Dispatch the Cock (Spatckcock Cornish Game Hens)

This last weekend I spatchcocked my first game hen! This was a very fun and surprisingly simple way of grilling a whole bird without having to cut it down into small parts. Of course knowing me I turned to my trusty Google to learn more about this cooking technique and here is what I found out…

According to Alan Davidson in his ""The Oxford Companion to Food," (an encyclopedia about food published in 1999 ) spatchcock is a culinary term, traced to the 18th and 19th centuries and revived toward the end of the 20th century. It is said to be of Irish origin and thought to be an abbreviation of "dispatch cock," a termed used to indicate a way of grilling a bird after splitting it open down the back and spreading the two halves out flat. The term spatchcock also appears in  Francis Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, first published in 1785.


To spatchcock a chicken, you need a sturdy pair of kitchen shears. Place the chicken, breast-side-down, on a cutting board. Using the shears, cut away the backbone and discard it. Then, flip over the bird and press down to flatten it. On smaller birds you can stop there. On a larger bird you may want to cut out the keel bone (breast bone) prior to flattening. Season the bird as desired and grill over a medium heat,  skin side down on lightly oiled grates. Use a baking sheet and 2 foil covered brick to weigh down and flatten the bird while grilling. Not having foiled covered bricks  handy and a little reluctant to head out to the Home Depot before making dinner, I opted to use my trusty cast iron pan.  Grill the bird for 8 to 10 minute with the grill cover open before flipping it over.  Once the bird has been flipped cover the grill and cook until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees on your handy meat thermometer and the juices run clear.
My meat thermometer states 180 degrees for poultry yet the cook book advises 165 degrees. You be your own judge on that one. Juices running clear is a good indicator that your chicken is done. Just be careful not to dry out the meat.  If you are leaning towards the 180 degrees, you may consider cooking on an indirect heat after flipping. We pulled ours off at 165 degrees with the juices running clear and it was truly the  best tasting spatchcocked game hen I have ever had.