Recipe | Grilled Spatchcock Chicken | Weekly Wakeup
Grilled Spatchcock Chicken, sounds infamous, however it seems to be an unknown within our grilling culture. I can honestly say, any other method of grilling chicken on a bbq is completely worthless.
I know some of you may like to use a specific cut of chicken on a grill, example being a leg or thigh in a family pack. I do understand this to some extent, especially if you're trying to cook for a party of 10 or more. Just trust me, this is a better way. This recipe is inexpensive, easy, and consistent every time.
To add: If you admit to anyone that you only bbq the breast all by itself because you like it that way, stop reading now. You are not up for the challenge, I mean this, go away. Learn about a DIY method of cleaning your grass with a vacuum.
Special Facts About Chicken & Grilling
They are dinosaurs, they are not mammals. Histologically (study of size and structure of cells), chickens are organized differently than mammals [1]. Taking this into account, you need to be ware of a few key concepts:
- Chicken muscle has less water than red meat. This can often lead to a very dry chicken if grilled incorrectly.
- Chicken fat has more connective tissue than red meat. This can lead to small fires in a bbq causing over charring. This is why you often see a bottle of water next to a bbq. Not cool, man.
- Chickens are lumpy objects. Grilling chicken evenly, can be almost impossible. However there is a solution, spatchcocking. Otherwise known as medieval butchering, [Old English: a fowl that is dispatched quickly]. It consists of two cuts with scissors, that is it. Watch below and just get it done!
Ingredients
- 1 Whole chicken
- 2 Tablespoons of salt
- 2 Tablespoons of freshly ground pepper
- 1 Lime cut in quarters
- 1 table spoon of chili powder
Instructions
- Start BBQ 25 min before cooking, whether it's a coal or a gas at 350F. If you have neither, then get the oven started to 400F
- Spatchcock the chicken. Spread all of the salt and pepper on top of the chicken.
- Just watch the video, use more salt than pepper. Do not set the chicken out for longer than 20 min. This is a safety thing.
- Place 'spatchcocked' chicken breast side up over an even medium heat for 30 min.
- Be sure to cover bbq lid, try to almost suffocate the bbq of oxygen. This is a good way of dampening the possible flair-ups by the chicken fat melting on the flame or coals. If you are using an oven just leave it in a pan, I like to use vegetables cut in 1' squares as a base so the chicken cooks above its own fat.
- After cooking the chicken for 30 min, turn chicken over and cook it for 10 min.
- You will see that the inside of the ribcage of the chicken is now face up. It will hopefully be a bit chard and blackened, that is what you want as you don't want to eat that part. If you are using your oven just keep it in the oven for the rest of the time suggested for turn overs.
- Turn chicken back over, squeeze lime over top, dusting the chili powder to finish until the chicken is at a temperature of 165F.
- Please note: you can test one part and it may be 165F. However the part that you should test is the thickest, usually the part where the breast and the thigh connect.
Done.