Chicken Under a Brick

Saw this on ATK last weekend.  Most recipes call for a preheated brick, cast iron or similar on top of the chicken, this recipe involved spatching the bird, beating the h*ll out of it to flatten further, then skin-side down into a ripping-hot nonstick pan for 20-25 minutes, with a non-heated weight on top (to push the skin into the pan); this gets rid of the pre-heated fuss.  Bird is then flipped, basted, and into an oven to finish cooking. I used a Le Crueset DO, wrapped with foil to keep it clean (heh):       I didn't like the idea of heating my non-stick tFal that hot, then remembered I had the larger of a 2-pan ceramic nonstick set from Bed, Bath, & Beyond that hadn't been used (the smaller one was in the trash after a month; ceramic works like on TV for 3 or so times, then degrades quickly.)    I prepped my paella pan with baby potatoes, halved and placed cut-side down in olive oil, w salt/pecker/thyme:     Egads, what a mess.  Even though I had the burner at about 50%, the oil spattered everywhere, biggest mess I've ever made (save The Thanksgiving That Shall Not Be Mentioned).  Was supposed to go 20-25 minutes, but at the 15-minute point the skin was good, so I killed the heat, grabbed each drumstick end with a separate tongs (to lift, flip, and place on the potatoes), but instead both legs pulled off the bird.  Mostly.  Some tissues wouldn't let go, had to go in with kitchen shears to separate them, all the while the oil is still spattering all over me.  Finally got everything into the pan, basted with a sauce made with oil, lemon juice, thyme, garlic, chili flakes, salt, & pepper.  Pan into the Egg, cherry wood.     My egg must be due for a disassembly cleaning, couldn't get it over 375º (was shooting for 450º) so it took a bit longer to cook, about 45 minutes:       Pulled when the breast hit 160º.  Skin wasn't quite as crispy as I was hoping, but probably because of the low Egg temp.  The breast was perfectly cooked, the dark meat I usually like at least 180º, will be reheating on the Egg to finish the cooking.  Spuds cooked perfect, nice browned bottoms, but greasy AF:     Tasty, but I won't be doing this again.  It's gonna take me two hours to get the kitchen/stove clean, and both the chicken and potatoes were quite greasy.  Not a good family recipe either as the dark meat wasn't fully cooked (to my tastes, anyway).     Serious Eats did a video of all the different hot things to press a chicken with: bricks, cast-iron pans, ceramic, even a cast-iron barbell weight.  While those methods didn't generate much mess, carrying a ripping-hot, greasy, 20-lb mass from the cutting board to the stove/Egg didn't look very safe either.  I think I'll leave the brick method to others.  
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