spatchcock

[ spach-kok ]

noun

1. a dressed fowl that has had its backbone removed and has been split open and flattened so that it cooks more evenly when grilled, broiled, or roasted.

verb (used with object)

1. to prepare and cook (a dressed fowl) in this manner.
2. to insert or interpolate, especially in a forced or incongruous manner:

   Additional information has been spatchcocked into the occasional random footnote.

spatchcock

/ ˈspætʃˌkɒk /

noun

1. a chicken or game bird split down the back and grilled Compare spitchcock

verb

1. to interpolate (words, a story, etc) into a sentence, narrative, etc, esp inappropriately

Word History and Origins

Origin of spatchcock¹

First recorded in 1775–85; apparently an alteration of spitchcock; popular interpretation as shortening of dispatch cock is specious

Word History and Origins

Origin of spatchcock¹

C18: perhaps variant of spitchcock eel when prepared and cooked

Example Sentences

I’ll spatchcock them, which means you split it and open it and it gets all the skin really crispy.

From Los Angeles Times

Take this seemingly harmful post on TikTok, in which a woman shares a step-by-step recipe for spatchcocking chicken.

From Salon

Our solution came in a well-tested technique for evenly roasting chickens: spatchcocking, or butterflying, which involves cutting out and discarding a bird’s backbone so it can be spread open and flattened.

From Washington Times

Such reminiscences, though chilling, seem both overly contrived and overly familiar when spatchcocked together, departing little from abused-children narratives handed down by Dickens and Charlotte Brontë.

From New York Times

Runners spun through dining rooms, their forearms inked and weighed down with plates of spatchcocked Cornish game hen and endive Caesar salad dusted with breadcrumbs.

From Los Angeles Times