Spatchcocked Chicken on the Big Green Egg

I roasted my first spatchcocked chicken on my Big Green Egg yesterday. This worked great. I have tried many different ways to roast a chicken, and while I have had some good results, I have never had great results. The problem usually is that when the thighs are done, the breast meat is a little dry or when the breast meat is perfect, the thighs are not completely cooked. The chicken I cooked yesterday had perfectly cooked breast and thigh meat, moist, tender and smoky. This is a winner for me. Served it with a fresh corn and avocado salad. Nice summer meal.

I took some liberties with the recipe, but basically followed the one in this link.
http://www.nakedwhiz.com/spatch.htm

And where are the photos of your finished plate, Greg?

Spatchcocking is indeed the way to go if one wants to cook the entire bird without separating the component parts. I've gotten consistently good results that way.

That actually looks like a fantastic alternative to beer-can chicken! Did you have your butcher de-back the chickens, or were you able to do it yourself?

I should have taken some photos. I am not in the habit of taking pics of food. I had used much more rub than they did in the pics and I had more smoke so I ended up with a nice mahogany crust on the bird.

I just bought a whole chicken and butchered it myself. Fast and easy with a pair of poultry shears.

I love making Spatchcocked Chicken. It is fast and easy to do. Greg since you didn't take a picture of the end product here is a picture of one that I did.

OH...thanks Greg and Duane! I am definitely going to try this out on my K.

And where are the photos of your finished plate, Greg?

Spatchcocking is indeed the way to go if one wants to cook the entire bird without separating the component parts. I've gotten consistently good results that way.

I've been doing it for years, but didn't know there was a name for it!

[Jenise]

And where are the photos of your finished plate, Greg?

Spatchcocking is indeed the way to go if one wants to cook the entire bird without separating the component parts. I've gotten consistently good results that way.

I've been doing it for years, but didn't know there was a name for it!

Same here!

Say Greg, a big green egg just moved in next door to me, so I will finally get to see one in action.

[Robin Garr]

I love making Spatchcocked Chicken. It is fast and easy to do. Greg since you didn't take a picture of the end product here is a picture of one that I did.

Duane, a small, niggling and pedantic question: Don't you usually tuck the wingtips back under the bird's shoulders? I generally do that just to keep it looking neat.

I've been doing this procedure for years - in fact, I think I figured it out for myself years ago without seeing it in a cookbook - but I always called it "butterflied." I suspect the Olde Englishe term "spatchcock" has been widely rediscovered only fairly recently.

Yeah,been doing this in restaurants since the early 80s - started at Mudd's where I served a whole grilled poussin. Although an accurate description, we never used that expression. Just a split bird.

Tucking the wing tips under not only makes a better presentation, but keeps them from burning as well.

The difference for me here was the use of the Big Green Egg for the roasting and smoking. It really did a nice job on the bird.

I've been doing this procedure for years - in fact, I think I figured it out for myself years ago without seeing it in a cookbook - but I always called it "butterflied." I suspect the Olde Englishe term "spatchcock" has been widely rediscovered only fairly recently.

Robin, seems I remember one of your cooking newsletters covering this as a way you discovered to roast a chicken in order to get the skin brown and crispy all over. I almost always roast it this way now.

And where are the photos of your finished plate, Greg?

No pics, no spatchcock.

rwj

Robin and ChefJ I do remember reading about the tucking of the wing tips and a few other things that people do to the Spatchcocked Chicken. There was a post or web site some where that said not to even bother with doing that so I don't. The bird tastes delicious and is gone almost faster than you can take a picture of it. There are people who also call the technique butterflied.

Duane and Greg...Re the rub. I just spatchcocked my chicken and plan on leaving it uncovered in the fridge until tomorrow evening. When should I apply the rub...tonight or right before I kook it?

I do mine right away and then let it sit with the rub on overnight in the fridge.

That actually looks like a fantastic alternative to beer-can chicken! Did you have your butcher de-back the chickens, or were you able to do it yourself?

Yoni, Here is a video that shows all the steps to butterflying the bird.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-8tMEwBnSA

Ok, I did this and the chicken came out really juicy and delicious. The skin was still not very crisp though...even though I left it uncovered in the fridge overnight. I cooked it at 350 degrees for 1 hr...I wonder what would happen if I flipped the bird so the skin side was down the last 20 min? Any suggestions?

[Robin Garr]

Ok, I did this and the chicken came out really juicy and delicious. The skin was still not very crisp though...even though I left it uncovered in the fridge overnight. I cooked it at 350 degrees for 1 hr...I wonder what would happen if I flipped the bird so the skin side was down the last 20 min? Any suggestions?

Maria, skin-side-down would be a bad idea ... the fat will drip down and render the skin moist and ... yukkkk ...

I can't speak of ceramic eggs and dragons, but as a long-time practitioner of the butterflied-chicken process in the oven, I'd say a constant 350F is too low. I generally either run it all the way through at 400, or else start at 450, drop immediately to 350, roast until almost done and then kick it back up to 450 again at the end for a final crisping.

Unless there are significant technical differences in ceramic grills, I just don't see a constant 350 getting you crisp skin.

Ok, I did this and the chicken came out really juicy and delicious. The skin was still not very crisp though...even though I left it uncovered in the fridge overnight. I cooked it at 350 degrees for 1 hr...I wonder what would happen if I flipped the bird so the skin side was down the last 20 min? Any suggestions?

"Stabilize your egg at 350°. (You may wish to use a hotter temperature for crispier skin, although we have found the path to crispy skin lies in letting the bird sit, uncovered, for 24-48 hours in your regrigerator.)

Like we mentioned above, if you desire a crispier skin, you can leave the bird in the refrigerator for 24 to 48 hours, uncovered, to dry the skin. The skin will start to look transparent and funky, but trust us. Oil the skin before applying your rub and that will aid in the crispiness also."

When I roast a chicken in the oven or on the egg, 350 works for me if I do the salting/rubbing and allow the chicken to sit uncovered in the fridge for at least 24 hours. The above quote in blue from the Naked Whiz spatchcocked chicken recipe.

Greg, since you've got a handle on cooking chicken in the BGE, give this one a try. -RP
http://www.nakedwhiz.com/thechicken

Thanks guys...Greg, I did leave the bird uncovered in the fridge for nearly 24 hrs...maybe I needed to leave it longer...I also didn't salt or rub until an hr before cooking, so maybe I should do it before I put it in the fridge. The skin wasn't totally flabby, just not that crisp. It certainly wasn't crisp enough to eat.

Thanks guys...Greg, I did leave the bird uncovered in the fridge for nearly 24 hrs...maybe I needed to leave it longer...I also didn't salt or rub until an hr before cooking, so maybe I should do it before I put it in the fridge. The skin wasn't totally flabby, just not that crisp. It certainly wasn't crisp enough to eat.

From my experience, it is critical that the salt be on the chicken the whole time it is in the fridge. If you use a rub, it needs to have salt in it. This helps in the crisping. I have been using this trick for many years when I roast a chicken in the oven. If you salt it and leave it uncovered in the fridge for 24-48 hours, you can get a really crispy skin at 350, and I find you get moist meat. Without the salt, I have to go to higher temps, and the meat is less moist. In my hands, the meat is better out of the egg than my oven.

YMMV

Greg, since you've got a handle on cooking chicken in the BGE, give this one a try. -RP
http://www.nakedwhiz.com/thechicken

I will have to give it a try, thanks for pointing it out. Have you tried it?

I use the aluminum foil trick for some other things I do on the Egg. Some refer to it as a texas crutch, at least when returned to the grill. For example, when I do baby back ribs, I smoke them at 225 for two hours (with a dry rub on 24 hours ahead of time in the fridge), texas crutch them with apple juice on the egg at the same temp for an hour, and then a half an hour back on the egg without the aluminum foil and painted with BBQ sauce. At this low temp and indirect heat, the BBQ sauce does not burn, just concentrates. They come out moist and tender, but still toothsome. Perfect for my taste. If my timing is off, I hold them in foil, wrapped in towels in a cooler and they are stable that way for quite a while. Good eating.