Spatchcocking a Chicken

The word “spatchcock” is a really old word. It’s an old English word. It was an abbreviation for when chefs used to yell at their __ or other food assistants to dispatch the cock or dispatch the chicken, dispatch cock a chicken.
I’ll start off with a bird. This bird has been prepared. The neck has been removed. The excess fat and the excess fat along the top have also been removed. I’m going to take my legs and separate it as far as I can from the breast with my hands. This will open up a seam. I’m going to fit my knife right in between the breast and the legs along that seam and with long strokes, cut downwards. That will cut that seam. The muscles that connect this breast region from my leg region is very, very thin and so it’s very easy to cut through. I’m then just going to hold in the two apart. I’m going to snap them in half and I will break the spine bone. And then I will take my knife and slice it right down the middle. When this is done, this has prepared my leg region for my spatchcocking.
My next step will be to prepare my breast region. What I’m going to do is that I keep my knife right up along the spine here. The bones that connect these rib bones that are connected up to the spine, are very thin. And so with a very sharp knife, my knife can go right through those bones. No problem. I now have my breast section that’s ready to be opened. I’m going to take my knife and very, very gently, I’m just going to put a really small cut into the very top of this breast plate. This will allow me to fully open up this breast plate, so it lies as flat as well.
I’m then going to tuck my wings backwards in that resting position I like to call it. And now my breast is able to lie flat. To properly spatchcock, the idea of spatchcocking is allowing the whole bird to lie flat and the entire portion of the chicken is of the same thickness, so that all chicken cooks at an even rate. The tops of these legs, I’m going to tuck them underneath this breast and I’m going to tuck the point of the breast underneath the legs. And then I’m going to grab two skewers. I’ll take one skewer from the top of the breast, there you go. Ok. Now walla, the spatchcock chicken.


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