Carla Makes 30 Minute 'Brick' Chicken

So now this situation has to go away

and I have to start a timer.

My phone's in here.

Hey, Siri, set timer for 30 minutes.

Siri?

Hey Siri!

Set timer for 30 minutes.

What the hell, Siri?

Hey Siri, set timer for 30 minutes.

Oh, my God, she won't do it.

[lighthearted bass thumping music]

Okay, today I'm gonna make chicken under a brick,

indoors in half an hour.

I really love this preparation

because it gives you a roasted chicken in half the amount

of time that most roast chicken recipes

are gonna tell you it takes,

and you get to learn about spatchcocking,

which is like a word that should be repeated

as often as possible,

and it just really works.

So it's, kind of, fun and there's a couple of cool tricks.

The first of which is taking this chicken,

which is in it's chickeny formation

and turning it into a chicken in,

like, a pancakey formation.

Flatten, more flatten, more flatten.

Okay, so first of all what you wanna do is

you need a pair of shears

and what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take out the backbone.

So you just have to turn the chicken over.

And I find it easier to start from the tail end, let's say.

If you don't have shears you can use,

like, a cleaver to do this.

If you really don't wanna mess with your chicken this way,

just ask your butcher to do it.

All right, so this is great for stock.

Put that over there.

So right now it's kind of like the backbone's removed,

but it's still, if you turned it over

it's still in it's very, perky, chickeny formation.

So what you have to do now is,

kind of, open it up like a book.

You wanna get the heel of your hand,

sort of, on this topest,

peakiest part of the chicken and then I'm gonna press down

and it should make a really dramatic

and fantastic cartilage popping noise.

If we get my mic close enough.

[laughing]

Just get it in there. Here comes the mic.

Let's see if it happens. I gotta try.

I need leverage too.

[chicken cartilage popping]

So now. Pull it out.

She's flattened her down der.

Get it?

Turn her over.

All right, so there's a bone right here in the middle.

And if you're feeling extra sassy you can,

just cut right here

to expose

this bone.

Which is kind of an anvil-shaped bone.

The keel bone.

When I had to describe this in the magazine,

I said it was an anvil-shaped bone.

I mean it's exactly like an anvil.

I think that's a really good description

and it wasn't hard and now it's out.

It'll just make carving a little bit easier,

because that bone isn't in the middle anymore.

Right?

Great stuff people.

Here's a little chicken fat.

Save it.

Chicken fat's delicious.

Now I'm gonna make a little bowl of salt and pepper.

I'm using Diamond, which is our kosher salt of choice

and I'm just gonna season this

so that once I start seasoning the chicken I don't have

to touch the pepper mill again.

All right, so I'm gonna use all of it.

Teaspoon per pound.

Salt and peps.

I'm gonna drizzle a little bit of oil.

I'm really just gonna hit the skin side with the oil,

'cause that's what's gonna go into the skillet.

[chicken sizzling]

[pan clanking]

This is my preheated one.

Tiny bit more oil just for the pan.

You can see it's really hot.

Shimmer, shimmer, smokey, smoke.

Chicken flying in.

[chicken sizzling]

Okay, so the only trick now

is that I'm gonna give it a nice press.

Just wanna make sure

that it's not just, like, sitting lightly on top,

but that it's,

the skin has, like,

connected with the pan.

You know?

Things get really flat without the keel bone.

Foil.

It's easier to do the top one, once this is in the oven,

'cause it gets heavy with two skillets.

Do, do, do.

Right on top.

That's it.

Bingo bango.

Did you see how the chicken, the chicken really flew.

[Man] It was, it was.

It was like.

[laughing]

It really flew in.

So while the chicken is roasting,

I'm gonna clean up my chicken bits

and then we're gonna get some stuff ready for the pan sauce.

[chuckling]

[crunching]

Oh, that worked well.

All right, according to Siri, we just had a chat,

there's 22 minutes left.

And in that time I'm gonna get a few things ready

for the pan sauce.

So when the chicken comes out it has

to hang out for a minute before it can be carved,

just to rest.

And in that pan I'm gonna build a really simple pan sauce

with shallot, wine, some lemon juice, chicken stock,

and butter, also fresh herbs.

So I just need to cut the shallot into

half moons.

You could do a dice if you don't want any,

like, noticeable pieces of shallot,

but I don't mind a little bit of texture.

The shallot adds a little, like, sweetness

and a little, a little gravitas.

But if you wanted to just do it,

deglaze that pan with the wine

and do the butter and the chicken stock,

it would still be good.

[knife tapping]

[bowl clanking]

Do you guys think this is the right size bowl

for these shallots,

or do you think it's the wrong size bowl?

This is like the pair of pants that's like,

maybe they'll feel better if I wear them for a few hours

or maybe they'll just be a little bit too small all day?

[laughing]

All right, we can compost those things.

So I just leave them over there.

And then I'm gonna cut up some herbs.

We have parsley and chives.

You could use parsley or chives,

or you could use basil and sage.

I don't quite care.

Is this gonna be a quarter cup?

Who can say?

I'm just gonna start cutting.

I showed my chive trick.

I showed chive trick, I show it again.

Except we're not supposed to be using so much paper towel,

but you know what I'm gonna show you the chive trick

and then I'll use the paper towel for something else.

That's the trick.

It just, like, holds them all together,

so they're not rolling all about.

[chives crunching]

All right, there's my chives.

And the other trick

with herbs is just if you're gonna cut them, cut them once.

Don't like cut them, and thing them, and chop them.

The more that you cut and smack around your herbs,

the more bruising happens.

Where's Chris Morocco?

Chris Morocco.

Hey, what's up?

You're Italian.

[laughing]

Ish.

Sort of.

Mezzalunas.

Oh.

So, like, we talk about herbs

and how you don't wanna be smashing and bashing your herbs

and then you think about a mezzaluna

and it's, like, what the hell?

The rules done apply to grandmothers

and their mezzalunas, okay?

Like, as if we didn't already know that,

my grandma plays by a different set of rules, you know?

Yeah.

See all the interesting conversations

you can have when you're having a 30 minute chicken?

And I haven't even had my second cup of coffee.

[laughing]

I'm just gonna keep bothering him.

Morning Chris is, like, quality Chris,

that's way more than the quarter cup I need.

FYI, but I made more compost.

I'm gonna get a compost bowl.

It's been 30 minutes.

The temperature I'm looking for, dead center,

in the deepest part of the bazoom

is 155, carry over cooking, you might have 165 in your head

but if the breast hits 155 then carries over,

everything is gonna be great.

Check it out, it's a chicken check.

Checking chickens.

[chicken sizzling]

I'm just gonna take the whole kit and caboodle out.

The sounds are truly magical.

Very pleased.

So I'm just gonna go through and just guesstimate, you know,

where the breast is.

Oh.

Hi, hold on.

One more notch in the notcher.

I'm gonna look at the color.

If we need to, it can hang out on the other side.

Oh, I mean, it is beautiful.

Did you see that leg almost just came right off?

She cooked herself.

Chris, do you wanna see the beautiful chicken?

Oh!

Isn't she pretty?

Oh, I thought you were doing half somehow.

Oh, yeah, no.

Love. 30 minutes.

Like that-- I know, that edge.

Contact area. Yeah.

I'm gonna attempt it again now that it's over yonder way.

I was going for 155.

Oh!

It's a little low.

It's fine. It's just gotta go back in.

Color's amazing.

I'm not gonna turn it back over.

If this should happen to you, let's blame it on opening

and closing the oven a couple time.

It's just gonna go back in for five minutes.

This stuff happens, guys.

Every oven is different.

I'm not gonna retitle the video title,

it's still 30 minute chicken.

All right.

Oh, my God!

Things got even better.

[chicken sizzling]

Oh, my God, I mean, if you have to wait,

at least it's worth it.

Unbelievable.

[chicken sizzling]

Oh, yeah.

It's fine.

Okay, so this is what's gonna happen.

I'm gonna put the chicken on a platter.

My little drumstick trick.

The thing about the drumstick trick right now is that,

look at the legs, they will just start falling off.

So I can't really do that!

It's fine.

Just put it back.

Okay, chicken's gonna rest.

Time is, sort of, a, I don't know.

We're gonna drain off some of the fat, most of the fat.

One size too small shallots, going in.

If you don't have the shallot

and you don't even have chicken stock,

you could just use white wine to deglaze the pan,

add some water, finish that with a little bit of butter

and you'd have a very light, like, tasty chicken sauce.

White wine.

Isn't it amazing that we made a chicken in 30 minutes?

This is how you just change the narrative.

It's like incredible, 30 minutes on the dot.

Amazing.

I think our relationship with time is too exact these days.

All of the digital things and the satellites.

In, like, the old days, you would say, like,

I'll be there in the day and that could be, like,

any time from sun up to when the sun went down,

you would be expected and if you showed up at anytime within

that time, you would be on time.

So I think our chicken was really, 100% on time.

If you look at it that way.

Okay.

See how reduced it is?

See how when I drag the spoon through the sauce kind of

just stays where it is?

That's what I'm looking for, it's not 100% dry

but it is kind of in that syrupy, reduced stage.

I'm gonna raise the heat just a little bit

so that this simmers again

and that I'm gonna reduce by about half.

What is time?

You know what I mean?

It's chicken, around chicken time.

Chickens are not thinking about time and if they did,

they would be extremely anxious all the time

because their time is incredibly limited.

Little salty.

But it's fine, I'm adding some lemon juice.

This is a measured amount

but I kinda just wanna taste and see.

Delicious.

Sassy pants.

And then butter, I'm just gonna swirl the pan.

I'm not looking for like a very tight emulsified,

I like these sauces to be

looser and that way you can, like,

drag your pieces of chicken through

and it's not gonna stick to the plate

and it's actually enough to go around.

Last thing is gonna be the herbs.

A lot more than a quarter cup

but all the chives are at the bottom.

Oh, my God, smells really good.

Does it taste really good?

Let's find out.

You know what else?

It was a one pot meal.

Love it.

It's lemony, if you didn't like it this lemony,

use less lemon juice.

Oh, my God, this is it, guys.

Any sauce or juices that have accumulated

while the chicken was resting.

Boop, why not?

That's, like, the OG chicken stock right there.

So the same French chef

that taught me the trick of scooping things off the edge

of your cutting board into a bow instead of picking up

and transferring also taught me

never to pour from the sauce pan.

I thought that, that was a fine thing to do

and you'll notice I am not putting the sauce

on the chicken skin because it was just

a beautiful situation we created.

If you were doing this in front of your family

they would be like,

how many more minutes do we have to wait?

I like it.

Get this outta here.

I have a couple lemon squeezies.

That's it!

27 minute chicken, including the time that it took

to make the sauce.

[laughing]

She's beautiful.

Right?

Chris Morocco?

Sorry.

Will you join me?

Chris just found out about right clicking

on a mouse.

Mind--

[Man] I believe it.

Mind blown.

How'd that right clicking go?

Oh, my God.

[laughing]

It's just, like, nobody takes you aside on day one

and is, like, here's where the bathroom is,

here are your colleagues and this is how you right click

on a Mac when you've only got that big pad.

This looks awesome.

Doesn't it?

Look at chicken back. Look at that sauce.

[Carla] Do you like a flat?

Yeah. That's the best part.

Oh, my God.

Okay, good, so one for you.

The flat's the best part, I mean.

There's so nothing wrong with that.

No and it cooked in 27 minutes.

I'm just gonna use this really, big stupid spoon.

Great, get in there.

How do you feel about bits of shallots and things?

Who's got a problem with that?

Okay, I just wasn't sure if people would.

Some people would, I think.

Oh!

Yeah.

Ring, zing, pow! I know.

Right, it's lemony, I didn't even use a lot of lemon juice.

Might adjust that.

Yeah, 27 minutes, isn't that incredible?

It's good, I mean, it's just, like,

so bright but this is so fatty and salty and rich, so.

Love her.

Love her so much.

Thanks for your support.

Oh, yeah, sorry.

Let me get my big-- No, it's okay.

My big weird spoon out of here.

Keel bones forever, guys.

Keep it real.

This is the other thing, if you're throwing a dinner party

and somebody shows up on time, that's also unacceptable.

[Man] I hate it when people do that.

It's insane.

It's, like, obviously, I said seven but that's, like, 7:15.

If you show up at my house at the time that I told you

that the dinner was,

I will be just stepping out of the shower.

Guaranteed.

100%.

Like, somebody else is gonna let you in.

I'm not gonna be dressed.

No, my hair will dry, like, at some point before dessert.

Anyway, I think it's fine.

It's better than undercooked chicken.