Barbecue Chicken Breasts (follow-up on Friday comments)
Barbecue Chicken Breasts
Peggy Lampman | Contributor
I posted a blog on Friday regarding barbecuing chicken without burning it. A reader was incredulous it takes me 2 and 1/2 hours to barbecue chicken on the bone with skin attached, but that's my reality for no-burn chicken with a wood and charcoal smoked flavor.
A reader (thanks Atticus!) suggested cranking up the heat a bit to cook it faster. So I gave it a try. I decided to used my gas grill, to further simplify the recipe and regulate the heat.
It's difficult getting the heat as low as I prefer when using gas, so I kept only one of the three burners on low heat, which kept the grill temp hovering around 300 degrees. When it crept over 300 degrees, I opened the hood. I also used chicken breasts (which cook quicker) and my gas grill, instead of my ancient trusty Webber charcoal.
Made a mini-brine of kosher salt, brown sugar and smoked paprika.
I wanted to inject moisture into the breasts, so I made a rub/brine and let the chickens soak in that (refrigerated) for about four hours. I don't bother with brines when grilling dark meat chicken. Letting the breasts sit in a dry rub would have been fine, but my brown sugar was like a brick, so I added hot water to melt it. I also used smoked paprika in the rub/brine — a little cheat to get a bit of smoky flavor.
Brush barbecue sauce (if using) over chicken in last few minutes of cooking time.
It was faster — start to finish on the grill about 1 hour and 15 minutes. If I'd been using legs with thighs attached (my favorite!), it would have been about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The flavor was delicious, primarily because of the brine and Stubb's Original Barb-B-Q sauce, but I missed the smoke flavor of bona fide barbecue. Bottom line: even with a slightly hotter temp, there were no flare-ups resulting in blackened chicken.
Yield: 4 large chicken breasts
Brine Time: 4 hours
Grill Time: 1 1/2 hours
Ingredients:
4 1/2 pounds* (4 large) chicken breast, skin and bone attached
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon Spanish smoked paprika
1/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup your favorite barbecue sauce
*If chicken breasts are smaller, reduce cooking time. If larger, increase cooking time.
Directions:
1. Dissolve salt, sugar and paprika in hot water. Put a couple of ice cubes in this mixture to chill or refrigerate until chilled. With forefinger, work skin away from chicken breast. Pour brine under chicken breast skin and over chicken and refrigerate about 4 hours, turning once after two hours.
2. Prepare gas grill to lowest heat possible. Grill chicken 30 minutes on each side. Brush barbecue sauce over skin and continue cooking until sauce has permeated the skin, about 15 additional minutes.
Comments
Peggy Lampman
Wed, Jun 1, 2011 : 7:31 p.m.
Sbuilder: Thanks for all of that! Coconut husks? You grill coconut husks? That is something I've never heard of grilling, but I adore Thai and Indonesian fare. Would love info on how you do that. I'm sure our readers would as well. I agree about the gas VS coals. I just can't get that smoked flavor I adore on my gas grill. I use a grill box filled w/chips and it still doesn't work. I'm thinking about getting a second box to see if that helps impart a smoky flavor. I would make an uneducated guess that 80 percent of people who grill and barbecue do so over gas. Why? For convenience, plain and simple. Once you get the chimney lighter down and, as you mentioned, the oil drenched towel trick, it all gets simpler. Real fire grilling is an art, but a learned art. Your tips make it more accessible. Thanks! Peggy
sbbuilder
Tue, May 31, 2011 : 9:51 p.m.
Brine! Brine! Brine! The key to much better barbecue. I brine pork, chicken and turkey. I put ribs in a cooler with ice water and kosher salt for a minimum of three hours before applying a rub. You can feel the difference right away because the rack gets all floppy after removing it from the brine. I have both a gas and charcoal grill. The gas grill only gets used for times where convenience is a priority. Otherwise, I cook everything else over charcoal on cast iron grates. How else can you bake potatoes right in the coals? How else can you use your favorite wood to smoke the meat? Ever try coconut husks? Wow, that really lends an authentic flavor when grilling Balinese or Thai Satay. One other tip. Keep the grill clean, and liberally coat the hot grates with oil just before putting on your meat. Let the flare ups subside, which only lasts a few moments. I dip a folded paper towel in a small bowl of oil and apply with tongs.