Melissa Clark has a new video up on the Times‘ dining section showing how to spatchcock a chicken. To spatchcock is to cut out the back and breast bones, which makes it possible to open the chicken and cook it flat. Chicken cooks faster and more evenly when spatchcocked (or butterflied, a more elegant name for the same technique). The Italians and French have been doing this for years and calling it “chicken under a brick,” because classic recipes weigh the flat chicken down with a brick.

Melissa roasts her chicken in the oven but notes that it can also be grilled. Grilling is the first way I encountered spatchcocked chicken, and it was so indecently delicious that I’ve never bothered to cook it any other way and felt compelled to share.

To me this is what grilled chicken is always supposed to be but never is. The meat is tender and holds the flavor of whatever you rub under the skin plus the subtle smoky flavor of the grill (it truly tastes smoky, something I’ve otherwise found hard to achieve without resorting to crutches like Liquid Smoke). The skin is crisped but not charred. It’s quick and easy to prepare and doesn’t require constant sweaty hovering over the grill. It won’t be ruined if you don’t manage to flatten it out completely, or can’t get the compound butter to distribute evenly, or leave it a couple minutes too long on the grill.

Grilled Spatchcocked Chicken, as adapted by my mother from here and here, and by me with help from Melissa Clark

1. Spatchcock: Watch the video above for courage and inspiration. Or dive right in: set a whole chicken on a cutting board, back side up, legs down. Using poultry shears, kitchen shears, sharp regular scissors, or a sharp knife, cut along both sides of the backbone and pull it out. Open the bird like you’re flinging open a set of French doors: pull each side out and open. Press down with your hands all along the insides to flatten the bird out. Flip over.

2. Schmear: Soften 2 tablespoons of butter to smearing consistency (think cream cheese) and with a fork mix in several teaspoons/a generous palm-full of chopped fresh thyme and rosemary. There are endless delicious variations: sage is good; so are lemon zest, a splash of lemon juice, and chopped parsley; a little Dijon mustard and a clove of minced garlic is kicky and also very good. Stuff, spread, and smear the butter under the skin.

3. Grill: Lay the chicken skin side up on a grill over a medium-hot charcoal fire. Cover and cook about 10 minutes, then flip. When whole bird is crispy and dark brown and clear juices run out when the thigh is pierced, the chicken is done, usually in 20-25 minutes.

P.S. Where does the word “spatchcock” come from? According to the Oxford Companion to Food, it’s a shortened form of “dispatch the cock,” indicating a summary order to kill and cook a chicken, or “dispatch cock,” indicating a chicken cooked with dispatch, or great speed.