Spatchcock Chicken

Spatchcock Chicken 

Doesn't this look the best?  It's on a glass cutting board.  Click on the picture to get a better view.

Start with a whole chicken.  Thaw it out.

Cut the chicken's back and then splay it out.

Season the chicken the way you like best.

Did I mention, you need a smoker

Into the smoke box it goes

I am using chunk charcoal with apple chips in the wood box.

Wine, you need wine while cooking.

This is the end results

Cut it up into 1/4 pieces, just like Swiss Chalet.

Having BBQ'ed chicken is great.  But unless it's cooked all the way through, it can be really dangerous for you and your guests.  Opening up the chicken and cooking it the "spatchcock" way, will ensure that your chicken can be BBQ'ed, is cooked all the way through and because the skin is left on, the chicken is so moist.  Yummy!

Ingredients

1 small whole chicken
Salt Pepper Garlic and Onion for seasoning
A glass of ice cold chardonnay (I am not a purist, I like Red wine with my white meat)

Stuff you will need

Smoker or BBQ
If you are using a smoker, Apple wood for your smoke
Cutting board
BIG sharp knife

Directions

The quick way to do it is to place your chicken on a board and using a sharp knife, slice it down the breast bone.

Pull the chicken open and flatten it

Season well on both sides and place on the grill with the inside of the chicken facing down. This way you don’t mobilize the fat in the skin too soon and cause your fire to flare up.

When I was cooking the chicken in the smoker, it took over an hour and a half.  I had to make sure that the temperate was over 180 F.  Since the charcoal smoker only gets to about 225 in the smoke box, it takes a bit to cook.

For my final thought on how to barbecue chicken the Portuguese way - sit back, relax and drink the chardonnay!

Quarter the barbecue chicken with a heavy sharp knife.

As always, comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome.