The best way to cook a whole chicken is to spatchcock it and that’s not only because it sounds dirty. When you spatchcock a chicken (or any other kind of poultry), you remove the backbone and flatten it. This process has three benefits:
- The flattened fowl is more evenly thick and that = even cooking
- The squished squawker is, overall, not as thick and that = faster cooking
- You get to say spatchcocked a lot = more entertaining cooking
Start this process a couple of hours before you want to cook the bird so it has time to marinate.
For a detailed guide to this process, check out this site (I LOVE seriouseats.com): https://www.seriouseats.com/2017/01/the-food-lab-how-to-roast-a-butterflied-spatchcocked-chicken.html
Ingredients
- 3-4 pound whole chicken (organic is preferred)
- 2-3 T spice rub of your choice (more on that below)
- ½ C mayonnaise
Instructions
- Place the bird back side up on a cutting board
- Using kitchen shears, cut down each side of the backbone to remove it
- This may take some effort. You’re strong, stick with it
- As a guide, the piece of backbone that you’ll remove will be about 1.5 inches wide – you don’t want to cut out too much of the meat
- Grab the two sides of the chicken and sort of pull it apart to start to flatten it
- Clean up any offending ‘bits’ (fat, blood, whathaveyou). No need to rinse the chicken, that just makes a mess
- Flip the bird over and push down on the breast to fully flatten. You may need to flip the legs around, you want the whole bird as even as possible
- Create a pocket under the skin on the breast by poking your fingers under the skin and wiggling them around
- Sprinkle the entire bird including under the skin (in that little pocket you just made) with the rub. on both sides
- See notes below on rubs
- Slather (that’s a technical term) the bird (again, both sides, and under the breast skin) with the mayo
- I use mayo because the fat and protein in it help the skin brown and crisp (no, it won’t taste like mayo)
- Set the bird on a wire rack in a roasting pan, put it in the fridge and let it sit for at least an hour, longer is fine too
- Preheat your oven (on convection if you have it) to 425 degrees
- Roast the bird, legs towards the back, for 40-50 minutes
- Check the temperature starting at about 35 minutes
- The bird is done when the breasts are about 150 degrees and the legs around 170 degrees
- If the skin gets too brown, cover it with foil
- Remove the chicken from the oven, cover it with foil, and let it rest for 10 minutes
- Carve – first remove the legs, then split the breast in half lengthwise and then again cross wise. You’ll have six pieces total
- Place the chicken on a warmed platter and serve
A Word on Rubs
You can use whatever rub you like – a pre-made one from the store, a homemade one, whatever. Seriously. Don’t stress. If you don’t have a rub, use a tablespoon or so of (Kosher) salt and lots of pepper. When I cook this on the ‘gram I use 2 tablespoons of a commercial porchetta rub from Clif Family Wines (check them out – great wines and food products (and energy bars) to which I add 3 minced garlic cloves, ¼ teaspoon or so of crushed red pepper flakes, ½ teaspoon of ground fennel, and 1 teaspoon of ground rosemary. I mix the whole thing up with my mortar and pestle but you can use a spice grinder, food processor, or a large hammer.