How to Grill a Spatchcocked Chicken

METHOD: Direct grilling

ADVANCE PREPARATION: 2 to 12 hours for marinating the chickens

While the indirect grill and rotisserie methods are great for roasting a whole chicken, nothing can beat the flame-charred smokiness of chicken pieces grilled directly over a fire. There is a way to do this and I learned it in one of the world’s most unlikely barbecue destinations: Paris. The technique is spatchcocking and it looks as theatrical as it sounds. You cut out the back-bone and open the bird flat, like a book. This makes the whole chicken thin enough to grill directly over the fire.