This is my favorite recipe for Chicken Under a Brick
Classic Chicken Under a Brick
4 1/2-pound frying chicken, backbone removed and spread flat (see instructions)
2 bricks, foil-wrapped (or other weights)
1/3 cup olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons to film skillet
1/2 cup mixed chopped herbs, (I used sage, parsley, and rosemary)
1-teaspoon kosher salt
1 large, 2 small cloves garlic, or to taste (I doubled the garlic love garlic)
1 teaspoon dried red pepper, or to taste
Remove neck and giblets from chicken; reserve for another use or discard. Pull off and discard any lumps of fat. With poultry shears, cut along both sides of backbone, cutting back completely in two. Save backbone for stockpot. Rinse chicken and pat dry. Pull open and set skin side up on a flat surface; press breastbone with your hand to flatten.
(I removed the breastbone with my kitchen shears.)
Chop garlic. Sprinkle coarse salt on top. With tines of a fork, crush garlic thoroughly into the salt. Stir garlic paste into 1/3-cup olive oil in a baking dish large enough to hold chicken flat. Add dried red pepper. Coat chicken all over; pat the mixed chopped herbs onto chicken thickly. Return chicken to container and refrigerate an hour or up to a day.
Using two tablespoons of oil, lightly coat the bottom of a heavy skillet measuring 9 or 10 inches across the cooking surface.
Heat the oil and put the chicken in, skin-side down. Weight with 2 bricks or another heavy skillet loaded with heavy items, at least 10 pounds in all. Cook on medium-low heat for 20 minutes.
Scraping with a spatula turned upside down, loosen chicken and lift to check color. If not deeply browned, turn up heat a bit and cook 5 minutes more. Scrape again to loosen. Turn the chicken, using a large spatula and your other hand protected with paper towels. Weight again and cook 20 minutes. Test for doneness using an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh -- it should read 160 degrees to 165 degrees -- or make a small incision in the thigh with a sharp paring knife. If juice runs clear, chicken is done.
