No-Burn Barbecue Chicken, plus grilling links
Peggy Lampman | Contributor
The following five-step program for cooking whole pieces of chicken may take longer on the grill, but it’s easy and tastes better. Bonus: You don’t have to stand vigil around the fire hosing down flare-ups!
This is one of my “noRecipe Recipes." Loosely follow five basic rules, and blackened chicken will be a distant memory. Ingredients that never vary are cut chicken pieces — skin and bone attached, a rub, barbecue sauce and grill.
You’ll need charcoal and/or wood chips for a charcoal grill, and a grill box and hard wood chips for a gas grill. Using wood chips are not essential, but they lend a great smoky flavor to the chicken. Hickory, cherry or applewood are my favorites. Mesquite is delicious, but be cautious: I’ve over-amped the mesquite flavor one too many times.
Another essential ingredient is time: it’s essential to keep a watchful eye on the chicken for several hours as it barbecues.
1.Select your chicken. You may buy whole broiler-fryers and cut them up yourself, but cut chicken is the most convenient. Mix and match your favorite parts as desired. If there’s a sale on cut chicken — particularly air-chilled (available at Whole Foods) — you know what will be on my menu. Trim excess skin and fat from chicken, particularly thighs. Rinse your chicken pieces well, then pat dry.
Peggy Lampman | Contributor
2. Season, don’t sauce, initially. Purchase a ready-made poultry rub or make your own*. 1 cup of rub seasons about 7-8 pounds of meat. Apply rub by hand and rub into chicken and under skin if loose. Cover, but do not coat the meat. (Homemade rubs are a great way to use up dry spices.)
3. Barbecue your chicken over a slow fire — the chicken will take 2 and 1/2 to 3 hours to cook. Using charcoal or gas, the temperature of your grill should be 230-250 degrees. For charcoal: Begin with lighting at least 6 cups of charcoal and burn the coal down until it reaches a temperature of 230-250 degrees. You’ll need to check the fire every 45 minutes, occasionally adding coals to keep the temperature of the grill between 230-250 degrees. For gas: Set your burners to low heat, cover and heat until thermometer registers desired temperature.(If your grill is not equipped with a thermometer, measuring heat is easy with the “palm method." Place the palm of your hand an inch or two above the heat. If you can keep it there for six seconds, the heat is at the right temperature. Maintain this temperature by opening or closing the vents and adding charcoal as needed. It is a slow fire but that’s what keeps the chicken from burning!) For gas, you may need to maintain a low heat by turning off one or two burners. Remember, white meat chicken cooks faster than dark meat, so keep watch.
4. Keep your smoke. If you’re smoking with wood chips, you should keep as much smoke around the chicken as possible. Therefore you must keep the lid on. Again — do not let the temperature of your heat exceed 230 degrees. You want as much smoke as possible, at a very low heat — especially in the first hour of the barbecue. (Remember that small wood chips should be soaked 30 minutes before using — the larger chunks up to 2 hours). If using a charcoal grill, toss the soaked chips on every time you add additional charcoal,then close the grill. If using a grill box , change the wood at least once. The grill boxes are blazing hot — I have a second box at the ready to switch off.
5.Sauce when your chicken is cooked. You may skip the sauce altogether — the rub and smoke may be plenty of flavor for you. But if saucing, wait until the end. The sauce only needs 5 minutes to adhere to cooked chicken. And this is the time to be vigilant. If the fire has gotten hot, it can make the sauce burn. Be ready with tongs to remove the chicken at the first signs of burning. Your chicken is done when the thigh juices run clear.
* Quick and easy rub: Combine equal parts kosher salt and brown sugar; season to taste with paprika and pepper. I often use smoked Spanish paprika, especially if I’m not smoking with wood chips. Chipotle, garlic and onion powder are savory additions. If I’ve dried herbs that are fading, I will use these as well. Taste often — it’s fun to develop your own signature seasoning rub.
Beef and Lamb or the Grill:
Marinated Beef Kebobs
Flat Iron Steak with Chimichurri Sauce
Perfectly Grilled Steak
Grilled Steak with Gorgonzola Butter
Go-Blue Cheese Burgers
Pomegranate Lamb and Grape Kebobs
Binghamton Speedies
Chicken and Turkey on the Grill
Grilled Chicken Fajita Bar
Grilled Barbecue Chicken Pizza
Turkey Burgers with Cracked Wheat and Spinach
Grilled Turkey Breast
Brined, Grilled Chicken Breasts with Blackberry Sauce
Grilled Balsamic Chicken Breasts over Baby Greens
Grilled Chicken Thighs with an Anchovy Crust
Grilled Duck Breast with Cherry Sauce
Watermelon-Glazed Chicken Kebobs
Pork on the Grill
Applewood Smoked Pork Tenderloin with Cherry Sauce
Smoked, Pulled Pork Barbecue Sliders with Hot Slaw
Barbecue Spare Ribs
Brined, Grilled Pork Chops
Fish on the Grill
Grilled Wild Salmon with Caper-Tarragon Sauce
Fish Tacos
Grilled Halibut, Red Onion and Orange Salad
Grilled Shrimp with Firecracker Sauce
Grilled Tuna With Wasabi Butter
Grilled Sea Bass in a Fresh Herb Blanket
Vegetables on the Grill
Portobella Mushroom Burgers
Grilled Vegetable Platter with Dill-Almond Pesto
Swiss Chard Bundles with Smoked Mozzarella
Grilled Insalata Tricolore
Grilled Lemony Endive Spears
Grilled Flatbread with Artichoke Hearts, Feta and Tomatoes
Grilled Tomato Mozzarella Pizza
Sausages, Hot Dogs and Such
Grilled Mediterranean Sausages
Great Lakes Cherry "Dog"
Comments
Peggy Lampman
Mon, May 30, 2011 : 12:24 p.m.
Here's "The Egg" blog : <a href="http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/food-drink/peggy-lampmans-monday-dinnerfeed-grilled-black-sea-bass-in-fresh-herb-blanket/">http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/food-drink/peggy-lampmans-monday-dinnerfeed-grilled-black-sea-bass-in-fresh-herb-blanket/</a>
Peggy Lampman
Mon, May 30, 2011 : 12:19 p.m.
One more thing! I forgot about "The Egg"! I'm dying for an egg!!! They are available at Home and Garden, but I'll have to save my pennies. I think I could BQ chicken faster if I had an egg. I'm going to post an old blog about them. Peggy
Peggy Lampman
Mon, May 30, 2011 : 12:13 p.m.
Hey guys! Happy Day! Just smoking chicken, my friends. I barbecue chicken (and it's not boneless, skinless breasts but chicken with the bones in it) low and slow, slow, slow. To me the difference between grilling and barbecuing is the length of the cooking time. I cook Que over coals and woods because I like to taste the smoke. Atticus, good point about cranking the heat a bit.I'm going to make some over my gas grill (with the smoke box), crank up a tad and see how that works.) Abbuilder - one of my fondest childhood memories is my dad barbecuing ribs. It was a (well-lubed) all day event over our stone pit in the back woods. Seriously! Nothing like the flavor of those ribs with that tangy, peppery sauce. Thor - I have a spit that I've only used for whole chickens on my gas grill. It does work great! I need to revisiit that thing and try some other. Thanks for the comments! Peggy
Thor143
Fri, May 27, 2011 : 11:22 p.m.
I bought a rotisserie for my Weber gas grill and 1 hour over medium heat gives me a wonderful' juicy bird!
Freight Train
Fri, May 27, 2011 : 9:20 p.m.
I like the slow and low/rub/sauce method as well, but I cook at about 300-325F. I use wood and keep the bird about 18" to the side of the coals. About 90 min and it's done.
sbbuilder
Fri, May 27, 2011 : 5:58 p.m.
button163 What she is not smoking, or burning, is the chicken. Chicken is probably the most abused meat on the grill. The problem is the relatively large amount of bone to meat ratio. The bones have to reach the same temperature as the meat, otherwise, you get red clammy, uncooked meat close to the bone. There is no practical way to speed this up. For the same reason, ribs are cooked an interminable amount of time. Very low heat for hours on end will yield fall off the bone baby back ribs.
Atticus F.
Fri, May 27, 2011 : 5:14 p.m.
BBQ chicken, one of my favs. I agree with Peggy about slow and low cooking. Although I've found you can speed it up a little by increasing the heat slightly...You need to turn the pieces more often though.
treetowncartel
Fri, May 27, 2011 : 4:38 p.m.
I got myself a charbroil gas grill this year that has infrared grilling, no problems with flames burning the food at all.
EightySeven
Fri, May 27, 2011 : 2:36 p.m.
Peggy- 2 1/2 hours is a bit long for cooking chicken. Maybe 30 minutes at the most.
burton163
Fri, May 27, 2011 : 1:17 p.m.
2 1/2 to 3 hours to cook a cut up chicken? You can roast an entire turkey in that time. It will take 50 minutes max to grill chicken pieces folks...don't know what she's smokin'...
BobbyJohn
Sat, Jun 25, 2011 : 2:58 p.m.
Takes that long because of the super low temp the bird is cooked at. Makes for super delish chicken