Skillet-Pressed Chicken Over Fire
A spatchcocked bird pinned flat under a second cast iron pan, brined in camp the night before.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 13 oz
- cal / oz
- 48
- protein
- 52 g
- serves
- 4
- prep
- 45 min
- cook
- 40 min
- total time
- 85 min
- water
- 1000 ml cold
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Whole chicken, about 4 lb | 1 | backbone cut out and the bird pressed flat before the trip |
|---|---|---|
| Olive oil | 4 tbsp | split between the brine-dried skin and the pan |
| Water | 4 cups | for the brine |
| Kosher salt | 1/4 cup | |
| Sugar | 2 tbsp | |
| Black peppercorns | 1 tsp | cracked under the pan bottom |
| Bay leaves | 2 | |
| Dried thyme and rosemary | 1 tbsp total | dried travels; fresh sprigs wilt to slime in a cooler |
| Smoky seasoning blend | 2 tbsp | paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper |
Method
- The night before, stir the salt, sugar, peppercorns, bay, and dried herbs into 4 cups of cold water in a zip bag until nothing grits on the bottom. Add the flattened bird, press the air out, seal, and bury it in the cooler.
- Burn a fire down to coals, or get a bed of charcoal even and grey. You want steady heat, not flames licking the grate.
- Pull the chicken out and dry it hard with a bandana or paper towel. Wet skin steams. Rub it with 2 tbsp oil and the seasoning blend.
- Set the big skillet on the grate with the remaining oil. When it shimmers, lay the bird in skin down and set the second skillet on top of it.
- Twenty-five minutes under weight. Do not lift the top pan to look. Then take the weight off, flip the bird, and cook another 15 minutes until the thigh joint runs clear and the thickest meat hits 165F.
- Rest it on a cutting board ten minutes before you cut it into quarters.
Weight is the whole trick. A chicken left to its own shape touches hot iron in maybe four places; pinned flat under a second pan, most of the skin is pressed into the metal at once. That contact is what browns it, and it also cuts the cook time enough that the breast is done around the same moment the thighs are.
The brine is not optional and it is not seasoning. Salt and sugar in water hold moisture in the meat through forty minutes of hard heat, which is what keeps a flattened bird from going dry at the edges. Camp version: dried herbs instead of fresh sprigs, since fresh ones turn to slime in a cooler by day two, and the cooler does the refrigerating overnight. Everything here is a car-camping or basecamp move. A four-pound bird and two cast iron pans are not going in a pack.
Packing
Spatchcock at home, so you are not fighting a backbone with a pocket knife. Bird and brine ride in one doubled zip bag at the bottom of the cooler. Salt, sugar, peppercorns, bay, and herbs go in a jar premixed; seasoning rub in a second jar.
Variations
- No second skillet? A foil-wrapped rock of similar size does the same job.
- Halve everything and use bone-in thighs for a two-person version that cooks in 25 minutes.
- Throw halved potatoes into the fat around the bird for the last 20 minutes.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/chicken-under-a-skillet