remove the chicken from the fridge. Roast
for 20 minutes, then baste and decrease heat to 375. Cook
for another 15 to 20 minutes, basting once again in the
middle, until cooked. Let the chicken sit for a few minutes
before carving; serve with the pan juices and some crusty
bread or roasted potatoes for sopping them up.
Courtesy of food52.com
http://food52.com/recipes/6245-spatchcocked-roast-chicken
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