Grilled Chicken Refined

A number of years ago, I saw an article on grilling chicken over coals by cutting it in half and putting a brick on top of each half. The idea was to reduce the cooking time so you didn't have a charred outside and uncooked inside. I tried it and was relatively happy. But it often was overcooked, dry. I had issues with the outside getting too charred. And I wasn't happy with my flavoring marinade that didn't seem to add a whole lot of flavor. 

This last weekend I made a number of modifications to my recipe that resulted in a very most and flavorful bird. 

Marinade

I wanted to be sure I was packing flavor that would be tasted. I started by pounding black and white peppercorns in salt in my heavy duty Thai mortar and pestle. I added garlic, pounded more. Then HUGE handfuls of fresh rosemary and thyme from my garden and pounded a lot more. Finally, I added olive oil and white wine and pounded still more. 

I took this mixture and rubbed it into my split chicken (which I had made slits in the breast, thighs, and legs to aid in the flavor absorption and cooking time). I marinaded the chicken for almost 24 hours, occasionally taking it out to rub the marinade into the chicken.

Fire Set-Up and Cooking

My two main concerns were not having the chicken stick to the grate and avoiding the chicken drying our. What I did was not pre-heat the grates. I put them on over the coals just as I was ready to start. Then I put down a sheet of greased heavy duty aluminum foil. I put the chicken halves on, inner cavity side down first. I put bricks on top of each half. 

The use of the aluminum foil between the chicken and the fire was inspired (he says with extreme modesty). It kept the chicken from getting burnt on the outside. Juice from the chicken pooled on the foil, moistening the cooking chicken. Sticking was minimal.

Results

I cooked it on the inner side for 10 minutes and the skin side for 8 minutes. The chicken came out very moist and a good outside. I think it could have used 2 more minutes on the skin side. 

I am thinking I want to use this same technique on a piece of boneless leg of lamb.