Pre-Roasted Spatchcocked Chicken

Today's Saturday, and I'm having a cooking day, before a Sunday family get-together. I wanted to get everything done now so I only need to heat it all before serving tomorrow.

I just bought a beautiful 8¼# whole chicken! To roast it evenly, I'm going to start by spatchcocking it.

This video shows the process well. You may need to put pressure on the breastbone, after the spine is cut away, to make it lie flatter in your pan.

You can spread seasoned, compound butter under the skin. On the surface, you could use a poultry rub to season the meat and skin. Today my choice is to brush it with a marinade then let it rest a half hour before roasting.

1/3c EVOO

2T dark, aged Balsamic vinegar

2-3t roasted garlic & herb seasoning

1t or so smoked garlic chipotle seasoning

Put the marinated, rested chicken in a preheated 400° oven, for 40 minutes, uncovered. Check and baste it once during this time. After the time, mine wasn't sizzling much, nor crisping up, which takes longer when you use a wetter marinade. Mine needed to cook a total of 2 hours, as big as it was, uncovered, at 400° poking and basting it several times during the cooking process. 

Remove it from the oven, baste quickly one more time, then cover and let it rest 10 minutes before carving it. Or, chill it now, then baste and heat it the next day, uncovered, in a 400° oven for about 15 minutes. Cover and let it rest 10 minutes before carving and serving.

Roasting a chicken scents your home beautifully! Leftovers will make great soup in a couple days! . .Lin