Don’t let the length
of this scare you away – as usual I am just terribly detail-orineted. Recently I have been on a quest to grill
barbecued chicken. My dad rarely cooked,
but usually once every year he would barbecue for us, and memories of his
barbecued chicken still linger in my mind.
Of course he only had an inexpensive old barrel-type grill that he built
a fire in just using wood. This was in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s before
much of anything fancy was out there and besides my dad was not into
fancy. I just remember him sitting out
there occasionally adding wood, and I wasn’t interested in cooking back in
those days so I have no idea what wood he used, how long he cooked it, or
actually anything about the process. I
only know that I’ve never had any chicken like it since. Since I am only using a gas grill it is of
course impossible to duplicate what took him hours to cook over wood, but I
have been trying to come as close to it as I can with my gas grill. I haven’t perfected the smoker box/tube yet
but I am getting better at it – and actually for the first time ever Justin is
finally interested in the grill. You see
I don’t have one of those husbands that grills – I can’t even ask him to watch
the grill for a few minutes while I am doing something else in the
kitchen. He has good intentions, but his
short attention span always gets the best of him and something in the distance
will catch his eye and he’s gone. For
some reason he has taken an interest in helping me figure out how to get more
smoke from my gas grill, so he went and bought a tube from a BBQ store that
holds wood pellets and a torch to light them.
It is a cool concept, but so far I haven’t gotten as much smoke out of
it as I would like. Then we bought a
triangular-shaped box that holds wood chips and sits directly between two of
the flame deflector bars under the grate.
It took a few tries, but the last time we used it we got the most smoke
we have gotten so far – just not as much as I want. SO, I am still working on the smoking part,
but I think I have everything else down pretty well.
KK's husband Leo is a master at grilling, so recently I watched him and took notes while he grilled chicken halves. He grills them on foil, on indirect heat, never flips them over and occasionally sprays them with garlic-flavored olive oil. So I used those tips, added brine and barbecue sauce and must admit I am pretty impressed with the results. When I grilled chicken on July 4th, my friend Kim told me it was the best grilled chicken breast she had ever eaten – so I decided it was time to blog it – mainly for myself so I know what is working for the flavor and texture of the chicken. Oh yeah, a grill with a thermometer is essential, and keeping an eye on the temp is critical. In this brutal Texas heat I have actually had to turn a burner off for a while and then back on 15 minutes later to regulate the temperature. I will continue working on the smoke, but this grilled chicken is pretty darn tasty. Brining it is essential as well so be sure you have all your ingredients together the night before so you have plenty of brining time. I have read many articles on various amounts of time to brine – some say 4 hours and others say up to 2 days! Then there are those that believe if you brine it too long it changes the texture of the chicken too much. My “perfect” July 4th chicken was brined about 10 hours, but that was because I had too much fun on the 3rd and forgot to put it in the brine before I went to bed! I think you can probably put it in the brine first thing in the morning and cook it late afternoon and be fine. I honestly think the brining of the chicken is why Kim thought the breast was so good, because chicken breasts generally get dry before the leg quarters get done when cooking a chicken half. As usual I forgot to take a picture, and today I only grilled leg/thigh quarters because we prefer dark meat, so that is why the picture isn’t of half chickens. I highlighted the essential words in this long narrative so after you have read it once, you only have to go back and see what’s most important to you instead of having to reread it all. If I ever get the smoker box the way I want it I will update this and also put it in bold.
KK's husband Leo is a master at grilling, so recently I watched him and took notes while he grilled chicken halves. He grills them on foil, on indirect heat, never flips them over and occasionally sprays them with garlic-flavored olive oil. So I used those tips, added brine and barbecue sauce and must admit I am pretty impressed with the results. When I grilled chicken on July 4th, my friend Kim told me it was the best grilled chicken breast she had ever eaten – so I decided it was time to blog it – mainly for myself so I know what is working for the flavor and texture of the chicken. Oh yeah, a grill with a thermometer is essential, and keeping an eye on the temp is critical. In this brutal Texas heat I have actually had to turn a burner off for a while and then back on 15 minutes later to regulate the temperature. I will continue working on the smoke, but this grilled chicken is pretty darn tasty. Brining it is essential as well so be sure you have all your ingredients together the night before so you have plenty of brining time. I have read many articles on various amounts of time to brine – some say 4 hours and others say up to 2 days! Then there are those that believe if you brine it too long it changes the texture of the chicken too much. My “perfect” July 4th chicken was brined about 10 hours, but that was because I had too much fun on the 3rd and forgot to put it in the brine before I went to bed! I think you can probably put it in the brine first thing in the morning and cook it late afternoon and be fine. I honestly think the brining of the chicken is why Kim thought the breast was so good, because chicken breasts generally get dry before the leg quarters get done when cooking a chicken half. As usual I forgot to take a picture, and today I only grilled leg/thigh quarters because we prefer dark meat, so that is why the picture isn’t of half chickens. I highlighted the essential words in this long narrative so after you have read it once, you only have to go back and see what’s most important to you instead of having to reread it all. If I ever get the smoker box the way I want it I will update this and also put it in bold.
BRINE for 2 chicken halves or up to 6 leg/thigh quarters or
probably 4 bone-in breasts*:
1/3 c. kosher salt1/3 c. white sugar
1/3 c. soy sauce
2 TB olive oil
1 gallon warm/hot water
You want the salt and sugar to totally dissolve, so some
recipes say to boil all the ingredients, but I just used hot tap water and
whisked them together until the water looked clear again and then added the soy
sauce and oil. The beauty of not boiling
it is that it takes so long for the brine to cool, and I have never been good
at waiting.
OR:
½ c. salt
2/3 c. brown sugar1 TB garlic powder
1 TB onion powder
2 Bay leaves
1 gallon warm/hot water
Same hot water rule applies here. Whisk the salt and sugar in the warm water
until totally dissolved (Or put all in a pot and boil it). In a small jar with a lid, put in the powders
and some of the water out of the brine and shake until well dissolved. This will keep the powders from lumping. Add this into the brine and drop in the bay
leaves.
Once the brine is room temp, add in the chicken. I usually put it all in a jumbo-size ziplock (2-1/2
gallon) bag because it takes up less space in the frig. Brine half chickens at least 10 hours and
preferably overnight. Brine bone-in
chicken pieces at least 4 hours and preferably 8-10 hours. Be sure and rinse off the chicken after
taking it out of the brine and pat it completely dry with a paper towel before
seasoning.
SEASONING:
2 Gringo’s Chupacabra Rubor Rudy’s Turkey Rub
I have used both but everyone’s favorite was the Chupacabra
Rub which is sold with all the spices at our HEB. It only comes in a large 12 oz bottle, but it’s
“chupalicious” so it’s worth the expense.
Heavily rub both sides of the chicken with the seasoning.
SMOKER BOX – You may
skip this step if you don’t have one:
Soak wood chips in a bowl in water for at least 30
minutes. I have used hickory and oak,
but I’m told cherry and apple both are good with chicken. Pour off the water and put them in the smoker
box.
While they are soaking get your foil ready. Take 2 pieces of the extra heavy duty foil that are large enough to hold your chicken
and lay them on top of each other. Fold
up about an inch on each side to create a lip that will keep any juices from
spilling over into the grill. Spray the
foil lightly with Pam. The last 15
minutes of soaking time you should preheat your grill to about 500
degrees. This will help get the wood
chips to begin smoking.
When the temperature reaches 500 put the smoker box down under the
grate. As soon as it begins to smoke
turn off the middle burner and put your foil in the middle on the burner that
is not lit and place your chicken on it, bone-side down. The goal is for the chicken to cook on
indirect heat. You may have to
occasionally open the grill to cool it down but your goal is to cook the
chicken at a temperature between 300 and 325 at the most. I have even had to turn off an outside burner
to get it cool enough and then turn it back on to keep the temp stable. Just be sure you don’t turn the one off that has
the smoker box on it or it will quit smoking.
At most my smoker box has only smoked about 30 minutes, so I am working
on getting more smoke.
If you have skipped
the smoker box step, just get your foil ready and preheat your grill to
about 300 degrees using the outside burners only. Then read the previous 2 paragraphs about the
foil, controlling the temperature, and the placement of the chicken.
GARLIC OIL SPRAY
YOUR FAVORITE BARBECUE SAUCE:
Never flip the chicken over.
It stays bone-side down the entire cooking time. About 30 minutes into it lightly spray each
piece with oil. If you don’t have garlic oil
then just use Pam Olive Oil spray. If
you choose not to use barbecue sauce then spray the skin side up again in 15
minutes. If you want to use barbecue
sauce (which we love) lightly brush both sides of chicken with the barbecue
sauce instead of the garlic spray. I have a cookie sheet on the side of the grill that I temporarily put the chicken to brush both sides with the sauce, so I don't have to move the foil and can keep the lid closed to keep my temperature stable. If you don't keep the lid closed you will have to re-regulate the temperature, and that is a hassle. Put the chicken back on the foil, bone-side down, close the lid and cook another 10 or so
minutes. If the meat on the bottom of
the leg is beginning to pull away a bit the chicken should be done. Take it off the grill and again lightly brush
both sides with barbecue sauce.
Get your napkins ready and Enjoy!!
*If you are only cooking bone-in chicken breasts you will
definitely decrease the cooking time. We
aren’t white-meat fans so I haven’t experimented with it. Good luck!
No comments:
Post a Comment