Alton's Butterflied Roast Chicken

I do love Alton Brown. He explains things so well. So why didn't I listen to some of his reasons on why to make his Butterflied Roast Chicken the way he said to? Last night we had dinner at 9:30pm, partly because Juiceboy was home late from a trek, and mostly because dinner took forever to make. I served the aforementioned chicken, curried couscous, and a quick creamed spinach.

Here are my lessons learned:

1. The recipe calls for a 3 to 4 pound bird because anything bigger won't cook properly. I had my 5-pounder under the broiler for close to 40 minutes, and I still had to pop individual servings in the microwave just to get it done.
2. Grinding peppercorns takes time. I enjoyed using my mortar & pestle, but this took 15 minutes more than I thought it would.
3. Regular scissors and kitchen scissors: yes, there is a difference. I broke a perfectly good pair of scissors cutting out the back bone of my bad boy (or girl?).
4. Red wine makes a muddy jus. I used a nice pinot noir which tasted good, but the jus was purple. Not appetizing.
5. At 9:30 at night, the guys will eat anything. The Bug thought this was a great dinner. Who would have guessed?

I'll try this recipe again, next time baking if I have such a big bird.