Chicken Under a Brick

Cinzia Cuneo 16 giugno, 2010 carne, ricette

“Pollo al Mattone” (i.e. under-the-brick) is a traditional Italian cooking method in which bricks weigh down a butterflied chicken, thereby ensuring even and quick cooking, which yields a crispy skin and succulent meat.

If you don’t have bricks, a pot with 4 litres (16 cups) of water will do the trick. Ask your butcher to butterfly the chicken. In case you want to try it out yourself, first remove the backbone by cutting along each side of it with a pair of special poultry shears or any other regular but strong kitchen shears.

Then split the chicken down the centre by pressing on the cartilage in order to flatten it as much as possible. There you have it!

Try our recipe for Chicken under a Brick

Chicken under a Brick

Originally published in the Journal de Montréal on May 24, 2008.

Autori

Cinzia Cuneo

Italiana di nascita e canadese d'adozione, Cinzia ha deciso di coniugare le sue competenze professionali e la sua passione per la buona tavola sviluppando un servizio per aiutare i numerosi «aventi bisogno» a riprendere il controllo della loro alimentazione. Così è nata SOSCuisine. Ingegnere di formazione al Politecnico di Torino, Cinzia ha conseguito un Master's Degree in scienze applicate all'École Polytechnique de Montréal.