Fire It Up - Andrew Schloss [95]
Remove the chicken to a serving platter and serve with the remaining barbecue sauce for dipping.
KNOW-HOW: CUTTING A CHICKEN INTO PARTS
Put the chicken breast-side up, pull one of the legs away from the body, and cut through the skin and meat where the leg attaches to the body. Bend the leg away from the body until the ball of the thigh bone pops out of the socket. Cut between the ball and socket to remove the leg from the body. Repeat with the other leg.
Separate the drumstick from the thigh on each leg by cutting down firmly between the joints.
Pull a wing away from the body and cut near the joint at the base of the wing to remove it from the body. Repeat with the other wing.
Pry the back away from the breast with your hands and cut the back from the breast. Save the backbone for stock if you like.
Cut the breast lengthwise in half through the middle through the breastbone. If you like, cut each breast crosswise in half to make smaller pieces.
BONE-IN CHICKEN BREAST
Tandoori Chicken with Fresh Mint Salad
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
Tandoori is a technique for roasting ingredients in a wood-fired, bell-shaped ceramic oven, called a tandoor. Used throughout Central Asia, tandoori has also come to mean the spicy yogurt marinade typically used when preparing tandoori chicken, a classic dish in the cuisine of the Punjab region, which is part of present-day Pakistan and India. If you have a ceramic grill oven (such as Primo or Big Green Egg), you can get a fairly authentic tandoor effect. But with a good tandoori marinade, you can come close to the original with nothing more than a charcoal or gas grill and a medium-hot fire. The marinating spices permeating the chicken are calmed with a balm of melted butter and a cooling accompaniment of fresh mint salad.
INGREDIENTS:
4 bone-in chicken breast halves (about 12 ounces each), washed and patted dry
1 cup Tandoori Yogurt Marinade
1 red onion, quartered lengthwise and sliced paper thin
1 bunch mint leaves, finely chopped (about ½ cup)
¼ habanero chile pepper, stemmed, seeded, and minced
Juice of ½ lemon
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon coarse salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
DIRECTIONS:
Combine the chicken breasts and marinade in a 1-gallon zipper-lock bag, press out the air, and seal. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Combine the onion, mint, habanero, lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of the olive oil, and the salt in a small bowl and set aside.
Light a grill for direct medium heat, about 375°F.
Remove the chicken from the marinade, discard the marinade, and pat the chicken dry. Coat with the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil.
Brush the grill grate and coat with oil. Put the chicken, boneside down, on the grill, cover the grill, and cook until the underside is dark brown and the top loses its raw look, about 15 minutes. Turn the chicken over, cover, and grill until the skin is browned, about 10 minutes. Turn again, cover, and grill until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the largest breast registers 155°F, about 5 more minutes.
Serve the chicken drizzled with butter.
BONE-IN CHICKEN BREAST
Hot Hot Grilled Chicken Breast with Fire-Quenching Cucumber Balm
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
Brines, especially those containing some alcohol, have the near magical ability to drench meat with flavor. In this recipe we use that phenomenon to achieve truly incendiary results. The heat in the brine is kicked up with a double punch of habanero (only the Naga Jolokia chile from India is hotter), which makes each bite of chicken radiate throughout the mouth. Alone the chicken can be quite intense, but served with a coolant of minty cucumber yogurt, it sets up a titillating tension between pain and relief, which takes dinner to a whole other level.
INGREDIENTS:
3 cups Chile Brine, made with double the quantity of habanero chile pepper
4 bone-in chicken breast halves (about 12 ounces each),