The breast bone shouldn't pop "out" just sort of snap when you press it down. As far as the backbone, did you cut along each side of it? 9 lb chicken is a large bird, could see it being slightly difficult. Mine are usually about half of that.

That's a big bird. Prolly a big old bird with tough bones. The rib bones where you cut out the backbone are going to be sharp...no way around that. (Instead of scissors, you can use a meat cleaver.)

I've never spatchcocked that large of a bird...usually I do Cornish hens and an occasional 4# chicken. I just turn the bird breast side up and smashed the breast flat with the palm of my hand. I've never attempted to remove the breastbone. (I think the breast would stay more moist with the breastbone left in.) With that big of a bird, maybe you could slip a piece of 2x4 into a plastic bag and and smack the breast hard. Or whack the board with a very big hammer? Or not worry about it and tent the breast with some foil if it looks likes it's getting too brown?

When cutting out the backbone, you do have to crunch through the ribs as they leave the backbone. It may be easier if you don't try to cut right next to the backbone, instead cut about half an inch away, so you are definitely just cutting ribs and not vertebrae.

It still might be hard if your scissors are sort of light duty. Do you by any chance have some small gardening shears aka pruning shears? What you'd use to lop off a 1/4 inch rose stem or bush branch in the garden? That will zip through the ribs like butter.

Don't worry if the cut rib bones are sharp, no-one will be eating that part of the bird.

As for the breast bone, you don't need to remove it, cut it, or break it. A big bird should be heavy enough to lay fairly flat even with the breast bone intact. You might end up popping the leg and wing joints, but even that won't be necessary.

I don't know how I ended up with such big birds. The size does fit our family though. Enough for one meal and then my 20 yo DS (who is eating everything in the house), finished off the leftovers the next day. This time I need to save some for another recipe.

So maybe I should invest in a new pair of scissors. I probably did cut closer to the back bone then needed. The issue with those sharp bones was they kept sticking me when I was working on the chicken. One of the videos showed the breast bone coming out easily with your fingers. I think it was a much smaller bird (maybe a cornish hen).

right now the foil is off and waiting to reach 140 degrees.

Thank you all for the support!

It tastes divine! Never want to cook anything but a whole chicken. Just need to get a hang of this spatchcocking.

Glad I found this thread. I am thinking I may try spatchcocking my T-Day turkey this year. Found an instructional blog that made it look fairly easy, but I am sure the first time won't be a breeze.

I am going to try to find a really GOOD pair of kitchen shears. The dude on the blog used a pair of Kuhn Rikon shears that looked pretty heavy duty.

Linda

John is right. I have spatchcocked turkeys before and not had problems. This is the key:

"cut about half an inch away, so you are definitely just cutting ribs and not vertebrae"

I also like to make sure to get the "oyster", and that is really close to the backbone. It takes some finagling. My shears are able to really handle this because they're the kind that come apart to clean them. I think the longer blades make for a longer lever/fulcrum system (if that make sense!) and takes the work off of my arms and hands. I hope this helps you.

Here is a link that might be useful: not these, but ALOT like these (these are nice!)

Poultry shears should have that notch on one blade for cutting larger bones. A good pair of shears should have short blades and long handles.

Print out the link below. It is very easy to spatchcock or bone a bird, turkey or chicken, if you can see and understand the bone structure of the bird.

dcarch

Here is a link that might be useful:

Agree with dcarch - poultry shears should make the job easier.