Buttermilk Brined Spatchcock Chicken

SciAggie

I was inspired by the Buttermilk Chicken thread. https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1216510/buttermilk-chicken/p1
I thought I’d cook a spatchcock chicken that had been brined in buttermilk for 24 hours. I wanted to play with a fun way to cook some stuffing too. 
So I picked up a chicken and brined it in salted buttermilk for 24 hours. I took it out of the refrigerator and let it drain a bit while it came to room temperature. 

I made some stuffing/dressing to bake inside a pumpkin. Couldn’t find a pie pumpkin at the store so I subbed in an acorn squash. 
Here’s the chicken ready to go into the oven. 

The squash takes a good 1 1/2 hours to cook. The chicken is usually 45-50 minutes. I always have to cover the chicken with foul up until the last 15 minutes or so or it gets too brown. 

I think the squash came out really well. 

The chicken was perfect. Legs at 189 degrees. The breast was 165. 



I want to cook a turkey this way. I think I’ll tweak the dressing recipe and find a pie pumpkin to cook it in. This would be fun to cook for guests. Thanks for looking. 

Mattman3969

Way to go Sir!!

SciAggie

Mattman3969 said:

Way to go Sir!!

Thanks!

Legume

How was the chicken with the buttermilk?

FarmingPhD

Your cooks never disappoint! 

SciAggie

Legume said:

How was the chicken with the buttermilk?

It was tender and juicy. That said, I don’t know that it was significantly better than cooking a chicken the same way without the buttermilk. I usually salt the chicken and leave it in the fridge overnight. I think both ways produce similar results. 

SciAggie

FarmingPhD said:

Your cooks never disappoint! 

Thank you sir. 

thetrim

Man, that looks awesome!

DoubleEgger

SciAggie said:

Legume said:

How was the chicken with the buttermilk?

It was tender and juicy. That said, I don’t know that it was significantly better than cooking a chicken the same way without the buttermilk. I usually salt the chicken and leave it in the fridge overnight. I think both ways produce similar results. 

Thanks for the feedback on this. 

bubbajack

Nice!

Dobie

Outstanding 

mEGG_My_Day

My god - I get an inferiority complex everytime I look at one of your cooks.   Please post your address - I want to move in next door.  Great looking cook!!! 

SciAggie

mEGG_My_Day said:

My god - I get an inferiority complex everytime I look at one of your cooks.   Please post your address - I want to move in next door.  Great looking cook!!! 

Lol - thanks for the kind words. I gained most of whatever cooking skills I have from the good folks on this forum. As for neighbors - there are lots available on my street. C’mon down...

NorthPilot06

SciAggie said:

I was inspired by the Buttermilk Chicken thread. https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1216510/buttermilk-chicken/p1
I thought I’d cook a spatchcock chicken that had been brined in buttermilk for 24 hours. I wanted to play with a fun way to cook some stuffing too. 
So I picked up a chicken and brined it in salted buttermilk for 24 hours. I took it out of the refrigerator and let it drain a bit while it came to room temperature. 

I made some stuffing/dressing to bake inside a pumpkin. Couldn’t find a pie pumpkin at the store so I subbed in an acorn squash. 
Here’s the chicken ready to go into the oven. 

The squash takes a good 1 1/2 hours to cook. The chicken is usually 45-50 minutes. I always have to cover the chicken with foul up until the last 15 minutes or so or it gets too brown. 

I think the squash came out really well. 

The chicken was perfect. Legs at 189 degrees. The breast was 165. 



I want to cook a turkey this way. I think I’ll tweak the dressing recipe and find a pie pumpkin to cook it in. This would be fun to cook for guests. Thanks for looking. 

Bumping, @SciAggie - I was thinking about doing the thanksgiving turkey this way come November. Have you tried this technique with a turkey yet?

SciAggie

Yes. I cooked a small 9 pound spatchcocked turkey and it was both easy and delicious. 

Botch

SciAggie said:

I want a poster of that.  

JohnnyTarheel

Still my man brother... great display on the squash

NorthPilot06

Glad to hear - I’ll need to figure out how large of a turkey can fit through the opening. Any idea on what the cooking temp in the WFO was?  And it looks like you had a live flame, but covered the protein with foil, right?

SciAggie

NorthPilot06 said:

Glad to hear - I’ll need to figure out how large of a turkey can fit through the opening. Any idea on what the cooking temp in the WFO was?  And it looks like you had a live flame, but covered the protein with foil, right?

I think I threw a paper towel into the oven just to light the picture, lol. It’s easy to get the wfo too hot. There is no drop in temps like a home oven when you open and close the door (as you know). I’ve learned to try to just have some nice coals and a floor temp below 400 degrees. I usually have to cover chicken or turkey. If you put the legs close to the oven wall they cook faster. It’s pretty cool - the legs are usually at 185 degrees or more when the breast hits 165. 

SciAggie

It’s funny you bumped this thread because I was just thinking today I was about ready to cook another turkey. 

YukonRon

Has to be one of my most favorite posts, ever. 
This old guy loves chicken just about any wY you can cook it. This recipe adjusted to my XL, turns out the absolute perfect crispiness outside tender and moist inside you can ever make. I usually try to do two at a time.
Thank you for posting this. Brilliant cook and presentation.

lkapigian

Great looking cook !

johnmitchell

Fantastic as always.