Chicken Under a Brick
As I was taking the trash out yesterday I noticed some construction going on behind my apartment building so I wandered over to see what was going on. Someone was replacing the front steps to their building and there was a huge pile of old bricks laying in the street. Strangely enough I immediately thought about an old Tuscan cooking technique that has been around for centuries and I knew what was in store for dinner. I walked over and grabbed a handful of bricks and carried them up four flights of stairs to my kitchen where my girlfriend looked at me like I had three heads. Pollo al mattone, or chicken under a brick is classic Italian dish where, sure enough, you cook the chicken under the weight of a brick.
The idea is to basically fry the chicken skin side down in its own fat and juices. The weight of the brick presses the bird to the dry pan and while cooked slowly over medium-low heat, the fat in the skin starts to render. Soon enough the chicken will be pan frying in its own fat. The result is a golden brown, crispy, crackling skin and a tender, juicy inside. The preparation and butchering of the chicken is probably the most important part of executing perfect results. I start with a whole chicken (it’s extremely cost efficient to buy whole chickens and butcher them yourself) and with cooking shears, I snip both sides of the breast bone and remove it; splitting the entire chicken in half. I discard the wing , dislocate the leg from the thigh, and de-bone the breast making sure to leave all of the skin intact. What I end up with is a boneless breast and a leg with the skin on… a perfect portion (for me at least).
The next part is loud and obnoxious so make sure to warn your neighbors before they call the police. Using the bottom of a heavy skillet smash the half chicken on your cutting board until it is as flat as possible. This is extremely important because you want as much surface area of the chicken touching the pan as you can. I wrapped my bricks in tinfoil so that my chicken didn’t taste like 40 years of the bottom of my neighbors’ shoes, and got a pan on the stove with a little olive oil. I placed my chicken in the hot pan skin side down and quickly applied the pressure from the bricks.
I wanted to serve the chicken with a fresh salad with tons of acidity because I thought that something light would be nice with the crackling, salty skin. I shaved some fennel bulbs and stalks and simply tossed them with baby arugula, tangerine supremes, and shaved red onion. Just a dash of extra virgin olive oil and some freshly squeezed lemon juice and the salad was complete. The sweet tangerine was great with the faint anise flavor of the fennel and the salad in general really lightened up the whole meal.
After the skin on my chicken was nice and crisp, I finished it in the oven to cook throughout with a little rosemary, thyme and garlic. I chose to pair this dish with the 2008 Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc-Viognier blend from California. The wine is comprised of roughly 80% Chenin Blanc and 20% Viognier, resulting in a wonderfully light, yet complex wine. The nose is very floral and citrusy, and the wine tastes like melon and pear with a slightly off-dry finish.
There was just enough acidity and lime flavors that paired nicely with the golden brown skin, and the juicy meat didn’t overpower the wine at all. I typically don’t care for Viognier but when blended with the Chenin Blanc, it was very pleasant; definitely a good choice to pair with turkey. If you’re looking to change things up this holiday season, try cooking your Thanksgiving turkey “al mattone”, or take a walk through a construction site to get inspired for dinner.
Tags: al mattone, Chenin Blanc, Chicken under a brick, Fennel Salad, Pine Ridge
