Love cooking a roast chook? Dislike the cooking time? Spatchcock it!
This is way easier than it sounds. A spatchcocked chicken, is basically a butterflied chicken. ‘All you have to do’ is remove the backbone of the chicken using kitchen scissors and then you push it out flat. Easy!
Why bother? A roast chicken is such a simple and delicious dinner, you just can’t beat it for versatility or appealing to all kinds of eaters. Unfortunately, a roost chook takes too damned long to cook! I don’t know about you, but I’ve got places to be, people to talk to, books to read, makeup to apply! Simply put, spatchcocking a whole chook significantly reducing the cooking time. It’s as easy as! All you need is a pair of kitchen scissors (you could use a paring knife). On the topic of kitchen scissors, here’s an unpaid endorsement for Tupperware: I LOVE my Tupperware scissors, they are sturdy, stay sharp, dishwasher safe. They were totally an investment.
- First, turn the whole chicken breast side-down. Cut along one side of the backbone with your scissors.
- Cut along the other side. Trim off the excess fat.
- Flip it open, turn it up the other way, press down hard.
- Now it’s ready for the oven (or BBQ, or spit roast).
- My chicken in this photo took just 35 minutes to reach a perfect roast (180 degrees)
I spatchcocked these chickens on a Sunday night ready for the week (I’m getting organised and have planned chicken salads for lunch and Asian Noodle Soup for a dinner on the run). Tonight we are having Hot Chicken Wraps with salad and Satay Sauce. Hmmmmm.
