spatchcock-deboned-chicken

🥘 Ingredients

• whole chicken 1

1. 1

   Place whole chicken breast-side up on a cutting board . Pull back the skin at the neck to expose the wishbone. Run a boning knife down each side of the wishbone, then hook it out with your fingers and discard.
2. 2

   Pull out any loose fat pads from the neck and tail cavities.
3. 3

   Flip the bird breast-side down. With kitchen shears , cut through the rib-to-spine joints on each side of the backbone — your cuts pass through the thigh sockets and wing sockets. Lift out the spine and reserve for stock.
4. 4

   Flip breast-side up and press hard on the breastbone with the heel of your hand to crack the keel and flatten the bird.
5. 5

   Flip breast-side down again. Slide the boning knife flat along the underside of the rib cage on each side and shave the rib bones free of the meat — they come off in a curved sheet. Repeat on both sides.
6. 6

   Trace the tip of the knife along both sides of the keel/breastbone, working from the wide end toward the tip. Lift the bone away from the breast meat in one piece, cutting any remaining cartilage. Reserve bones for stock.
7. 7

   Expose the leg bones: run the knife tip along each side of the drumstick and thigh bones so the meat lies flat and heat can reach the bone — do not remove the bones, they hold the leg's shape during cooking.
8. 8

   Score lightly across the underside of each breast (2-3 shallow cuts, parallel to the grain) so the thick meat braises evenly.
9. 9

   Flip breast-side up. Tuck the wing tips behind the wing joints. Score the skin at 1cm intervals across the breasts and thighs — cut through skin and fat only, not into the meat. The bird is ready to marinate.