Grilling Chicken with Alamotone Technique

As we begin our grilling journey today, I want to share with you an Italian technique called Alamotone, which means "under the brick." This method is all about cooking chicken to perfection by placing it under a heavy weight, in this case, a brick or a cast iron pan. The brick or pan acts as a barrier between the chicken and the heat source, allowing for even cooking and a crispy skin.

To start, we have our chicken cut into parts – breast and thigh. I must say, my personal favorite part of the chicken is the thigh. Not only does it taste amazing, but it's also the moistest part of the bird. Many people prefer chicken breast, and that's perfectly fine too. For today's recipe, we'll be using both the breast and thigh to create a delicious and well-rounded dish.

Now, let's talk about the Alamotone technique. To begin, we take our brick or cast iron pan and place it on top of the chicken. We cover the brick with some tin foil to prevent any direct contact with the heat source. If you don't have a brick, don't worry! You can always use something heavy like a cast iron pan instead. In fact, using a cast iron pan might even work better than a brick in certain situations.

Next, we add a little salt and pepper to the skin side of the chicken. This will help bring out the flavors and aromas of the dish. Now, we're going to place our chicken on the grill at the slow part of the grill. We'll keep the thighs separate from the breast because, as you can see, the thighs take a bit longer to cook due to their darker meat. We'll season the other side with salt and pepper for added flavor.

One thing I want to note is that we won't be adding any oil to the chicken breast. I've found that using oil on the skin can lead to flare-ups and a less-than-perfect crust. Instead, I'll take some extra foil to protect the chicken from any potential issues. We'll also add a cast iron pan underneath the brick for extra weight and a crispy skin.

Now, let's talk about making our salsa verde. This Italian flat leaf parsley-based sauce is a staple in many cuisines, and it's incredibly easy to make. We'll start by adding some herbs – Italian flat leaf parsley, fresh tarragon with its distinctive licorice flavor, cornichon (baby pickles), capers, garlic cloves, white wine vinegar, salt, and pepper to our food processor. Don't worry if you think you need more herbs; the amount will dissipate as we process them.

Next, we'll add some olive oil to the mixture and blend everything together until we have a beautiful, green sauce. And that's it! Our salsa verde is ready to elevate the flavors of our grilled chicken.

Now, let's check on our chicken. The fat is rendering nicely and slowly, which is exactly what we want. We'll close the grill and let the chicken cook all the way through before slicing into it. As I slice through the bone, you can see how tender and juicy the meat is. And that's where our salsa verde comes in – a perfect complement to our grilled chicken.

Take some of the breasts, some of the thigh, and drizzle with our delicious salsa verde. That's the magic right there! The combination of flavors and textures will leave your taste buds dancing with joy. So go ahead, give it a try, and experience the beauty of Alamotone grilling for yourself.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enlet's grill some chicken i have the chicken cut into parts i have the chicken breast and the chicken thigh the thigh is actually my favorite part of the chicken i love the flavor of it it's also uh the moistest part of the chicken as well a lot of people like chicken breast i totally understand that so we're gonna use both there's a uh an italian technique of cooking chicken called alamotone which means uh under the brick and so we're gonna take a brick and we're gonna cover it with some tin foil if you don't have a brick you can always use something heavy like a cast iron pan you know something like this a cast iron pan might actually work as well sometimes what i do is i take the cast iron pan and i put the brick on top of it so it's nice and even let's just put a little salt and pepper down here right on the skin side let's go to the grill really going to put this at the slow part of the grill we're going to keep the thighs in the breast separate because the thighs will take a little bit longer to cook because the meat is darker now we're gonna season the other side with salt and pepper and uh if you notice i didn't put any oil on the chicken breast because i fear that if we put oil on the chicken skin that we're really going to create flare-ups i'm going to take a little more foil just to protect the chicken i'm going to take a cast iron pan just balance it just like that then we can take our bricks just for some extra weight and this really ensures a nice crisp skin which is really the key for good chicken tada all right now we're gonna make the salsa verde so salsa verde you know obviously the translation is green sauce and that can mean lots of different things but in our case we're gonna use some italian flat leaf parsley some fresh tarragon which has sort of that licorice flavor some cornichon which are like baby pickles and uh some capers for a nice sort of salty briny flavor i'm gonna put some garlic in there as well and the secret ingredient anchovies just don't tell anybody they're in there they'll love it so we're going to put the herbs in our food processor and you always want more herbs than you think you need once you start cutting them in the food processor the amount is really going to dissipate some garlic cloves some capers to take most of the the brine out of there and uh some cornichon a little white wine vinegar some salt and pepper and then just a couple of anchovies all right so we're gonna start the food processor and we're gonna add some olive oil and we'll have salsa verde beautiful sauce is how easy that is let's just check on our chicken see what's happening is the fat is rendering nice and slowly and that's what you want we close the grill and we're going to let the chicken cook all the way through so here's our chicken breast i'm just going to cut this right through the bone and the thigh we can just kind of keep intact then we can take some of our salsa verde this is really just going to wake up the flavor of the chicken all right so take some of the breasts some of the thigh that's the magic youlet's grill some chicken i have the chicken cut into parts i have the chicken breast and the chicken thigh the thigh is actually my favorite part of the chicken i love the flavor of it it's also uh the moistest part of the chicken as well a lot of people like chicken breast i totally understand that so we're gonna use both there's a uh an italian technique of cooking chicken called alamotone which means uh under the brick and so we're gonna take a brick and we're gonna cover it with some tin foil if you don't have a brick you can always use something heavy like a cast iron pan you know something like this a cast iron pan might actually work as well sometimes what i do is i take the cast iron pan and i put the brick on top of it so it's nice and even let's just put a little salt and pepper down here right on the skin side let's go to the grill really going to put this at the slow part of the grill we're going to keep the thighs in the breast separate because the thighs will take a little bit longer to cook because the meat is darker now we're gonna season the other side with salt and pepper and uh if you notice i didn't put any oil on the chicken breast because i fear that if we put oil on the chicken skin that we're really going to create flare-ups i'm going to take a little more foil just to protect the chicken i'm going to take a cast iron pan just balance it just like that then we can take our bricks just for some extra weight and this really ensures a nice crisp skin which is really the key for good chicken tada all right now we're gonna make the salsa verde so salsa verde you know obviously the translation is green sauce and that can mean lots of different things but in our case we're gonna use some italian flat leaf parsley some fresh tarragon which has sort of that licorice flavor some cornichon which are like baby pickles and uh some capers for a nice sort of salty briny flavor i'm gonna put some garlic in there as well and the secret ingredient anchovies just don't tell anybody they're in there they'll love it so we're going to put the herbs in our food processor and you always want more herbs than you think you need once you start cutting them in the food processor the amount is really going to dissipate some garlic cloves some capers to take most of the the brine out of there and uh some cornichon a little white wine vinegar some salt and pepper and then just a couple of anchovies all right so we're gonna start the food processor and we're gonna add some olive oil and we'll have salsa verde beautiful sauce is how easy that is let's just check on our chicken see what's happening is the fat is rendering nice and slowly and that's what you want we close the grill and we're going to let the chicken cook all the way through so here's our chicken breast i'm just going to cut this right through the bone and the thigh we can just kind of keep intact then we can take some of our salsa verde this is really just going to wake up the flavor of the chicken all right so take some of the breasts some of the thigh that's the magic you\n"