Nick Solares, host of The Meat Show, is a carnivore through and through, but when it comes to choosing meat, he generally favors the four-legged animals — particularly beef and pork — over two-legged poultry. However, that rule goes by the wayside when it comes to the “Hell Chicken” served at Achilles Heel in Brooklyn, New York.
One of Solares’s favorite chicken dishes “of all time” is served once a week on Sunday afternoons (weather permitting) out of the backyard of this corner gastropub. With help from a metalworker friend, chef Lee Desrosiers built out a custom wood grill that he uses to slowly concentrate the flavors of the birds over time.
Desrosiers begins preparing chicken on Saturday by spatchcocking and seasoning the meat. The following day, they’re hung for several hours to smoke over the fire before landing in a cast iron pot and steaming in their own juices. When it’s time to serve the chicken, the chef first grills the birds, giving the meat a bit of char. The result is something that’s more akin to pork or perhaps duck, with all the best aspects of fried and roasted chicken wrapped into one intoxicating dish. Watch the video above to see more.
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