Preparing your Cuts of Meat

Spatchcock a baby chicken

Speed up the cooking time and keep it moist

In my opinion, this is one of the great ways of cooking chicken. It’s cooked whole on the bone, which keeps it moist and gives the bird extra flavour. It also speeds up cooking time – always an advantage when you’re under pressure to get dinner on the table. You can buy spatchcock chickens fairly easily in the supermarkets, but old habits die hard so I do it myself. Here’s how.

Lay a cloth under a chopping board to stop the board slipping.
Put the bird breast-side down on the board with the cavity towards you.
Using your knife or kitchen shear, cut along both sides of the backbone to remove it
Turn the chicken over and press it flat.
Put two skewers through the thigh and out the other side, diagonally opposite, to hold it in position while it’s being poached or grilled.
And there’s your spatchcock chicken.