Butterflied Chicken

Photo: flickr user David Reber's Hammer Photography

Ingredients

2 Chicken, Whole, broiler/fryer

3 tablespoons Melted Butter

teaspoon Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

cup Dijon Mustard

3 tablespoons Scallion, minced

teaspoon Tarragon

5 dshs Hot Pepper Sauce

cup Fresh Bread Crumbs

Preparation

Butterflied chicken. To butterfly a chicken. Choose a 3-1/2 lb. broiler/fryer chicken. With a heavy knife or sturdy shears, cut down close to the backbone from neck to tail on each side to remove it. Spread the chicken skin-side up on your work surface and bang the breast with your fist to break the collar bones and some of the ribs; this flattens the chicken. Fold the wings akimbo behind the shoulders, and then make a slit in the skin at either side of the breast tip. Push the knee of the drumstick firmly up under the armpit to loosen the joint, then insert the tip of the drumstick through the skin slit. Repeat on the other side.

Broiling: brush butterflied chicken all over with a combination of butter and olive oil. Arrange the chicken skin-side down (flesh-side up!) in a broiling pan (not on a rack) and set them so the surface of meat is about 5" from the hot broiler element. After 5 minutes, brush the flesh, which should just be starting to brown, with butter and oil. Baste again in 5 minutes - use juices in the pan as butter mixture is used up. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper and turn the chicken skin-side up. Broil and baste 10 minutes more.

NOTE: For a plain broil with no mustard and crumbs, give 15 rather than 10 minutes to a side, until juices run clear yellow from pricked drumsticks.

Mustard and herb coating. Drain fat and juices out of pan into a small bowl; skim off and discard all but about 4 tablespoons of fat from top of juices.

Blend mustard in another bowl with scallions or shallots, tarragon and hot pepper sauce.

Beat up reserved fat and juices and blend half of them into the mustard.

Spread the mustard over the chicken, then pat on a coating of fresh white breadcrumbs. (Cut crusts off homemade-type fresh nonsweet bread; crumb in a blender or a processor.) Baste crumbs with remaining fat and juices.

Final cooking. Roast in the upper third of a 400-degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes (20 minutes if cooking is delayed). Crumbs should brown lightly.

Chicken is done when drumsticks are tender when pressed.

Carve into serving pieces at the table, or arrange them on a hot platter in the kitchen.

BARBECUE

NOTE:The crumb coating makes for difficult barbecuing, since the crumbs tend to burn and fall off into the fire. However, you can use just the mustard and herb mixture, basted on during the last few minutes of cooking (beat a few tablespoons of oil into the mustard to take place of chicken fat and juices).