Chicken with a brick

Chicken is a constant in our house so coming up with different ways keeps everyone happy.  Last night we went for chicken with a brick. 

Finding the brick turned out to be somewhat hilarious.  There happens to be a lumber yard down the street that also carries bricks, stone etc.  Unfortunately they were closed yesterday.  Jessica and I were determined.  The walls were a tad high to jump over.  Also, the brick on the other side was roped in with wire to keep out people like us.  Jessica decided that crawling under the gate would be the most optimal.  She crawled under, found 3 random bricks, and then passed them over and then crawled back under.  Fred would have freaked but I am happy to go back and pay them something for what we stole on Monday which I will do.  Now, we have our bricks!

I butterflied a few chickens and coated them with herbs, olive oil and lime juice.  I put them on the grill, very low heat for about 10 minutes, skin side down, so that the fat could burn off.  It is tough on a grill so after that I flipped the bird, put a brick wrapped in tin foil on top of each chicken and closed the grill.  I let that hang out for about half an hour.  After that, I took off the brick, flipped the chickens and put the brick back on again.  All at low heat.  I also used kitchen mitts to flip so I didn't destroy the skin.  I let the birds hang out for another 20 minutes or so until crispy and the internal temperature of the chicken was about 180. 

The brick basically flattens out the chicken and also keeps the juices intact.  Delicious.  Same chicken just a different twist. 

Butterflying a chicken is easy.  Cut out the back bone on each side the length of the chicken.  Then flip the chicken over and where the breast comes together there is a small bone that is connects the breast.  Take a knife or scissor and just clip it in the middle.  That allows the breast to relax and then you can turn the chicken around push it down and the breast breaks easily down the middle and you have a butterflied chicken.  If the explanation isn't great, you can google it and there are a variety of videos that help you out.