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Spatchcock chicken
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Egg Master 3000
Posts: 323
By reading through the forums I get the impression that Spatchcock is the best way to cook a whole chicken... why is this method better than something like beer can? I have done a beer can bird and want to give spatchcocking a try... just curious!
Comments
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It's easier. Just remove the backbone, flatten the chicken, apply a rub and cook direct. No need to drink half a beer (haha). No need to jam the can into the chicken and then balance it on the grill. No need to remove a steaming hot can from the chicken when done. It's also faster as you have more surface area exposed to more intense heat. Neither is super difficult and if you want to do several chickens at once, the beer can method is great. But I prefer spatchcock when I'm doing a single bird.
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I think sometimes the folks on the forum get doing a cook one way and more folks use the method, more talk and it evolves. This is evident with TRexing steaks, then hot tubing steaks then end sear (reverse TRex).
Beer Butt was very active, then spatchcock and somewhere in between even whole birds.
Other than having the bird vertical (or and excuse to drink some extra beer) I don't see any advantage to beer but. Spatchcock is easy but if it were east then a whole bird amounts to rinsing, seasoning and putting on the grid - pretty darn easy.
For me cooking time isn't much difference between any of the methods.
Any way you cook it chicken seems to come out great.
GG
GG -
Do the spatchcock direct / high in dome / 350to400 /do not have to turn over and good skin.
Also very easy for putting sauce on the last 15 min's...
Most I do w/o sauce using coffee rub.
You can do 4 on the large by stacking but you have to rotate the two racks.
Doing 2 is very easy and I think someone did 3 on one rack.Salado TX & 30A FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers. -
I got this one from Thirdeye. Spatchcock only through the whitemeat, then seperate the white from the dark via the rib cage. You can pull at different times if need be. Just another way to go about it.....
LBGE Katy (Houston) TX -
Stephen,
I like both equally well. Both give good results. IMHO, i like spatchcock sometimes because i'll cut it in half and have 1 with a certain rub and the other will be another rub or marinade.... I like beer cans at parties because of the presentation, and also for simplicity. Nothing easier than shoving a can of beer up a chicken's ass... I do each method about 50/50... -
I just did a spatchcock last night which is our way of choice. It's quick (about an hour at 375* direct on raised grill) and the every piece of meat is super tender and juicy. I find the flattened presentation makes carving exceptionally easy.
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I agree with all that was written above. Just chiming in that Spatchcock can be separated into thighs and breasts while it is still on the grid, I've had both be done first one time or another. Gives you some flexibility that a beer butt chicken does not have.
Doug -
Stephen,
Spatchcocking allows the bird to cook faster. I usually point the legs to the back of the egg cause it is hotter back there. Try a beer can with the chicken inverted on the stand and don't use the beer.
StephanSteve
Caledon, ON
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I go thru phases where I prefer one method for awhile, then I change. I am currently into the idea of spatchcock because
A- I think I have a better chance of success in my quest for crispy skin
and
B - I don't really like carving up a whole bird. the parts you get with spatchcock are pretty much the way I like to separate a bird.
the draw back to spatchcocking is that it sacrifices my wife's favorite part of the chicken - the two meaty "medallions" on the underside (non-breast side) of the bird. I made one sunday and while I did retain them, I had dried them out pretty good.
Big drawback to beercan chicken is when you're removing the bird from the grill and it's all falling apart and the beercan is still stuck in the butt. Then it falls out onto the grill and dumps all over the place before you get the chicken all the way off. And that beer is boiling hot in the event it doesn't spill all over your coals.
I used to do vertical chicken exclusively, then I switched to regular old roasted chicken (with several forays into spatchcock land that left me unimpressed). now I'm back into the Spatchcock idea.
I'm currently doing it on a raised grid direct (any direct cooks with chicken I do on a raised grid). you can also go indirect- LC posted a link in an earlier thread to an indirect spatchcock cook they did, step by step.
whatever floats your boat! just have fun! -
If the chicken is for a bachelor party or just an all male get together, the beer can method is the way to go:
:woohoo: :woohoo: :ermm: :woohoo:
Thanks to original poster of this foul fowl!aka marysvilleksegghead
Lrg 2008
mini 2009
XL 2021 (sold 8/24/23)
Henny Youngman:
I said to my wife, 'Where do you want to go for our anniversary?' She said, 'I want to go somewhere I've never been before.' I said, 'Try the kitchen.'
Bob Hope: When I wake up in the morning, I don’t feel anything until noon, and then it’s time for my nap -
Try this. Cut the bird per Naked Whiz's half-cocked chicken. Season with John Henry's Apple Jerk Rub, or some other assertive, but not overly salty, rub (lemon-pepper, for example). Set up your Egg for raised, indirect, at 325*, with a foil-lined pan under the chick to catch the grease. Put rub in under the skin before you put it on the Egg. You are going to do an hour plus 20, flip every 20, so 20+20+20+20. Sprinkle a little more rub the last two flips. The bird will be just starting to bubble under the skin. Let rest for 10 before serving. Perfect.
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