Simple Spatchcock Chicken

Yum
I had the day off on Tuesday and took the opportunity to use my trusty Kamado Joe to cook some chicken for the family for our evening meal

i started off with a plain chicken weighing around 1.5Kg (approx 3.3lb)

simple plain chicken

I decided i was going to spatchcock this chicken,

some people i've spoken to don't know what that is or are simply a little intimidated by it but it really is a simple way to cook a chicken.

The only tool needed are some good quality heavy duty scissors

My Meat Shears

I bought the pair pictured above from my local supermarket for around £4 about 2 years ago and they are great for the job of spatchcocking a chicken

The first step is to make 2 cuts from the front of the chicken to the back, one either side of the chickens spine to enable you to remove it from the bird.

Chicken with spine removed

Once the cuts are made and the spine is removed your chicken should look like the above picture, and that is the hardest part of spatchcocking a chicken

The next step is to turn the chicken over and flatten it 

Spatchcok Chicken!

You may need to pull the legs and wings slightly to each side so they are not directly below the chicken

Then simply press down on the bird untill it is flat and looks like the picture above.

And thats it the chicken is now spatchcocked, not as intimidating as it seems!

The chicken could be cooked as it is, or with some salt and pepper ect but i like to add a bit more flavour 

Dry Rub Added

I gave the chicken a heavy coating of dry rub and set it in the fridge while i set the kamado joe up for the cook

I decided i was going to cook this over orange wood smoke
Wood chunks have been a little hard to get a hold of at a reasonable price but these BBQr's delight pellets seem to be a good alternative, I put them in the cast iron pot and set them aside until the grill was up to temp

BBQr's Delight Orange wood pellets 

To get the grill ready i lit the charcoal and let it get to a temp of around 190-200c (around 375 to 400f) and set up for a direct cook with the grill in the raised position
As it reached the correct temp i added the cast iron pot with my wood pellets and waited for it to start to produce smoke

Pot of wood pellets in the hot coals

When the smoke started it was time to add the chicken!

I shook off the excess rub and placed it on the grate breast side up, cooking this method really doesn't require you to turn the bird over mid cook so this is how it stays for me until its done

Chicken on the grill

I set up my trusty maverick remote thermometer so i could keep an eye on the grill temp while preparing the rest of the meal

I wasn't too concerned about the internal temperature as i know this will take around an hour to 1 1/2 hours to cook and ill check it for internal temps using my thermapen around that time

Approximately 1 hour and 20mins later the chicken looked done and ready to eat

I checked the internal temp of the chicken using my thermapen instant read thermometer looking for a min temp of 71c (160f) in various places around the bird 

Chicken removed from grill and resting

While 71c is a little under the recommended done temp ive found it is the ideal temp to remove from the grill as the chicken continues to cook and the temp still rises a few degrees while its resting

With this chicken the internal temp was a little higher than id planned but due to the nature of the kamado joe (and ceramic cookers in general) it was still nice and moist!

After it had rested while i plated the rest i again used my meat shears to cut it into quarters 

Chicken Quartered

Now it was time to eat!

All served up with a little salad and some garlic bread for a nice easy meal

The finished product