Big Green Egg Salt Slab Chicken

Pollo al Mattone is a dish so beloved by Italians that two great food cities, Florence and Rome, claim its parentage. The name “brick chicken”, literally, does little to suggest its deliciousness. Yet the brick is essential for crisping the skin and keeping the meat moist and tender.

I have a twist that adds even more flavor. Grill the chicken under a salt slab.

Step number one- Spatchcock the chicken. Turn it on its back. And using kitchen scissors, make a lengthwise cut along the backbone on the right and then the left.

Spatchcocking enables you to grill a whole chicken flat. And using a paring knife, cut through this bit of white cartilage above the breast bone. Snap the chicken out to expose the breastbone, then run your thumbs along the inside of the breast bone to loosen it from the meat.

Now, snap the breast bone away from the cartilage. Lift up the breast bone and pull it out away from the meat, just trimming it like that. Then lift up and pull out the cartilage. Next, make a slit in the skin between the thigh and the rib cage.

Now, tuck the end of the drumstick through the slit. Turn the bird over. Tuck the wing tips under the wings and there is your spatchcock chicken ready for seasoning and grilling.

Now make the herb rum. It starts with coarse sea salt into which you will rake fresh lemon zest.

Lemon zest adds a bright flavor. Next, add freshly ground black pepper. Finely chopped fresh garlic, chopped fresh rosemary, chopped fresh thyme and hot pepper flakes. Mix the ingredients for the rub with your fingers.

Now turn the spatchcock chickens over and season the meat side with the rub, then drizzle the chicken with extra virgin olive oil.

Now, turn the chickens over and season the skin side of the chicken the same way. And again, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

Pretty simple so far.

Clean my hands.

To grill the chicken, I’m using a Big Green Egg Extra Large. I set it up for indirect grilling with the convector plate in the center and as always, will brush the grate clean and oil it with a cotton oiling cloth dipped in vegetable oil, drawn across the bars of the grate.

Now, arrange your spatchcock chickens skin side down on the grill, one here and one here.

And now the cool part, place a salt slab on each chicken. The salt slab compresses the meat and keeps it from drying out. Close the grill, adjust the vents to obtain an internal temperature of about 400 degrees. Cooking time about 40 to 50 minutes.

Meanwhile, let me show you the pepperoncini vinaigrette.

It starts with a Dijon style mustard. Next, white wine vinegar, a pinch of salt. And freshly ground black pepper. Whisk these ingredients together to dissolve the salt crystals, then work in extra virgin olive oil.

It’s about four parts olive oil to one part vinegar. Now, add Findlay slivered black olives. Drained Capers. Chopped fresh chives, thinly slivered pepperoncini, those wonderful pickled peppers and finally quartered cherry tomatoes. Stir the ingredients to mix.

And here you have a very simple, flavorful condiment to serve with the chicken.

Speaking of the chicken, it’s been about 25 minutes, and you can see the chickens look beautifully bronzed on the bottom, so take off the salt slabs- One. Two.

And then take off your chickens. Transfer them to a wire rack. Then place the salt slabs back on the grill and you’ll finish cooking the chicken on the salt slab so it will flavor the meat side of the chicken.

Then take your chicken. Turn it over. Place it back on the grill. Beautiful. And you’ll finish roasting the chicken on the salt slab. Close the grill, you need about another 15 minutes. Whoa. Check out that salt slab chicken.

It looks amazing. I’m sure it’s done, but just to check you can wiggle that drumstick. You can see it moves freely. So I’ll lift a leg, I’m just going to carve it off right here. I’ll cut myself a little piece of wing, then a couple of grilled hot peppers.

Finally, a spoonful of your pepperoncini vinaigrette. Take a taste. That skin is so crisp it crunches when I bite into it, the meat is moist, scented with rosemary and thyme. What I like about salt slab grilling is how moist it keeps the chicken.

And of course, the salt slab imparts its own salty flavor to the meat. I’ll take a little of the vinaigrette. I love the piquancy of those pickled pepperoncini peppers. From Italy to Project Fire here in Baltimore.

It’s chicken on a salt slab.