This past week, I ate the best chicken sandwich I have ever put in my mouth. It was moist, succulent, full of flavor and tender beyond description. It came from a breast of a chicken which I had previously cooked “spatchcock style.”
Originally, the word spatchcock meant a young, male chicken, but somehow the term came to signify a method of preparing a chicken, by removing the entire backbone, mashing the chicken flat and cooking it quickly at a high temperature.
The reason I “spatchcocked” my bird is that I didn’t get home until about 5:30 and needed to get dinner on the table by 7 at the latest. You can “spatchcock’ a whole chicken in 45 minutes or less and it’s an easy process.
Here is how I did my bird.
First, it helps to have a pair of sturdy kitchen shears nearby. Place the bird breast down and simply cut along the backbone on each side and remove. But don’t throw the back away; it’s the best part of the chicken! Next, flip the chicken over with the breast up and mash flat until you hear the bones snap. Now you’re ready to season the bird.
I used a combination of butter, olive oil, Sauer’s Chicken Rub, kosher salt and coarse ground pepper. Season the backbone strip the same way and cook it alongside the whole bird (I’m telling you, gnawing on that back is best part!)
I melted a ¼ stick of butter in the microwave and mixed that with a tablespoon of olive oil, then coated the bird thoroughly with the mixture. Next I added a generous sprinkling of Sauer’s Chicken Rub. Sauer’s is my go-to rub for pork, steak and chicken. Kroger’s sells it. It’s great stuff.
After lost of salt and pepper, I put my bird in a 435 oven for 45 minutes. It was golden brown and exploding with juice. We ate half the chicken that night but the next day, I sliced off several thick slabs from the leftover breast, coated a couple slices of white bread with Dukes Mayonnaise and garnished with a crisp piece of lettuce. Unbelievable! You gotta’ try it sometime.
Spatchcock Chicken (for great sandwiches)
1 Whole frying chicken
¼ Stick butter
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Sauer’s Chicken Rub to taste
Kosher salt and coarse pepper to taste