You heard right. Chicken, cooked in a frying pan, under a brick. Why a brick, you might ask?
Well, the purpose of the brick is to lend weight to the chicken. So the chicken skin will be pressed right flat on the frying pan throughout the cooking process, giving it more surface area to fry and harden into a gloriously glassy crisp. It’s not a technique I came up with by any stretch of the imagination, as there have been many chefs and food writers who swear by this method to get the crispiest, most shattering skin on any chicken. And it totally works!
In my version, instead of a regular pan sauce, I made it a bit more tangy and zesty, inspired by Chinese takeout style lemon chicken. So after you get that crazy crispy chicken, take it out of the pan, then add some butter, lemon juice, sugar, and chicken stock to it to emulsify into a glossy, savoury sauce with just the right amount of zing. Serve the chicken and sauce together with rice and a simple leafy salad, and it’ll make for a hearty meal that hits the spot in terms of texture and flavour.
Oh! In case you were wondering, no technically you don’t have to use a brick; any heavy, flat-bottomed object like a cast iron pan or weighted plate will do, but it’s always fun to cook with a bit of theater, eh?