We visited the hardware store recently store to buy a couple of bricks … for grilling purposes. We wanted to make the famed Tuscan dish chicken under a brick. We weren’t disappointed. We got a beautifully crispy chicken infused with rosemary, sage, and garlic. Bricks are now a go-to grilling tool for us.
We got the recipe for chicken under a brick — or pollo al mattone — from grilling guru Steven Raichlen’s book, Planet Barbecue! (Workman Publishing, 2010). It’s a great resource, and we’ve been cooking from it frequently. (Click here to get the recipe.)
For this recipe, a whole chicken is butterflied, or spatchcocked, rubbed with rosemary, sage and sea salt, and then grilled under bricks. The bricks flatten the bird out so you get a nice, crispy skin. You can also use game hens or baby chickens, known as poussins. (That’s our cooked chicken below.)
Raichlen suggests drizzling the grilled bird with a good quality extra virgin olive oil. We did that, too, and it kicked up the flavor another notch.
We’ve made this dish a few times. We’re looking forward to making it again. If you ever make it and happen to have friends over, they’ll no doubt be impressed — particularly when you show them the chicken sizzling away under the bricks. They’ll love the flavor, too.
Memphis Food Guy
