Chicken in salt batter

This dish is often found under the name “dinosaur egg”: chicken is baked in a dough, which after baking becomes very hard, like a dinosaur shell. The chicken turns out tasty, juicy and flavorful, and serving in the dough is very original and unusual. In the same way you can cook any other bird – quails, partridges, ducks, etc., for all together or portioned for each guest. The only remark – cutting the dough “shell” requires the use of male force, so in a purely female company to eat such a chicken will be problematic.

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Constituents:

• chicken (about 1.5 kg) – 1 piece
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• flour - 600 gr.                           
• salt (rock or sea salt) - 600 gr.                     
• water - 350-400 ml
• fresh herbs - thyme, rosemary - a bunch
• lemon - 2 slices
• zest of 1 lemon

Preparation of chicken in salted batter:

In a bowl, mix together the flour, salt, lemon zest and more than half of the finely chopped herbs.

Then pour in 300 ml of water and, adding more water as needed, knead the “dough” until it becomes homogeneous, while still being firm.

Wash and dry the chicken. Note that the skin of the chicken should be intact, otherwise the chicken may “over-salt” in this area, drawing the salt out of the pastry. Put the remaining herbs and lemon slices inside the chicken.

For ease of wrapping, the legs of the chicken can be tied tightly to the body with cooking string (I didn't have any string handy).
On the baking paper, roll out the dough into a layer about 1 cm thick, place the chicken in the center of the dough.

Lifting up the edges of the paper, seal the chicken completely into the dough.

On baking paper, transfer the chicken to a baking tray and bake for 1-1.5 hours in a preheated oven at 220 degrees Celsius (refer to the color of the dough crust).

Once baked, the pastry crust is very hard and difficult to break, but it retains the juices and flavors of the chicken perfectly. You can use a knife and a meat tenderizer to break the dough.

Enjoy!"