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Broiled Chicken
Singe, wipe and with a sharp pointed knife (a boning knife) split the broiler down the back the entire length, beginning at back of neck. Lay open and remove entrails, etc., remove ribs and breastbone, then cut the tendons at joints. Rub bird over with soft butter, sprinkle with salt and place on a well-greased broiler or in a wellgreased wire broiler. Cook twenty-five minutes under a gas flame or over glowing coals, turning often. Baste bird over several times with melted butter if it appears dry. When evenly browned, remove to well-greased dripping pan, spread again with soft butter, cover closely, and bake until tender at the joints. Serve with
This is a spatchcocked chicken, broiled and then finished covered in the oven — a method that still produces better results than broiling alone. A few of the terms and assumptions need translating.
- What a broiler isIn 1913 a broiler was a young chicken of roughly 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 lb, sold whole and often still with head and feet. The nearest modern equivalent is a small whole chicken under 3 lb; a butcher will spatchcock it for you, which removes the need for the boning-knife work described here.
- SingeingSingeing burned off the hair-fine pinfeathers left after plucking. Supermarket birds are already clean, though a quick pass over a gas flame or a pair of tweezers deals with any stragglers.
- Split down the back, not the breastCutting along the backbone and pressing the bird flat is the whole point: it gives an even thickness so the thighs and breast finish together. Removing the ribs and breastbone, as directed, flattens it further and speeds cooking.
- Cut the tendonsNicking the tendons at the leg and wing joints stops the bird curling up off the grid as it cooks. Skip it and the flattened chicken pulls into a dome and browns unevenly.
- The broiling stageTwenty-five minutes under a gas flame or over coals is for colour and rendered fat, not for cooking through. Keep the bird 4-6 inches from the heat and turn it every few minutes; the butter and dripping fat will flare if it sits closer.
- The oven finishThe original assumes a range oven with no dial. A covered pan at 350F for 20-30 minutes will bring a small bird to done. "Tender at the joints" is the period test; the reliable one is 165F in the thickest part of the thigh.
- Yield and the missing lineA single broiler of this size serves two, three at a stretch. The text breaks off mid-sentence at "Serve with", and the accompaniment is lost.
52 Sunday Dinners was Elizabeth O. Hiller's 1913 attempt to solve the weekly problem of what to put on the table on the one day the whole household ate together, with a full menu for every Sunday of the year. The two-stage method here, fierce direct heat followed by a covered finish, is older than the gas range and was worked out on coal and wood fires, where a flattened bird could be seared over the embers and then set aside in a covered pan to come tender. The technique survives under the name spatchcock, a word generally traced to eighteenth-century Ireland and usually explained as a contraction of "dispatch cock" — a bird killed and split for immediate cooking.