Broiled Butterflied Chicken

3 lb broiler-fryer chicken, butterflied
2 tb melted butter mixed with
1 ts olive oil or cooking oil.
1 salt and freshly ground-pepper.
1 pn of thyme, tarragon or mixed-herbs
 
DEGLAZING SAUCE
1 tb finely minced shallot or scallion
1/2 c  chicken stock and/or dry white wine
1 tb to 2 tb butter

To butterfly a chicken. First remove the backbone by cutting down
close to it on each side with a heavy knife or sturdy shears. Spread
the chicken skin side up on your work surface and bang the breast
with your fist to break the collarbones and some of the ribs; this
flattens the chicken. Cut off the little nubbins at the wing elbows,
and fold the wings akimbo by tucking the wing ends behind the
shoulders. Then make a slit in the skin at either side of the breast
tip. Push the knee of the drumstick firmly up under the armpit to
loosen the join; then pull it down and insert the tip of the
drumstick through the skin slit. The leg will be held in place.

Broiling - 25 to 30 minutes. Preheat the broiler. Brush the chicken
all over with some of the butter and oil. Arrange it skin side down
in the baking dish, and set it so the surface of the flesh is about 5
inches from the hot broiler element. After 5 minutes, brush the
flesh, which should just be starting to brown, with the butter and
oil. Baste again in 5 minutes ++ use the juices in the pan when the
butter mixture is gone. Broil for another 5 minutes, then sprinkle
lightly with salt, pepper, and optional herbs. Turn the chicken skin
side up. Broil and baste 15 minutes or so more.

Remove the chicken to a hot platter; cover to keep warm the
few minutes required for the optional sauce. Skim fat off the cooking
juices, stir in the chopped shallot or scallion, and saute a moment
on top of the stove. Add the liquid and boil rapidly, scraping into
it any coagulated cooking juices. When reduced almost to a syrup,
swirl in the butter. Pour the sauce over the chicken.

To carve, cut straight down one side of the breastbone to
separate the chicken in two lengthwise. Grab under one of the knees
with your fork to lift it up, slit the skin front and back, and bend
the knee back at right angles to break open the joint at the small of
the back. Then cut through the ball joint to separate the thigh from
the carcass. Separate drumsticks from thighs at the knee joints.
Remove the wings along with a lengthwise strip of meat from the lower
third of the breast, to make meaningful servings. You now have 2
drumsticks, 2 things, 2 wings with a breast strip, and 2 breast
sections.