I have no clue but wanted to say your menu sounds fantastic!

I prefer using chicken parts, and more often over charcoal than with a gas grill, but the issue is the same. The challenge you have is to cook it thoroughly through to the middle of the thickest parts (breast), without incinerating the outside or the smaller pieces (like the wings). My approach to doing this is to cook mostly using indirect heat, with limited time over direct heat to develop browning and that flavor component. Smoking wood chips add flavor. Also, with a butterflied chicken, that means to cook mostly with the rib bones side down and the meat side up. Maybe 75/25 both as to indirect/direct time and ribs down/up time. I tend to do indirect first and browning to finish, with all kinds of meat.

Using a meat thermometer helps too, as with all meat cooking.

What time is dinner, what kind of wine can I bring?

I prefer cooking over charcoal as well but our county is under a complete burning ban due to wildfires and outdoor cooking can only be done on a controlled flame.

I will definitely use a thermometer, especially for chicken.

It goes against my instinct to brown at the end because I have always thought of browning/searing is one way to keep the meat moist. I do roast beef at 550 degrees for about 20 minutes and then shut the oven off, (don’t open the door) and let it sit for 1.5 hours. Steaks I sear first and pretty much eat with very little cooking after. It works for me.

However, most recipes that I have read for flattened chicken is to brown at the end before letting it rest.

eta Any wine will do. Chocolates are good, too.

You crisp up the chicken skin while your cooking it. If you want to use the grill as an oven it will need to be tented with foil or a big pot/pan.

Take what is considered the top and lay it down on the grill and cook and crisp it. Flip it and finish it off at the right internal temperature. Do it the same way someone would fry chicken in a skillet. Break the joints so the thigh/leg quarters will lay flat on the grill without sticking up in the air. When you flip the chicken tent the thigh quarters with tin foil so they will cook hotter because the thighs need to cook to a higher temperature than the breast. I won't eat a 165 degree thigh quarters because it's not done to me. I also won't eat chicken breast over 165 degrees because it's overcooked and dried out.

Use you thermometer to determine when it's done and probe down the thickest part of the breast, and not how crispy it looks. I'll pull breast off at 160 degrees, cover and let stand for a while, Thigh quarters are pulled at 165 to 170, they aren't as picky, and who likes a red vein or red chicken meat on the bone. This is why you should tent the thigh quarters.

Kevin, can I just close the lid on the grill rather than using a pot/pan?

I don't know what kind of gas grill you have but most gas grills are vented along the entire back and will not retain even heat like an oven. I have a old big aluminum pot I use to cover things like potato wedges in oil. You're trying to cook two parts of the chicken to different temperatures and doing an entire chicken is hard without overcooking the breasts.

There is a major difference between using gas vs charcoal that takes a mindset adjustment. A charcoal grill ( I have a Weber kettle) gets cooler when the lid is on. Direct heat is quite hot. My gas grill (a 3 burner Weber) gets hotter with the lid closed and its direct heat is not as hot as charcoal. So, techniques are different.

Even over direct heat with the lid closed, meat on a gas grill is unavoidably also being baked/roasted.

I would not put a pot or pan over meat on a gas grill - that's going to result in partially steaming it. As if you wrapped it in aluminum foil and put it over the heat.

chloebud, thank you! Saying it works well for you goes a long way!

It is exactly what I was asking for.

Thanks to all for your comments. It’s given me a bunch of things to consider.

I’ll let you know how it turns out.

I believe this is how you want your chicken to look, right?

I know you're not doing Peri-Peri chicken but he cooks two spatchcocking chickens using first the skillet, then the oven. You can skip through to where he shows how to flatten and cook the chicken in the pans, then the oven to get an Idea of the heat levels, temperatures and times then adapt them to the grill and basically do it your way and will work fine.

I cook this guys chicken recipes and they're great btw.

Thank you, Kevin!

Using four skillets for one meal is a definite no for me plus I can’t kick that high like he can. 😁

But yes, I will be thrilled if my chicken looks as good as his does. I really just want to sit outside, near my grill and chat with my visitors while the chicken cooks.

I'm going to keep a constant eye on them and wing (haha) it.

Kevin, I didn’t marinade my chickens as long as the fellow did in the video but I’ve just checked on them and they smell really good. I’ve got a couple more hours before they go on the grill.

The deep color on the skin in the video is likely the tomato in the marinade caramelizing. To me, that' a tad overcooked.

If you want that effect, add some sugar to your marinade.

Don't suppose you've got a sous vide setup? It's great for pre-cooking BBQ food. No good for you if you don't, but it might be a thought for the future if you BBQ a lot?

Success!

The chicken was moist and flavourful and it all went.

I browned them up on both sides on the two lit burners hot side of the grill to start and then moved them over to the two unlit burners side of the grill and closed the lid of the BBQ.

I moved them around a few times so that no one side was closest to the lit burners. My initial thought worked. I cooked the outside first and then let the inside slow cook. I kept a close watch with the thermometer.

I wanted to take a picture of the finished product but got distracted but I did take one about halfway through.

Thank you for all your suggestions.

I did have foil ready in case I needed to do some covering but I was able to get by without using any.

Islay Corbel, I do BBQ quite a bit. Year round, even in below freezing temperatures and having to brush the snow away. I usualy only do beef steak and that is quick and easy.

My daughter had a sous vide several years ago but only used it a few times so I never bothered looking into one.

Thanks again to everyone.

eta And I BBQ pork ribs quite a bit, too.

All of the whole chickens that are cooked in Jamaica are done spatchcocked. Of course, no one uses gas, but the actual cooking procedure is the same. Chickens are set away from the direct heat but the cookers are closed like any oven and they do get very hot. I also cook a spatchcocked chicken in the same manner. It takes around 2-1/2 hours using hardwood briquettes. The skin will crisp all on it's own, however, the bird is started skin side down for the first 20 to 30 minutes.

I'm so glad the chicken turned out well. I'd been buying chicken spatched cocked and marinated ready-to-cook at Trader Joe's and decided that was silly so ordered the heavier chicken shears to let me do my own. I haven't used them yet ;)

We BBQ all year around too. The BBQ lives in DH's side of the garage where he entertains friends these last years. If its storming and pouring down rain he still will just open the car door his side (there are two doors for cars) and back his truck up closer to the garage for a wind break. Tail gate makes a good prep table - his truck is always spotlessly clean.

I'll have to look for the photos of his friends cooking crab in the driveway in the snow. Friend showed up with live crab one Dec just as it began to snow. They are too precious live to try to hold them so they had their crab cook over the gas cooker just outside the garage anyway. Drained the garden hoses they'd gotten out for cleaning up when they were done and put them back away.

But Yay! for your chicken.

don't overthink it ... what you learn the first time will allow you to tweak it next time.

Looks great, roxol! I just might do one myself this weekend.

It’s easy enough to remove the backbone, but I remember once asking a butcher to just do it for me. Took him three tries with three chickensto get it right.🙄 I was tempted to go show him myself!

Sherry, my late MIL loved the backbone, neck and feet!

When she had finished butchering chickens in the fall, she would have a bucket full of feet. The kids used to grab one each and chase each other around opening and closing the claws by pulling on the tendon. Lots of screaming and goofing around.

cloebud, I used kitchen scissors to remove the backbone.

All in all, it was fairly easy to do but I think I prefer doing it on a spit if I am BBQing.

eta LOL maybe I’ll be spatchcocking again. My husband just mentioned how good the chicken was last night.🙂

“cloebud, I used kitchen scissors to remove the backbone.”

That’s what I’ve always used, too. LOL, maybe that butcher I mentioned would have done better with scissors instead of whatever knife he was using.

Sherry, I don’t really have a recipe. I just mixed up a bunch of olive oil, lemon juice, and herbs I had on hand. After putting the chickens to marinate, I then looked up grilling methods and found a variety of instructions.

I’m sure I could use the Smoker Box on my gas grill but I also have a charcoal grill and a smoker. The only reason I was using a gas grill this time was because of the temporary burning ban in our county. I believe it is going to be lifted soon if it hasn’t all ready.

Here’s what I do.

Spatchcock the chicken, break or cut the joints and breastbone so it will lay flat. Salt or dry rub or brine, as you prefer. Lay on grill, medium heat, skin side down until skin is browned, the meat will be about half cooked. You may want to put bricks etc on the legs to hold them down in contact with the grate. Turn to meat side down, lower heat, grill until done.

John Liu, that is basically what I did and they turned out beautifully! I was mainly concerned about the browning part as many recipe instructions said to do the browning at the end which went against how I was taught to cook meat. I did most of the browning first.

Kevin, I looked at the back of my grill and I don’t think it is vented across the back.

Please explain to this non-cook what 'Spatchcocked' means -- and the origin.

Is it just that the backbone is removed? Does it refer to the marinade?

Chisue, it is butterflying a whole chicken. You cut the backbone out and flatten the bird. You can marinade it with whatever you want.

“This wacky term comes from Ireland, and may be an abbreviation of "Dispatch the cock," a phrase which the Irish apparently threw around in the 18th century when they needed to whip up a quick and simple chicken dinner.“

roxsol, think about the hinged hood and the lowest part of it when it's open as in the photo. When the hood is rotated closed, that "back " side does not become flush with the back of the bottom part of the equipment, there's a gap. That's the "vent". At least that's how my Weber gas grill is.

If there were no air vent the flame would suffocate and go out, from lack of oxygen.

My husband thinks I have gone mad taking pictures of the BBQ!

Of course the lid isn’t sealed tight when closed but the space is very tiny and I feel there is very little heat loss as Kevin mentioned. No need to cover the chicken with anything.

It certainly works for me.

“Is it just that the backbone is removed? Does it refer to the marinade?”

chisue, yes, it means the backbone’s removed so the poultry can be flattened for grilling/cooking. Nothing to do with a marinade. As for the origin, I had to look it up.

”This wacky term comes from Ireland, and may be an abbreviation of "Dispatch the cock," a phrase which the Irish apparently threw around in the 18th century when they needed to whip up a quick and simple chicken dinner. Spatchcock is also said to be a variation of the word spitchcock, which means to split an eel lengthwise and fry it.”

There is heat loss but not much. The Weber has a thermometer on top and while I realize the very top of the inside, when the lid is closed, is the hottest point and is decidedly not where the cooking food is located, I think it goes up to something like 600F.

Which was why I said earlier that food in a gas grill when closed is roasting/baking as much as being grilled from below. With mine, the hood needs to be closed to produce enough heat to cook because the gas elements below do not get as hot as a charcoal fire does. WIth my charcoal Weber, with the lid off and just a moderate charcoal load, the direct heat from below is mucho hot. So much so, I need to use a cooking glove or long handled tools to move or remover the food. Not so with the gas grill.

@chisue Spatchcocked is split down the middle at the spine and flattened, so the chicken is kind of spread eagled/butterflied. I don't bother removing the spine; maybe some people do. I found this on the origin of the word https://www.etymonline.com/word/spatchcock

Your right Roxsol, the back of your grill isn't like the last two or three I've had. Mine has vents all the way down the back including the gap on the back top. There were times I covered up the back vents with tin foil to keep the heat in but I haven't done that in a while.

Glad your chicken turned out good and was a hit.

Thanks, Olychick. So...It's originally a freshly *dispatched cock* and is derived from 18th C Irish terminology. "Here, let me 'spatch that bird and we'll flatten it on the barbie."

If that's correct, only a freshly killed bird is really spatchcocked. Your 'butterflied' chicken is just a butterflied chicken, but where's the gourmet adventure in that?

Next step is deboning!