This is a handy technique to have. I won’t call it a skill because there’s no learning curve; after you butterfly a chicken, turkey or Cornish hen once, you’ll know how forever. All you need are sharp kitchen shears, preferably the kind that come apart for easy, thorough cleaning.
Why butterfly poultry? Some recipes call for it, but it’s also a real time-saver. Flat poultry cooks in about half the time and cooks more evenly. It can be a money-saver too. In my area butterflied chickens, sometimes halved at the breast, are sold in summer for grilling and they always cost more than whole chickens. Let me show you how easy it is.
This Cornish hen was about 1 3/4 pounds. To begin, put it breast-side down, feel inside for the backbone then use shears to cut out the backbone.
If you’re very thrifty or serious about making chicken stock, the backbone will go into the freezer with other accumulated parts until you need them. Otherwise, dispose of it. Turn the bird breast-side up and use the heel of your palm to press down on the breast bone to flatten the bird. That’s all there is to it. For grilling, tuck the wings as I did so the tips don’t burn.
A very large bird might require making a small snip in the breast bone before applying pressure and if you need to halve the poultry, just cut between the breasts after it’s butterflied.
This method is the same when butterflying a chicken or turkey. And if you think you’d never butterfly a turkey, Cook’s Illustrated did a few years ago, with a bird about 13 pounds. It cooked in under two hours. If you’re brining the poultry, do so before you butterfly it.
The two shears CI liked best were the Messermeister take apart shears and the Wusthof take apart shears, which it found worked better for lefties.
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Hi ella~
I’ve always called this spatchcocking. And for grilling a turkey, it’s really great: done it many times even in the cold Novembers of Michigan.
I think the first time I tried this was many years ago with a Georgian Russian recipe where the chicken was spatchcocked, then seasoned and pressed flat under a weight to cook.
Seem to remember fruits and nuts being involved, but perhaps that is just me !?!??
Hi, Tess – I haven’t seen or heard the word spatchcocking in ages. I wonder if it’s a regional thing?
I’m not familiar with the Georgian recipe, but having been there I imagine fruit was used. I love the “flatties.” A friend butterflies chicken and duck and grills them using a brick wrapped in foil as the weight. Crisp as can be!