What we learned from breaking the cardinal rule of BBQ

Direct grilling a whole spatchcocked chicken is harder than it sounds. I mean easier! No, it’s harder.

Quote unquote Spatchcocking a chicken is a method to flatten out a bird so that more heat can be applied to the innards of the fowl faster than leaving it whole. You basically cut out the backbone, crack it’s breast so it lays flat, and then manhandle the thing until it’s sternum and breastplate are no longer a part of the bird. I’m sure there are more eloquent ways to do this but I imagine this is just a practice thing. I did alright, although one of the thighs was threatening to fall off. If you want step by step pictures of spatchcocking a chicken you should ask google.

The marinade I used for the chicken was:

Rosemary, Lemon, dash of Cumin, dash of Cayenne, Honey (gasp!) Salt, Pepper and a lot of Olive Oil in a blender.

I gasp because in making this bird I absentmindedly broke the cardinal rule of grilling birds- adding sugar to the marinade. Long story short, sugar burns easily, which is why this looks more like blackened chicken than grilled. That aside, it was still crazy delicious.

Cooking time is 15-20 minutes a side, keeping the bird moving to avoid flare ups, aka blackened chicken.

So we learned not to add sugar to a marinade. We also learned that the chicken is still crazy delicious when it’s half charred. So, no biggie. As for spatchcocking, practice makes perfect I guess.

Serve with corn and zucchini grilled directly on the bbq, high heat. Olive oil on the zucchini, nothing at all on the corn.