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?

--
Bob
http://www.kanyak.com

"Opinicus" > wrote in message
...
> 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?
>

I certainly recall seeing "grilled" spread-eagled chickens in Mexican Border
Town and Interior "parilla" joints 50 years ago, and similar cooking was
used in at least one local Mexican chicken place which used a sort of gang
rotisserie.

I've got to think the oritin is much earlier (at least for chicken cooked
over open fire or coals).

TMO

On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 21:54:10 +0300, "Opinicus" >
wrote:

>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?


Spatchcock - a chicken butterflied by removing the back bone - is an old
term. It can be dated back to the 18th century.

Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, by Francis Grose (1731-1791)
First published in 1785, reprinted in 1811. This is from the 1811
edition (courtesy of Project Gutenberg)

SPATCH COCK. [Abbreviation of DISPATCH COCK.] A hen just
killed from the roost, or yard, and immediately skinned,
split, and broiled: an Irish dish upon any sudden occasion.

"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.

Opinicus wrote:

> 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?
>
Spatchcocked birds have been around a long time. 1700's at least, maybe
older.

--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

A hen is not a cock.



(must be a city man...)



Robert Klute wrote:

>
> Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, by Francis Grose (1731-1791)
> First published in 1785, reprinted in 1811. This is from the 1811
> edition (courtesy of Project Gutenberg)
>
> SPATCH COCK. [Abbreviation of DISPATCH COCK.] A hen just
> killed from the roost, or yard, and immediately skinned,
> split, and broiled: an Irish dish upon any sudden occasion.


--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Thu, 10 Aug 2006 18:40:23 -0400, ishmale > wrote:

> A hen is not a cock.
>
>
>
>(must be a city man...)
Who me or Francis Grose?
>
>
>
>Robert Klute wrote:
>
>>
>> Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, by Francis Grose (1731-1791)
>> First published in 1785, reprinted in 1811. This is from the 1811
>> edition (courtesy of Project Gutenberg)
>>
>> SPATCH COCK. [Abbreviation of DISPATCH COCK.] A hen just
>> killed from the roost, or yard, and immediately skinned,
>> split, and broiled: an Irish dish upon any sudden occasion.

On Thu, 10 Aug 2006 17:33:26 -0700, Robert Klute >
wrote:

>On Thu, 10 Aug 2006 18:40:23 -0400, ishmale > wrote:
>
>> A hen is not a cock.
>>
>>
>>
>>(must be a city man...)
>Who me or Francis Grose?
>>
>>
>>
>>Robert Klute wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, by Francis Grose (1731-1791)
>>> First published in 1785, reprinted in 1811. This is from the 1811
>>> edition (courtesy of Project Gutenberg)
>>>
>>> SPATCH COCK. [Abbreviation of DISPATCH COCK.] A hen just
>>> killed from the roost, or yard, and immediately skinned,
>>> split, and broiled: an Irish dish upon any sudden occasion.

The Oxford English Dictionary does not agree with the assertion that a
hen is not a cock: "The word hens is also used in some connexions as =
'domestic fowls' without regard to sex."

"Richard Wright" > wrote in message
...
> On Thu, 10 Aug 2006 17:33:26 -0700, Robert Klute >
> wrote:
>
>>On Thu, 10 Aug 2006 18:40:23 -0400, ishmale > wrote:
>>
>>> A hen is not a cock.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>(must be a city man...)
>>Who me or Francis Grose?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Robert Klute wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, by Francis Grose (1731-1791)
>>>> First published in 1785, reprinted in 1811. This is from the 1811
>>>> edition (courtesy of Project Gutenberg)
>>>>
>>>> SPATCH COCK. [Abbreviation of DISPATCH COCK.] A hen just
>>>> killed from the roost, or yard, and immediately skinned,
>>>> split, and broiled: an Irish dish upon any sudden occasion.
>
> The Oxford English Dictionary does not agree with the assertion that a
> hen is not a cock: "The word hens is also used in some connexions as =
> 'domestic fowls' without regard to sex."

I've no problem with the OED, but practice (until modern poultry raising
became widespread) was to eat young cocks (roosters) and save hens for
laying eggs, since 1 rooster insured fertilization of many hens, the same
approach as was widely practiced with beef cattle.

Certainly, in the 18th/19th centuries, the chickensd being roasted were
"cocks", while hens past the laying stage were for the stew/stock pots.

In an interesting sidelight, "cock" has generally referred to the male sex
organ, while in the 50s, in parts of the US South, "cock" for some unknown,
inexplicable cause also was used to describe the female genitalia...

TMO

It is described in a recipe for grilled chicken in the very explicit Le
Livre de Cuisine de Madame E. Sant-Ange, recently published in English
translation by Paul Aratow. This is Julia's model cookbook, and one of her
favorites, so the transmission could be direct. Sant-Ange published in the
late 1920s, but was quite old so the dish could be a lot older. She
describes it as a variant for a very young, plump chicken, of a recipe for
squab in the shape of a toad (you fold the wings and drumsticks in to make
it flatter).

The other trail leads via chicken-under-a-brick, which is a typical dish of
Georgia, the Caucasian Georgia. That takes us back to those grill-everything
nomads of central Asia...


--
-Mark H. Zanger
author, The American History Cookbook, The American Ethnic Cookbook for
Students
www.ethnicook.com
www.historycook.com


"Opinicus" > wrote in message
...
> 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?
>
> --
> Bob
> http://www.kanyak.com
>

In article >,
Richard Wright > wrote:
= On Thu, 10 Aug 2006 17:33:26 -0700, Robert Klute >
= wrote:
=
= >On Thu, 10 Aug 2006 18:40:23 -0400, ishmale > wrote:
= >
= >> A hen is not a cock.
[...]
= The Oxford English Dictionary does not agree with the assertion that a
= hen is not a cock: "The word hens is also used in some connexions as =
= 'domestic fowls' without regard to sex."

Might this be a variation on this theme:

A dog is either the male or the generic; the female is,
specifically, a bitch.

A horse is either the male or the generic; the female is,
specifically, a mare.


--
Charlie Sorsby

Edgewood, NM 87015
USA