Spatchcock Chicken Seasoning

R3K

Gonna do my second ever spatchcock chicken later this afternoon.  My question is for those that like to lift the skin to season the meat underneath.  How do you go about this without having the skin completely separate from the bird?  Do you cut it loose from one side only and peel it back?  Once it's pealed back and separated, how to you "reattach" it so that it cooks on the bird?  Toothpics to pin it in place?  My first one came out great...nice and juicy, but all the flavor was in the skin since that's where the rub was, and my girls won't eat the skin, so I'm looking to change things up a bit

DMW

Just "peel" the skin up with your fingers, do t cut it. I just lay it back on, don't pin it with toothpicks. I pull it by the edges and just try not to tear the skin.

DMW

One other idea, if no one will eat the skin (my FAM aside from me), remove it completely and season the meat directly. The skin doesn't protect the meat from drying out. Overcooking causes dry chicken.

R3K

DMW said:

One other idea, if no one will eat the skin (my FAM aside from me), remove it completely and season the meat directly. The skin doesn't protect the meat from drying out. Overcooking causes dry chicken.

Never thought of doing it that way.  I may just peel the skin off of one half of the chicken to season the meat directly and leave the other half seasoned on the skin since I like it.  That way I have a direct comparison between the two options.  Thanks

henapple

It's easy..just pull the skin back and season it. Pics later...

R3K

I actually have two small chickens so I'll probably completely skin one, and try raising the skin on the other.  I suck a remembering to take pics but I'll see what I can do. Thanks for the advice.

TMay

I cook my chicken with the skin off, the meat gets more flavor and stays every bit as juicy.

grege345

I melt some butter and add my favorite seasoning and us my injector. I slide it under the skin and slide it forward and squeeze. Works well for me and my fat fingers. I don't actually "inject" the bird

R3K

Well, as usual, I completely forgot about pictures, but everything came out very tasty.  I skinned one chicken and left the other OEM.  The skinned one looked to be a bit drier (naturally), but they were both very good, and I did a decent job of getting the seasoning beneath the skin (was a bit grossed out by that gelatinous stuff underneath the skin though).  Family all though it was pretty good, but I suspect the "pretty good" was due to the fact that they're not really fans of "meat on a bone".  I know....they're weird.  Anyway, thanks for the input fellas.

hapster

R3K said:

Well, as usual, I completely forgot about pictures

Do you even own an egg?

)

JRWhitee

That chicken looks fantastic!

DMW

R3K said:

Well, as usual, I completely forgot about pictures, but everything came out very tasty.  I skinned one chicken and left the other OEM.  The skinned one looked to be a bit drier (naturally), but they were both very good, and I did a decent job of getting the seasoning beneath the skin (was a bit grossed out by that gelatinous stuff underneath the skin though).  Family all though it was pretty good, but I suspect the "pretty good" was due to the fact that they're not really fans of "meat on a bone".  I know....they're weird.  Anyway, thanks for the input fellas.

Sounds good. The gelatinous stuff is fat. If you want "bite through" skin, peel the skin back, scrape all the fat off, then put the skin back on. You may need to use tootpicks around the edges otherwise as it cooks the skin will pull back amd not stay in place. Almost all competition cooks do this trick to get nice crisp bite through skin. Its's time consuming for sure. If you want to try it, use bone in, skin on chicken thighs. Or instead of toothpicks you could use meat glue to reattach the skin. Hmmm, Might need to go to the store today...

TexanOfTheNorth

I don't have any problem just working my fingers under the skin to add rub directly to the skin; just have to go slow and be gentle. I also like to slide some lime slices under the skin for some extra flavor. If you look closely you can see the outline of the limes below.

R3K

That chicken looks fantastic!

That made me actually laugh out loud!
)

R3K

hapster said:

Well, as usual, I completely forgot about pictures Do you even own an egg? )

I know dude, I suck so bad at remembering to take pictures, but I promise I'll try to do better