I try when I can

As much as possible, I try to purchase protein items that are on sale each week at our local food stores. Last week, whole chickens were on sale at Whole Foods, but when I went on Monday, they were wiped out. However, I was able to purchase an organic whole chicken at Wegmans ($2.99/lb.). With my chicken in hand, I could prepare a barbecue chicken recipe I found on the PBS website. The recipe was for grilled butterflied Cornish hen or chicken[1]. Butterflied or spatchcock, all it means is that you’ve removed the backbone of the chicken which makes cooking faster.

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The dry rub for the chicken called for brown sugar, sea salt, smoked paprika, paprika, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and black pepper. I didn’t have smoke paprika on hand so I did a quick internet search to find an adequate substitute and found I could substitute a combination of chili powder and cumin. I made my mixture with 3/4 teaspoon of chili powder and a 1/4 teaspoon of cumin. You can refer to www.pepperscale.com for substitution advice. 

After spatchcocking my chicken I decided that I would loosen the skin and place my rub underneath the skin as well as on the top. I did this about an hour or so before grilling so the flavors would permeate the meat. I allowed about 1-1/2 hours for cooking. I preheated the grill, but once I placed the chicken on, I lowered the outside burners and turned off the middle one so  the chicken got somewhat indirect heat. The chicken cooked in about an hour. At one point I turned the bird over to crisp the skin, however, the meat was so juicy and tender that one of the legs came away from the carcass.

The chicken came out wonderful, moist, tasty and full of flavor. The brown sugar is in the rub made the skin crisp up nice. I paired the chicken will a baked sweet potato and a salad to round out the meal. My husband enjoyed the chicken and spatchcocking real made the cooking time quicker. If you don’t have one, I suggest purchasing poultry shears. I purchased my Oxo Poultry Shears at Williams-Sonoma when they were running a special.
With the weather warming up grilled chicken in any form makes for an easy weeknight meal.

[1] Kitchen Vignettes for PBS Food, Aube Giroux, July 29, 2015