Chicken Under a Brick Recipe
This recipe cooks a spatchcocked chicken under foil-wrapped bricks for perfectly moist meat and crispy skin.
- Preparation:
- Cooking:
- Total:
- Serves: 8 persons
Ingredients
- 1(3 to 4-pound) whole chicken (patted dry and spatchcocked)
- 2tablespoons olive oil
- 1tablespoon fresh thyme
- 1teaspoon dried rosemary
- 2cloves garlic (peeled and minced)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
- 2bricks wrapped in aluminum foil
Instructions
Step 1
Gather the ingredients. Prepare a grill or preheat the oven to 400 F.Step 2
Place the chicken, with its backbone removed, on a plastic cutting board skin-side down. Using your hands, press down hard to make the chicken as flat as possible, focusing on the breastbone to flatten it.Step 3
Combine the olive oil, fresh thyme, dried rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper and rub generously all over the chicken. Tuck the wings slightly under breast.Step 4
Place the chicken, skin-side down, on the grill or, if using an oven, on a baking sheet or in a large cast iron pan.Step 5
Wrap the bricks with aluminum foil to prevent brick dust from contaminating the food. Set one brick on top of each side of the chicken. The bricks will help to further flatten the chicken with their weight and allow it to cook evenly and quickly.Step 6
Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes. Remove the bricks, flip the chicken so that the breast and skin are now up, and continue cooking for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until the skin is golden brown and crisp. Use an instant-read thermometer, inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, to check that the bird has reached the safe temperature 165 F.Step 7
Carve and enjoy.