"Opinicus" wrote in
:

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/butterflychicken.html

This is one of those "Now why didn't I think of that?" things. I love
roast chicken but the Julia Child method of hovering over the bird
like some guardian angel never appealed to me.

Butterflying turns the bird into a more or less two-dimensional mass
whose cooking is easy to manage. This method didn't exist 50-30 years
ago so far as I can tell.

Who invented it and when in the last two decades?


May I recommend the articles referenced in the following page:

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/spatchdef.htm

As far as I can see, the earliest reference is from 1785.

Best,
Mark P. Nelson.

--
While I'll admit that anyone can make a mistake once, to go on making
the same lethal errors century after century seems to me nothing short
of deliberate.--V.