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Broiled, Butterflied Chicken

My take on Alton Brown's method for butterflying and broiling a whole chicken.

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Combine the minced garlic, lemon zest, ½ tsp of kosher salt, and black pepper in a small bowl. Add enough oil to make a paste. Set aside.
  • Place the chicken on a board with the breast side down.
  • Find the bone that runs down the middle. Cut it away from the meat on one side and then cut it on the other side to remove the bone.
  • Find the bone that connects the two sides of the breast. Using a pairing knife, remove it. It's ok if you can't remove it, the chicken will still be flatten, just not as flat as possible.
  • Turn the chicken over and flatten it down with your hands. Gently pull up the skin to place the seasoning mixture underneath the skin. Then wash those hands!
  • Grab enough onions, celery, and/or carrots to place underneath the chicken. Quarter the onions and break the celery and carrots in half. Place on a roasting pan. Then put the chicken (breast side down) on top of the vegetables
  • Turn the broiler on or set your oven to 500-550 degrees or as high as it will go. Place the pan into the oven. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle ½ tsp of salt on the skin (both sides).
  • Broil for 10 minutes then flip over, so the breast side is on top.
  • Broil for 20-25 minutes or until the chicken's internal temperature is 160 when stuck into a thigh. Check the chicken after 15 minutes, if it's getting too brown you can carefully cover it with foil and put it back in until the internal temperature is reached.
  • Allow the chicken to rest for 10 minutes before carving.
  • Once you remove the chicken from the pan, you can carefully drain any of the liquid. This can be use to dip the chicken in - it's delicious.

Notes

To use to seasoning option that Alton offers in his new recipe with this recipe here is what you need:
  • Combine 4 tablespoons of melted butter with 2 teaspoons Aleppo pepper and 1 ½ teaspoon za'atar.
  • Brush half of it onto one side of the chicken before you put it in the oven and when you flip the chicken brush on the other side.