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Article: DON'T BE CHICKEN FOR A NOVEL PRESENTATION, FLATTEN THE BIRD BEFORE YOU ROAST.
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- May 7, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2000 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Cutting a chicken in half for broiling is almost as routine as
chopping an onion. But keep the halves together in that same
flattened position, and it looks as if you've done something
complicated to the little bird.
Think of it as butterflying the chicken. The real term is to
"spatchcock." Alan Davidson explains in The Oxford Companion to Food:
"The theory is that the word is an abbreviation of `dispatch the
cock,' a phrase used to indicate a summary way of grilling a bird
after splitting it open down the back and spreading the two halves
out flat."
Davidson speculates that spatchcocked birds originated in Ireland.
He has noticed them in Irish cookbooks that date to the 18th century.
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