Calabrian Chicken al Mattone

This chicken is seasoned with chili paste from Calabria, where Napa Valley chef Michael Chiarello's family hails from, and is cooked under a brick (Italian for "mattone"). Chiarello explains that at this weight, " the chicken cooks evenly and retains more juice, because it is squeezed from the very beginning." He likes the bird to roast well, but if you prefer it to have a golden crust, cook it with the skin up. You can easily grill this chicken on a gas grill (use a direct medium-high heat, 400 ° and mass and flip the chicken as directed below).
In a small bowl, combine the chili paste, vinegar, rosemary and oil. Chiarello loves the taste of pasta: "I call it 'Calabrian ketchup'. It is fruity and slightly smoky, with hints of sharpness."Place the chicken in a glass dish large enough to be flat. Pour in the marinade and turn it over to coat. Marinate for 2 hours or refrigerate overnight, turning several times (bring to room temperature before grilling).Build a fire and let it burn out to crumbs of ash (see "Hearth made with your own hands" below). Using tongs, heat the vegetable oil and rub it well with paper towels.Shake off any excess marinade from the chicken halves and season with 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Place the halves on a wire rack, skin side up and touching the middle. Brush the bottom of a cast-iron skillet with oil and place the chicken on top. Place the foil-wrapped briquette in the pan.Cook the chicken until crisp and lightly browned on the bottom, 10 to 13 minutes. If a flame breaks out, spray it with water. Turn the bird over and cook, without weighing it down, until it is browned and crisp, and the instant-read thermometer reads 170° when inserted into the thigh, 11 to 13 minutes.Transfer to a cutting board, cover with foil and let stand for 5 minutes. Cut into quarters, season with salt and serve.* Find Calabrian pasta with chili on napastyle.com as a "Silafunga with hot chili sauce". Alternatively, combine 1 tablespoon of crushed toasted red pepper with 1/2 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice, plus 1/4 teaspoon each of salt, red chili flakes, and smoked Spanish paprika.Hearth made with YOUR own hands"You can do anything with it. It's a bit like hiking in the middle of the day, " says Napa Valley chef Michael Chiarello. All you'll need is bricks stacked so that they fit under the grate for cooking, and some sand.Prepare a pit: Spread a double layer of thick foil on the ground ("not on the grass," Chiarello warns, as it can burn). Make it large enough that it protrudes a foot out of the grate in all directions. Lay out a rectangle of bricks 3 layers high, leaving a couple of bricks from the top layer on opposite sides to encourage air flow. (For a standard 21-inch serving. rub the Weber grid, the rectangle should be 2 by 3 bricks in size.) Add about an inch of sand.Start a fire: Place a few crumpled sheets of newspaper in the center, and arrange the kindling in the form of a tipi around it; put a larger kindling, followed by 5-6 small logs (preferably oak). Start a fire. "In a teepee, the flames don't reach up to 3-4 logs," Chiarello says, so the fire burns quickly. Once the logs are browned, add a few larger logs around the perimeter. Let them burn through to crumbs covered with ash, on low heat (from 1 1/2 to 2 hours). According to Chiarello, due to the fact that it has less smoke and charring than when cooked over a blazing fire, "this makes the taste of the dish much cleaner, gives nuances of taste and goes better with the wine."Start cooking: Set fire to another log at the far end of the pit. When the pieces are golden, transfer them to the main heat to keep them warm.