Fire It Up - Andrew Schloss [94]
HALVED CHICKEN
Halved Grilled Coriander Chicken with Margarita Butter
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
Want to cut the time it takes to roast chicken in half? That’s easy—cut it in half! By splitting a chicken down the middle you can change your cooking method from indirect to direct grilling, and since the heat only has to travel half the distance, the results are twice as fast. In this recipe the chicken is brined in a spicy coriander-cilantro liquid for added juiciness and flavor, and basted at the finish with a boozy margarita butter.
INGREDIENTS:
1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds), washed and patted dry and split in half lengthwise (see Know-How, below)
2½ cups Coriander Brine
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup warm Margarita Butter
DIRECTIONS:
Combine the chicken halves and brine in a 1-gallon zipper-lock bag, press out the air, and seal. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Light a grill for direct medium heat, about 375°F.
Remove the chicken from the brine and discard the brine. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and coat with the olive oil.
Brush a grill grate and coat with oil. Put the chicken, bone-side down, on the grill. Cover the grill and cook until deeply browned on the bone side, about 15 minutes. Turn the chicken and brown lightly on the skin side, about 10 minutes.
Turn the chicken skin-side up and baste with margarita butter. Grill until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the inside of a thigh registers 165°F, about 10 minutes more, basting with the butter twice more.
Set the chicken aside to rest for 5 minutes, cut into pieces, and serve. If there is any margarita butter left, drizzle it over the chicken.
KNOW-HOW: HALVING POULTRY
To halve a whole chicken or any other bird, put the chicken, breast-side down, on a cutting board. Cut along either side of the backbone with poultry shears or a knife. Remove the backbone. Cut the chicken lengthwise down the center of the breast bone, to separate the bird in two halves. Trim visible deposits of fat and loose flaps of skin.
CHICKEN PARTS
Basic Barbecued Chicken
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
What we call barbecued chicken is actually grilled. For one thing, the temperature in a grill simply can’t get low enough for barbecuing, and for another, chicken is better grilled than barbecued. Start by putting the chicken on the grill as far away from direct fire as possible in order to cook it through with a minimum of browning. Move it directly over the fire to brown, and then, only in the last minutes of cooking, glaze it with barbecue sauce to develop a sheen and a few charred marks.
The most common mistake is to sauce the bird too early, thinking that time spent in sauce will inundate the meat with flavor. Not so. Instead it’s better to take the spicy, smoky flavors of the sauce and put them into a brine. The salt in the brine bonds both water (for juiciness) and spices (for flavor) with the fibers of the meat, and since brines are low in sugar, they do not cause the scorching problems of barbecue sauce.
INGREDIENTS:
3½ to 4 pounds bone-in chicken breasts, thighs, and drumsticks, washed and patted dry
4 cups Smokin’ Brine
1 tablespoon canola oil
Ground black pepper to taste
2 cups Easy Barbecue Sauce
DIRECTIONS:
Trim any excess fat from the chicken parts and combine with the brine in a 1-gallon zipper-lock bag. Squeeze out the air, seal the bag, and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.
Light a grill for indirect medium heat, about 350°F.
Remove the chicken from the brine and discard the brine.
Pat the chicken dry, coat with oil, and sprinkle all over with the pepper. Set aside for 10 minutes.
Brush the grill grate and coat with oil. Put the chicken over the unheated part of the grill, cover, and cook, turning once or twice, until the chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear (about 155°F for breasts and 165°F for thighs on an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part), 30 to 40 minutes total. During the last 10 to 15 minutes of grilling, move the chicken over