Butterflying a Chicken for Smoking

[kvhookem]

Good morning all. I'm thinking about smoking a whole bird today. I've seen suggestions on butterflying it to smoke. I've smoked whole chickens before, but never did the butterfly method. Some suggestions on that and seasoning would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

[daveomak]

Cut the back down each side of the neck, all the way to the tail.....   Pull the back outward and open it up...  lay the cut side down, breast up....    press on the breast to flatten it...  some bones/cartilage  will break leaving it laying flat....   Season as you would other chicken you like...   Cooking time is shortened using the spatched chicken... 

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

Good morning all. I'm thinking about smoking a whole bird today. I've seen suggestions on butterflying it to smoke. I've smoked whole chickens before, but never did the butterfly method. Some suggestions on that and seasoning would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I believe the method your referring to is a spatchcock chicken ! If so, all ya need to do is remove the backbone with some kitchen shears or a good knife, flip the bird over & flatten it out... The backbone makes for some good chicken stock too ! If ya type in spatchcock chicken in the search bar at the top right corner of the page, you'll see several examples ! For seasoning, I'd just keep it simple with some SPOG ! Hope this helps, good luck with your smoke & post some pics up if ya can... we like pics !

 

[seenred]

Howdy KV...Dave and Justin have you covered on removing the backbone.  IMO its the easiest way to get an evenly cooked bird.  

As far a seasoning, here's what I like to do:  both under and on top of the skin, garlic butter, seasoning salt, lemon pepper, and sage.  Gotta go easy on the salt or you can get it too salty. 

Good luck!  Looking forward to seeing how it turns out... 

Red

 

[joe black]

Ditto, Dave and Justin have given you the way to go with the prep. I find that a little snip at the breast bone will make flattening easier. This is the way that I do all of my birds now.

Red has you going right on the seasoning.

Good luck and let us see some pics of your finished product, Joe

 

[kvhookem]

Thanks for the info. It was pretty simple. Here's a pic of them. I'll post some more pics when they are done. I'm about to season and inject them.

image.jpeg

• kvhookem
• Jun 25, 2016

 

[kvhookem]

Question...do or don't spritz? If so, apple juice & water?

 

[daveomak]

I recently injected some hind quarters and they came out awesome.......

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/246037/injecting-chicken-hind-quarters

 

[seenred]

Question...do or don't spritz? If so, apple juice & water?

I'd say don't spritz. I like nice crispy skin, and my opinion is the extra moisture from the apple juice would make crispy skin harder to get. If you must, I suggest using a little melted butter to baste the skin...still adds a little moisture, and it would actually help make crisper skin.

Just MHO...let us know how it ends up. Thumbs Up

Red

 

[kvhookem]

I didn't spritz. Here's the final product. I already quartered one by mistake before the pic.

image.jpeg

• kvhookem
• Jun 25, 2016

 

[SmokinAl]

Nice job on the chicken!

It looks delicious!

Al

 

[bdskelly]

Looks very juicy! How did it taste?  What did you decide to use for the rub? B

 

[daveomak]

Looks good....  I'd eat it..... 

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