So this is kind of a random post. But I think this is a cool way I’ve changed my cooking, thanks to Wicked Edge.
I now buy whole chickens at the grocery store, and then butcher them myself. My knives are so sharp its almost no work, and it’s a satisfying way to utilize a really sharp knife. Plus, you get a whole chicken for the price of a couple of small pre-fileted breasts, and I love getting the thighs for “free.”
It all started with spatchcocking a turkey last year, based on Mark Bittman’s recipe, and now I’m really enjoying it with chicken.
Wonderful thread! I’ve roasted chickens this way (spatchcocking/butterflying) for years since I learned of the technique from a cooking show. Love the way all the meat is done perfectly at once. But I never thought to use a knife to cut out the backbone; instead I’ve always used my Shun kitchen shears for two reasons: first, they are sturdy enough to exert a lot of leverage cutting through bone without any deflection and secondly, they come apart and can go into the dishwasher after cutting the raw chicken. That said, I have to try a knife next time given the success of cjb80202. Thanks for the tip!
I agree with you Salisbury Sam. IMO, shears are the way to go to remove the back bone. I think it’s more efficient and safer too. I do have and use a Tojiro DP Honesuki specifically made for cutting poultry and boning birds. It’s an uneven grind almost like a chisel grind and it’s very heavy and thick for it’s size. I use this to break down chickens/turkeys, etc. into pieces.
I do prefer using a long, sharp knife over shears. When I’ve used shears, the cut rib bones are really sharp and it’s easy to scrape or cut your knuckles.
The thing that amazed me is that I get such amazing use now out of that big, cheap butcher knife. It’s the kind of knife you can buy for a buck at goodwill, but wow does it work great now!
On a related note, I have a pair of shears, but I don’t have the scissors adapter. So I thought I’d just free-hand the edge of the shears a bit, with my 600 grit stones. I think I hurt instead of helped, I created a burr and had a tough time getting it smoothed back down, and the shears wouldn’t close correctly.
I tried to sharpen a couple scissors the other day on a Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpener and it wasn’t easy to free hand maintain the angle to keep the bevel flat against the triangle stone. It was at that point I decided I’d be ordering the “new” WE Scissors Adapter, too.
The new scissor adapter is on my Christmas list. I’ve also tried to use the Spyderco on some kitchen shears and it didn’t work out. However, I was successful sharpening my kitchen peeler using the Spyderco stones.
The Spyderco does have it’s place. It will improve some serrated knife edges, very well. I also use it for very small knives, inexpensive piece-of junk knives, and multi-blade folders where the blades are well off center. Like all sharpening there is a technique. If you maintain the blade vertical and keep constant contact with the stone it’ll do OK.
That does look like a newer version of my knife! And it bolsters my thought that my current knife would probably sell second hand for about $1, but that makes me enjoy it that much more. I think I do have to sharpen it more often that my more expensive kitchen knives, but that’s part of the fun.
The only problem I’ve run into by spatchcocking with a knife instead of shears is potentially puncturing the underside of the breast by poking the knife at too much of an angle. With this long knife blade, that’s not a problem, it cuts right through while pretty much horizontal.
One option for big birds or narrow ovens is to spatchcock, then divide into two halves at the breastbone. Put each half onto its own baking pan and onto two different racks in the oven. Even with a convection oven you’ll want to rotate the pans occasionally, but should cook up beautifully.
Last weekend I grilled for the first time a complete chicken in my oven without spatchcocking (learned a new word ) it first. It was quite a success and we loved the chicken taste and its crispy skin. We only had some problems pulling the chicken apart at the table, mostly because I’m not very good at the anatomy of chickens . But we’ll learn that. My question is whether spatchcocking a chicken before putting it in the oven has any advantages, or doesn’t it really matter whether you do it then or at the table?
Mark, spatchcocking is to make cooking easier, quicker and more efficient. It’s not to make cutting up the cooked bird easier, although it probably does. Google “Spatchcocking Turkey or Chicken”. It will explain it easier and better then we can.
Just like sharpening a knife (I’m stretching this analog…) it’s the geometry of cooking a bird, particularly a turkey, that makes it more challenging. When roasting, the breasts tend to cook quicker than the dark meat around the legs and thighs. That tends to create a dried out breast as you try to eliminate the bloody, raw effect on the dark meat. Spatchcocking helps eliminate this by making the bird 2-dimensional, which helps the sections cook closer to the same rate. Even with that, I like to a) set out the bird at room temperature before cooking (30-45 minutes) and b) put bags of frozen corn on the breasts while it’s sitting out, to help keep them relatively cold (and I pre-brine the turkey as an insurance policy).
When it comes to carving, spatchcocking definitely makes life easier, IMO. Mainly because the backbone is gone, and you’re not struggling to cut away the legs at those big joints, particularly with a very hot turkey releasing steam onto your hands!
) it first. It was quite a success and we loved the chicken taste and its crispy skin. We only had some problems pulling the chicken apart at the table, mostly because I’m not very good at the anatomy of chickens 