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.
Bon appétit,
Your friends at California Olive Ranch
If chicken is grilled under bricks, could I use a large caste iron pan that has been coated with olive oil to hold it down? Pan should heat up and crisp surface. I have large a flat iron pancake pan that I plan to try this with. Just have to make sure the bottom of pan is well seasoned first.
Alexander, a heavy pan should be fine. The main this is that it’s heavy and flattens out the bird. If you have something you could stick inside the pan – a smaller pan, maybe – to make it heavier if need be, that would be good, too. If you want to save some cleanup, wrap the bottom of the pan in foil. That way you don’t need to oil the bottom of the pan. Then you should be fine. Happy grilling!