I have a lovely neighbor who has a couple of kids herself, and the other weekend she invited me to a Farmer’s Market over in Irvington (it’s every Wednesday, for those of you who live in the area). The best part: since Stone Barns (a non-profit farm and education center that’s also home of the – apparently ridiculously delicious and also ridiculously expensive – Blue Hill at Stone Barns restaurant) is right near here, they have a stand set up at the market selling farm-fresh meat and eggs.
I was going to pick up some thighs, but my neighbor was all, “Oh, if they have the spatchcock, you have to get it.”
Which, you know, gave me pause.
…Spatchcock?
Excuse me?
Anyway, I’ve never heard of this before, but it’s basically just a spread-eagled, flattened-out chicken that’s had the sternum and backbone removed.
Why do this odd-looking thing? When a chicken is cooked this way, more heat is sent to the legs (which require more cooking) and less is sent to the breast (which requires less), so the end result is super-moist meat. It’s also quite a bit faster than roasting an ordinary old bird.
All I did was rub the skin with olive oil, shake over a little season salt and garlic powder, and pop it in the oven at 325 for about an hour (I used a roasting pan because I wanted to make gravy, but chicken prepared this way can also be cooked on a cookie sheet).
It was so. good.
Good good good.
