BROILED BUTTERFLIED CHICKEN

Broiled Butterflied Chicken image

Rather than broiling a chicken in pieces, which is easy to do but not wildly exciting, and rather than roasting it whole, which takes an hour or more, butterfly your chicken. It cooks in half the time and makes a great presentation.

Yield serves 4

Number Of Ingredients 7

Ingredients

A 2 1/2-to-3-pound broiler-fryer chicken, butterflied
2 Tbs melted butter blended with 2 tsp vegetable oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme or an herb mixture
1 Tbs minced shallot or scallion
1/2 cup chicken broth and/or dry white wine or vermouth
1 to 2 Tbs butter, for enrichment

Steps:

Preheat the broiler to high. Brush the chicken all over with butter and oil and arrange it skin side down in a shallow pan. Set it under the broiler so the chicken surface is about 6 inches from the heat source. Let broil for about 5 minutes, then baste rapidly with the butter and oil, and continue for another 5 minutes. The surface should be browning nicely; if not, adjust the heat or the distance of chicken from broiler. Baste again, this time with the juices accumulated in the pan, and broil another 5 minutes. Then season with salt and pepper, turn the chicken skin side up, and season the surface. Continue broiling and basting with the pan juices every 5 minutes for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the chicken is done (see page 44).
Remove the chicken to a carving board and let it rest for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, make the deglazing sauce by first spooning cooking fat off the juices in the pan. Then stir the shallot into the pan and simmer for a minute or so on top of the stove, until the juices are syrupy. Swirl in the enrichment butter, pour over the chicken, and serve.
BROIL/ROASTED BUTTERFLIED ROASTING CHICKEN-AND TURKEY. Broil/roasting a big 6-to-7-pound butterflied roaster or capon or a 12-pound turkey takes, again, half the time you'd need if you roasted it whole. Use exactly the same system as for the preceding broiled chicken except that, when you have browned the underside, and given the skin side the beginning of a brown, you then switch from broiling to roasting. Just finish the cooking in the oven-I like to roast mine at 350°F. A 6-to-7-pound bird takes 1 to 1 1/4 hours; a 12-pound turkey, about 2 hours. See the broil/roast times box for more details.
DEVILED GAME HENS OR POUSSINS. For 2 birds, serving 4 people. Butterfly the birds and broil as in the master recipe, but give them only 10 minutes per side. Meanwhile, whisk together, to make a mayonnaise-like sauce, 1/3 cup Dijon mustard, a large minced shallot, pinches of dried tarragon or rosemary, drops of Tabasco sauce, and 3 tablespoons of the pan juices. Paint this over the skin sides of the birds, then pat on a layer of fresh white bread crumbs. Baste with the remaining juices. Finish cooking under the broiler.
With heavy shears or a cleaver, cut down close to the backbone on each side, and remove the bone. Spread the chicken open, skin side up, and pound on the breast with your fist to flatten the chicken. Cut off and discard the little nubbins at the wing elbows, and fold the wings akimbo. To hold the legs in place, make 1/2-inch slits in the skin on each side of the lower breast and tuck the drumstick ends through the slits.
Always allow an additional 20 to 30 minutes, just to be safe.
Butterflied Roasting Chickens
4 to 5 pounds / 45 minutes to 1 hour
5 to 6 pounds / 1 to 1 1/4 hours
Butterflied Turkeys
8 to 12 pounds / 1 1/2 to 2 hours
12 to 16 pounds / 2 to 2 1/2 hours
16 to 20 pounds / 2 1/2 to 3 hours
Whenever bread crumbs are called for, always make your own out of fresh homemade-type bread. Cut off the crusts, slice the bread into 1-inch chunks, and pulse not more than 2 cups at a time in a food processor, or 1 cup at a time in an electric blender. It's useful to make a lot while you are at it and freeze what you don't need.