Yes, you read that right. You’re about to spatchcock a chicken, don’t even be afraid of this, just do it!
I used to be nervous to cook an entire bird. It’s really hard to time and it’s easy to undercook. This method of preparing an entire bird – essentially you’re butterflying the bird- allows for an even cook through the whole bird and cooks in much less time. It’s a total win- win situation.
There’s also a major plus to buying an entire bird- you’ll have a lot of leftovers and meat for soup!
I thought this was a perfect, simple video on how to prepare the chicken: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppa1bxB89vg.
Once you’re done cutting…
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Seasoning suggestion:
I softened an entire stick of butter and mixed fresh herbs (rosemary, oregano, thyme) and garlic, salt and pepper to make a flavorful butter bath for the bird. Season the whole bird, bottom and top with lots of salt and pepper, then bathe the whole bird in the butter mixture (Save extra butter for coating any veggies). Give the bird a squeeze of fresh lemon juice before putting into the oven and voila! You’re done.
Cooking:
I had cooked the bird at 375 for about an hour, uncovered in my Dutch oven. You can continue to baste the bird periodically to make sure it stays nice and moist. You’ll need to make sure the internal temperature of the bird reads 165 degrees with a meat thermometer.
In the mean time, prep veggies to be roasted. (Root veggies will take the longest). Next time I would do things differently with my veggies- I just tossed cauliflower in the butter mixture and added them to the Dutch oven with the bird when I thought the bird was about 10 min out from being done. The bird ended up being done but the cauliflower wasn’t. I actually ended up taking the cauliflower out of the Dutch oven, bringing the temperature up to 400 and roasting them on a baking sheet for about 10 min to get them nice and crispy.
Last step:
Letting the bird rest is important! Don’t miss this step or you’ll lose all your juices and the bird will dry out a bit. I let my bird sit about 30 min before cutting into it.
everythingbutthekitchensink.travel.blog 