Brick Chicken or Spatchcock
-
2 free range chickens or 4 spatchcocks
-
1/2 cup oil divided into two
-
8 cloves garlic, bruised (or less if you are vampirically inclined)
-
4 lemons, halved
-
salt and freshly ground black pepper
-
Oil for BBQ
-
1 brick per chicken or spatchcock
-
Aluminium foil & thick gloves
Step 1 - Take two large ziplock bags (I use 1 bag per chicken or per 2 spatchcocks) and add 1/4 cup of oil, 4 garlic cloves and the juice of 2 lemons and some freshly ground pepper to each bag. Leave the bags open so that you can slide the chicken or spatchcocks inside easily.
Step 2 - Butterfly the chicken or spatchcock. I find this easiest with spatchcock because and this may sound ghoulish, they have smaller bones so cracking and cutting the backbone out is easier. I use a sharp pair of scissors-the OXO pair I bought on sale seems to do the trick nicely. Take the spatchcock or chicken out of the plastic. Turn the chicken over so that the back bone is facing up and cut along the outside of the backbone on either side starting at the fleshy bishop's nose all the way up to the neck. Remove the backbone-you can use this to make chicken stocks. Remove the opaque pieces of fat from the chicken towards the top and bottom and rinse the inside and pat it dry on paper towels. Place them in the ziplock bags and marinate overnight or for at least a couple of hours in the fridge. Remove from fridge about an hour before you want to cook them to let them come to room temperature.
Step 3 - Heat up the BBQ to high or the oven to 225c/440F. Wash the bricks with water and place the bricks on the BBQ or inside the oven to heat up. If you are using the oven, also heat up the baking tray. After about 10-15 minutes the bricks should be very hot. In the meantime tear off enough rectangles of foil that will cover the chickens or spatchcocks so that the bricks don't touch them directly. Using very thick gloves, move the bricks aside and add the extra oil to the BBQ. Place the birds skin side down and flat out. Cover with a piece of foil and then the hot brick and then turn down the heat slightly between medium and hot and let it cook for 10 minutes for the spatchcocks or 20 minutes for the chickens.
Step 4 - When the time is up, take the brick and foil off the birds and carefully turn over the birds and then replace the foil and brick back on top of the birds and cook for another 5-8 minutes for the spatchcocks or 15 minutes for the chickens. BBQs vary even more than ovens so do check on doneness-the important part to check when cooking is the large drumsticks, if the juices run clear when you pull it gently then it is done.
Step 5 - When done remove chicken from the BBQ and sprinkle with salt and serve jointed-it's very easy to cut up!