Chicken and a Rock

Chicken. Now this is an ingredient that I am familiar with. I have been making whole chickens for a while now in the oven and was very excited to make this one on the grill. The first thing was to make a rub to put on the chicken. This rub included salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and paprika. Very yummy. I was heavy handed on the cayenne pepper because Symon loves spice and I wouldn't be eating the skin anyways. (Got to love the diet)

Next I took a whole chicken and washed and dried it. I did make sure to clean out the "parts" inside the bird. Not good eats. :) The next part is to "butterfly" it. This means to basically cut out/off the back bone in order for the chicken to lay flat. Using some kitchen scissors I simply cut it out. This is easier said than done. For the first time I seemed to do ok but one of the legs was a little more "cut" then the other. :0
Here you can see the back bone out.
The I oiled and seasoned both sides of the bird. See how pretty. :) and Flat. Now off to the grill.
Grill on Medium heat and started with skin side down. In this picture you can see that the left leg is a little different than the right because of my not so good butchering. Hoping it will still work out.
Of course the first goal is to get that crispy skin on the chicken so to create a more flat surface, it was recommended to use a sheet pan and then put 2 bricks on the chicken. Obviously I had no bricks so two big rocks were substituted.
Flip after 15 minutes. Look at that crispy skin. YUMMY!!!!!
I then let it cook on the second side for another 15 minutes. After that I took the internal temperature. It was too cold so I ended up having to cook it for another 15 minutes. After another 15 minutes we reached 160. Off the grill to sit for 10 minutes so the juices can redistribute. This is soooo important. Even if your kids are screaming to eat, and trust me, mine were. You must let it sit.

We served it with a baked potato. As you can see, we ate the legs/thigh of the first night. I ended up taking the chicken breast and making chicken noodle soup the next day which was also very awesome!!!!

We definitely loved this recipe and would do it again. It is always cheaper to use a whole chicken than to buy the parts separate and I got two meals out of one 4 dollar chicken. :) Try it and let me know the spices you use. I would love some new suggestions to try. Next up.... salad on the grill. (Perfect for my diet right?)