Chicken Tabaka

The ideal size is a chicken between 500 and 1000 g, though finding one that small isn't always easy — you can try making it with a larger bird, but at that point it's no longer a baby chicken and you'd essentially have a full-size chicken tabaka. Split the chicken along the breast and open it up flat.

Cover with plastic wrap and pound with the flat side of a meat mallet (pay extra attention to the joints). Season with salt on both sides. If you have time, let it sit for about half an hour to absorb the salt, but you can also start cooking right away (I cooked mine immediately).

Heat the butter and vegetable oil in a skillet. The butter is essential — I wouldn't recommend replacing it with vegetable oil alone; you can also use clarified butter, in which case no additional vegetable oil is needed. Place the chicken skin side down in the pan.

Press down with a weight on top — a pot filled with water works best for this. Cook for about 8–12 minutes over medium heat.

Then flip the chicken, press down with the weight again, and cook for another 8–12 minutes. I cooked my 700 g chicken for 10 minutes per side, but if your bird is larger you'll need to increase the time — cooking time also depends on how high your heat is, of course. To check for doneness, pierce the meat near a joint with a knife.

While the chicken is cooking, prepare the sauce. I strongly recommend using garlic — it's what really brings the flavor together. It's common to rub the chicken with garlic before cooking, but the problem is that by the time the chicken is done, all that nice aroma will be gone because the garlic will have burned to a crisp, and the smell of burnt garlic while cooking isn't exactly pleasant. This is easy to avoid by simply adding the garlic at the very end. For the sauce — combine finely minced garlic, water, and oil in a small bowl. Add a little salt and a very generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. If you'd like, you can also add a pinch of ground hot red pepper.

Once the chicken is done, pour half the sauce over the top side. Carefully flip it and pour the remaining sauce over the other side, then press down with the weight again. The garlic will have time to soak into the hot chicken without burning.

You're welcome to set out a fork and knife when serving, but chicken tabaka is traditionally eaten with your hands — so napkins are a better idea. Chicken tabaka is a truly delicious Georgian dish! The one I made disappeared in an instant — I ate half of it myself and could have finished the whole thing, but I had to share with those around me)) So it's best to cook at least two chickens at a time!))