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Grilling Perfect chicken Version 1.3 By Bill Wight Editor of the BBQ-List FAQ |
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Grilling Perfect chicken Version 1.3 By Bill Wight Editor of the BBQ-List FAQ |
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Copyright 2004 All commercial rights reserved.
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[What do I have to do to grill perfect chicken?]
Next to hot dogs and hamburgers, Americans grill more chicken than any other meat. Unfortunately, most Americans grill chicken like I used to--chicken that is black on the outside and still pink next to the bone. When I took an interest in learning how to become a better griller and I did some reading on the subject and asked some experts on the BBQ mailing list some questions, it became pretty obvious that I was grilling chicken completely wrong. Grilling perfect chicken is not rocket science. Believe me, if I can grill perfect chicken, so can you. So follow along and let me help you become a master griller of chicken.
[I see pictures of perfectly-grilled chicken in magazines and cookbooks. Why can't I get chicken to look like that?]
Food photography is an art. The photographs you see in magazines and cookbooks are done by 'professional food stylists'. Yes, that's right professional food stylists. These are people who specialize in making photographs of foods appear as perfect as possible. The photo at the top of this page was made not be me, but a professional food stylist. Can you make grilled chicken look as good at this? Yes, after you follow the tips and techniques in this article, you will be able to make chicken as pretty as the legs in the photo above. Will you be able to photograph it and have it look as good? To do that, you will probably need a professional photo studio and four years at the Brooks Institute of Photography.
[How do I get great-looking grill marks on my chicken?]
To get great-looking grill marks on chicken you will have to grill individual pieces rather than a whole chicken. The secret in getting great-looking grill marks is to get really good at grilling chicken. When you have mastered all the basics, then you can play around with making your grilled chicken look like the photos in magazines. To get great-looking grill marks, you need to have a very clean and oiled grill. You also need a medium-low fire so the chicken cooks slowly. The great-looking grill marks are achieved by letting the chicken sit on the grill until it is cooked halfway through. Then you turn the chicken, once and only once, to get the grill marks on the opposite side. Since you must leave the chicken on the grill for about 10 minutes, the fire must be a medium-low, so the chicken gets cooked slowly. To get cross-hatched grill marks, then you must cook the chicken on one side one quarter of the way through, and then rotate it 90 degrees and let it continue cooking. Then turn the chicken over and repeat the process on the other side. By following the tips and techniques in this article, you will be able to make grilled chicken that looks great and tastes even better.
[What is grilling?]
Most experts on the subject of grilling would define it as cooking directly over a fire, with the item to be grilled above the fire. Grilling is the oldest form of cooking, used long before we had backyard grills (actually, long before we had backyards). Grilling is still used today in many parts of the world as the primary method for cooking food. In the western cultures, however, grilling over a fire has mostly moved outdoors, used more as a form of recreational cooking, then the main way we cook our everyday foods.
Some traditionalists would argue that the only cooking method that qualifies as 'grilling' is when the meat is cooked on a rack directly over the burning coals of a wood or charcoal fire. They would say that if you placed the meat on the rack where it was not directly over the coals and put a lid in place and cooked the meat using the indirect method, then this is not grilling but roasting. For the purposes of this FAQ, we will not be so traditional or restrictive in our definition of the term 'grilling'. We will use the term to cover any cooking we do where the meat, vegetables or fruit are on the meat rack and we have a fire, either gas, wood or charcoal below the grate and with the grill cover on or off.
When meat is grilled, the high heat produces chemical reactions in the outside layers. These reactions cause the surface to turn brown and many complex chemicals to form. It is these chemicals that give us the rich and unique taste we have come to associate with grilling meat. This process of browning is termed the Maillard reaction, named after the food chemist who first described it. The chemical reactions that take place when meat is browned are quite complex. Over 3,500 volatile chemical compounds have been identified as a result of the Maillard reaction.
[I heard that grilling meat can give me cancer. Is this true?]
Some years back, scientists reported finding carcinogens (cancer-causing chemicals and agents) in grilled meat, specifically meat grilled over a very hot (500F+) fire. OK, so scientists found some carcinogenic chemicals that result from grilling meat. What does this mean? What the media at the time did not report was that for these carcinogens to be of concern, a person would have to consume thousands of pounds of grilled meat a year. You are at a much higher risk of getting cancer by just living in a city or pumping gas into your car than you are by grilling meat. Life is a risk. Every day you get up and without thinking about it, take an number of risks. You eat prepared food, you drive in a car, you smoke a cigarette, you get on an airplane, you take a prescription drug. All of these activities carry a risk of death with them. We have decided that we can live with these risks. Grilling food will not give you cancer. Living will give you cancer.
[So, what's the secret to grilling perfect chicken?]
In the last few years, I have learned ten 'secrets' to grilling perfect chicken. Here they are:
1) Be organized.
2) Use a Weber Bar-B-Kettle grill with a dome lid.
3) Use charcoal (lump or briquettes) for fuel and water-soaked hickory, oak or mesquite wood chips for flavor.
4) Trim excess fat from the chicken.
5) Flavor the chicken with a brine, marinade, rub, baste/mop, glaze or finishing sauce, or any combination.
6) Do not use a sugar or tomato-containing mop or basting sauce on the chicken until just before the chicken comes off the grill.
7) Use an accurate meat thermometer and remove the chicken from the grill when it is perfectly done—160F in the breast, or 170F in the thigh.
8) While grilling the chicken, eliminate flare-ups:
- by using the indirect heat method and the dome cover on the grill,
- by using the direct heat method, but preventing the flare-ups by keeping the heat of the coals at the right level,
- by using the direct heat method with moderate heat from the coals but using the dome lid to snuff out any flare-ups.
9) Don't be in a hurry. It will take some time to get the charcoal going and you'll have to do some preparation before the chicken is put on the grill. Figure 35-45 minutes to get to coals burned down and up to one hour to cook the chicken if using indirect heat.
10) Keep your grill clean. Nothing will give you nasty-tasting and looking chicken quicker than a dirty grill, with last week's chicken residue caked to the meat rack and last year's rancid grease sitting in the bottom of the grill.
Before I go any further, I'd like to define a few terms. The thing that sits outside on your porch, patio, deck or in your backyard and burns gas or charcoal and on which you cook steaks, hamburgers, chicken and chicken, is not a barbecue, it is a grill.
Barbecue or barbeque or BBQ or Bar-B-Que is a method of cooking that some people think is altogether different from grilling. Barbecue is the art of hot smoking meat and it is not what we are discussing here, which is grilling. To learn all about barbecue and more about grilling, see the
BBQ List FAQ However, if you want to call the process of cooking meat over a fire 'barbecue', go right ahead.Here are some terms we will be using:
Brine A method for increasing the water content in the meat and thereby making the meat more moist and tender. Brining can also impart salt and flavor into the meat.
Baste A liquid that you apply to the meat in the last 5 minutes or so of grilling. A baste usually contains sugar or may be tomato ketchup based. A sugars in a baste will usually burn if left on the grill for more than a few minutes. any barbecue sauce can be used as a baste.
Dipping Sauce A table sauce that is used on the finished meat as you eat it.
Direct heat Exposing the meat to the direct heat and flames of the fire. Placing the meat directly over the coals of the fire.
Dry rub A mixture of dry spices and herbs that you rub into the meat, salt and pepper being the simplest.
Finishing Sauce A sauce that is usually applied in the last few minutes of cooking or applied immediately after the meat has been removed from the grill.
Glaze A liquid containing some form of sugar that is applied to the meat just before or just after it has finished cooking.
Indirect heat Not exposing the meat to the direct heat and flames of the fire. Placing the meat so that it is not directly over the coals of the fire.
Mop Similar to a baste, but usually thinner and usually not containing sugar. Applied to the meat as it cooks to keep the outside of the meat from drying out.
Marinade A liquid that contains an acid component, a flavor component and an oil component that is used to flavor the meat before it is cooked. Marinades that do not contain an enzyme do not tenderize meat.
Paste rub A thick paste of spices and herbs that you rub onto the outside surface of the meat.
[Can you tell me a few indispensable tools I will need for grilling?]
Here are the tools that I use almost every time I grill:
Spring-loaded barbecue tongs--about 16 inches in length. I like the toothed ends where both tong ends are the same. I don't like the newer ones where one end is toothed and the other is like a little spatula. I use the tongs for moving and adding charcoal as well as adding, moving, turning and removing the chicken around on the grill.
A digital meat thermometer--I like the Polder, which is also available at Radio Shack (Cat. No. 63-1022). This unit has a nice readable display, a long-life AAA battery, and a very sharp and thin meat probe. Best of all, Radio Shack often has them on-sale for $19.95. Don't bother buying their extended warranty. Just keep the probe cord dry, unkinked and undamaged and the unit will give years of trouble-free use. I wash just the solid metal meat probe and never get the armored cable wet. You must also be careful not to let the display be exposed to direct sunlight or let the plastic get too hot as it will melt if you attach the magnetic bottom of the unit right to the outside of the grill.
Tip: My Friend Steve made me a wooden thermometer holder that protects the Polder unit from the heat of the lid. Cut a 3-inch square of 1/2-inch plywood and epoxy onto one side four little round metal magnets. On the other side of the piece of wood, epoxy on for large metal washers, about 1-inch in diameter. When the epoxy has set, you put the magnet side onto the kettle lid and then let the feet magnets of the Polder (or Radio Shack) unit attach to the metal washers. Now you can attach the Polder unit to the lid without melting the case.
Grill brush--to get the grill clean--I like the kind with the brass bristles. The Grill Wizard is also a good grill cleaning brush.
A long wooden-handled large fork and a spatula--are handy for checking doneness, breaking loose meat stuck to the grill and for transferring the cooked meat to a serving platter.
Basting brush and mop--You should have one of each. Both should have long handles. A mop is used for thinner sauces and a basting brush for thicker ones and for honey, butter and oils. These are available in barbecue stores, kitchen shops, supermarkets and discount stores. They are available from $2 to $9. Always slip back the sleeve covering the top part of the mop or brush when you put these into the dishwasher after use. This will clean the top portion of the mop or brush.
Spray bottle--not for putting out grease fires or damping down a flare-up! A spray bottle is ideal for applying thin mops, such as apple juice, beer or wine, which do not contain ingredients that would clog up the sprayer nozzle.
Drip pans--these accessories come in many shapes, sizes and materials.
Cooking pans--nice aluminum, stainless steel or porcelain roasting pans are a handy grilling item for moving meat to and grom the grill.
OK, let's take on these chicken grilling secrets one at a time and go into a little more detail.
A note about buying chicken
Don't expect to make perfect grilled chicken from that old bird that's on sale at your supermarket for $0.49 a pound. There is usually a good reason why a market will sell chicken that cheap and the reason is not that it is a perfect grilling chicken. I have found that buying chicken at my local supermarkets or warehouse store can be a hit or miss proposition. Make sure that the label does not say "stewing chicken" as this is the oldest and toughest of the chickens available--an old layer long past her prime. This type of chicken will make some good stewed chicken or chicken soup, but you don't want to grill this old girl. The label should say "fryer" or "Young Chicken". Talk to your butcher and ask his advice on which chicken brand in his case will give the best grilling results. When I buy a whole chicken, I like to limit the weight to 3 and 1/2 pounds or less. I've found that a general rule is the bigger the bird, the older the bird.
To make the very best chicken, try to get fryers that have never been frozen, and don't freeze them yourself. Buy the chicken the day before you're going to grill it. Freezing the chicken will cause ice crystals to form in the cells of the muscle tissue. When this happens, the cells burst and when the meat is thawed and cooked, a lot of the juices will run out that wouldn't run out if the meat had not been frozen. Unfortunately, the poultry producers have have done some spin on us. They are allowed to transport chickens at a temperature of around 32F and yet not have to call their chicken 'frozen'. However, any meat kept at 32F is going to be frozen.
Some grillers and barbecuers like to use free-range chickens. By all means, if you can find them and they are not priced too high, they are definitely a better chicken to grill than the assembly-line chickens from the supermarkets. They have a better taste and much less fat.
1) Get organized.
The point of this entire exercise is to get you the novice griller up to the level of expert. One thing that characterizes an expert chef or griller over the novice is the expert is organized when he or she begins to cook. If you have ever had the opportunity to see a real grilling expert in operation, you will note that he or she is very organized. they have everything they need nearby. So get you stuff together, have everything you are going to need near your grilling station. A table or TV tray set up next to your grill is a good way to proceed. Have all your tools, your mops, bastes, and seasonings on your grilling table and ready to go before you start. If you like to use a water spray bottle for fire control, have it filled and ready to go. Make sure you have a clean cutting board set out and that the knives that you will be using to slice the meat are clean and sharp. Make sure your grill, either charcoal or gas is level and in good working order and set up in a place that is safe and convenient for use. Make sure you have enough wood or charcoal or if you are using a gas grill, make sure your propane tank has enough fuel to cook your meal.
2) Use a Weber Kettle grill with a dome lid.
[I have $3,000 Weber Summit gas grill. Can't I make perfect grilled chicken on it?]
Yes, you can get good results on a gas grill by following one of the cooking methods given below and the section on using gas grills at the end of the document. I personally don't think chicken done on a gas grill ever tastes as good as chicken grilled over coals. I read where one grill expert said that the source of heat does not make a difference. I used to own a very nice gas grill (the one I used to burn my chicken on). I gave it to my son-in-law and got a 22 1/2-inch diameter Weber Bar-B-Kettle Grill. I bought the Weber on sale at Wal-Mart for less than $60, about 1/5th the cost of my gas grill. I couldn't be happier with the Weber. Sure, it's more work to grill using wood or charcoal for the fuel, but heck, that's half the fun--if you want easy, go out to dinner.
The Weber Kettle Grill (preferably 22 1/2" diameter) is, in my opinion, the best grill on the market. It's simple, inexpensive, easy to use and in the hands of an experienced cook, like you can become, will turn out the best grilled foods possible. You can use any good covered grill and accomplish similar results but the Weber gives you lots of control of the grilling process because of its top and bottom adjustable vents. The dome lid is indispensable because we can combine both grilling and smoking to give the chicken that great smoky taste. The Weber kettle will actually let you do some real barbecuing (hot smoking) if you learn a few tricks. I am a competition barbecue cook and am on a competition barbecue team that has cooked at the Kansas City American Royal barbecue contest. Our team uses an $8,000 professional smoker. However, I have smoked chickens on my Weber kettle that were just as good as any chicken our team can turn out our competition smoker.
If you need more grill area, then check out the larger Weber Bar-B-Kettle grill models or do like it did, get a second Weber Kettle grill.
3) Use charcoal (lump or briquettes) and water-soaked hickory or mesquite wood chips.
For perfect grilled chicken, using charcoal is the way to go. I don't believe, despite what the gas grill manufacturer's ads say, that you can get as good a tasting product on a gas grill as you can from charcoal. And further, you can get the very best tasting product if you use hardwood chunks rather than charcoal briquettes. Burning wood down to coals is more difficult than using charcoal, and most of us do not have access to chunks of hardwood or we don't want to invest the time and effort it takes to learn how to make and control a wood fire in a grill, so we'll just concentrate our discussion on using charcoal and later in this FAQ, on using gas.
[What brand of charcoal do I use?]
That's a good question. I have made excellent-tasting chicken using supermarket-branded as well as Kingsford briquettes. I have also made excellent chicken on premium brands of briquettes and also on lump charcoal (actual pieces of pure hardwood that are turned to charcoal). So try the charcoal available in your area and use the cheapest brand that gives you the best-tasting end product. Kingsford and many other brands of mass-produced charcoal briquettes contain coal and other ingredients to promote an easy lighting and longer-burning product. Some brands of charcoal briquettes are made from pure hickory hardwood with corn starch (a binder) as the only additive. Some of these brands are: "Holland", "Nature Glo", "Wildfire", and "Kroger". Learn more about charcoal here
Tip: Keep your charcoal briquettes or lump charcoal in a sealed medium-sized plastic trash can. This will keep the moisture out of the charcoal. Using charcoal that has a lot of moisture in it will make starting the charcoal difficult and keeping the fire going much harder. Charcoal briquettes that get wet often fall apart and are ruined.
[Can I use self-starting briquettes or starter fluid to light my charcoal?]
Some experienced grillers believe that self-starting briquettes and starter fluids will give your meat a petroleum taste. Others say that by the time the coals are gray and ready to use, the petroleum products are long gone. My personal experience over several years is that if you use either self-starting briquettes or charcoal lighter fluid and let the charcoal burn until they are covered with a gray ash coating before you put the meat on the grill, there will be NO taste of the petroleum distillates left. I often use charcoal lighter to start my charcoal and I've never had a single bad taste experience. Do your own experiments and find out for yourself. Just be sure that if you do use self-starting briquettes or lighter fluid, that all of the briquettes are covered with ash before you put the meat on the grill. Remember, that one briquette off to the side that did not get started still has lighter fluid it it. so make sure that all the briquettes are going before you put the meat on the grill.
[If I don't use the self-starting briquettes or lighter fluid, how do I start the charcoal?]
There are several ways to do this, all easy.
1) Get a charcoal lighter chimney (about $10).
2) use paraffin fire starter sticks,
3) get an electric charcoal starter, and
4) use a gas burner.
I often use the chimney method--it's the slowest but it's also the cheapest. Just two full sheets of newspaper crumbled into a rope-shape and wadded into the base of the chimney starter. Make sure that there is not too much newspaper or you will reduce the air-flow of the chimney and you will not get the charcoal to light. Follow the manufacturer's directions on how to use the chimney (put the charcoal in the top section above the rack, crumpled newspaper in the bottom and light the paper, then 30 minutes or so later, dump the glowing briquettes in the Weber). This method is easy and requires no electricity, gas nor paraffin sticks (also petroleum). If you're in a hurry to get your charcoal lighted, then the gas burner is the quickest method. Your small propane torch will not work, we are talking about a weed burner type. Or you can set the charcoal-filled chimney (without newspaper) over a gas burner.
[Do I need to add anything to the fire to get more taste?]
To add the necessary and unmistakable taste of hickory, oak or mesquite to your chicken, you must buy a bag of chips of either flavor wood. Don't buy a big bag as the flavor won't last more than about a year. So buy enough for one season. Which to buy, hickory, oak or mesquite? Buy all three and see which one you like best. The taste of hickory is quite different from mesquite and oak is somewhere in the middle. I have found that apple and other fruit wood chips do not add enough flavor during the grilling process to bother with. So I recommend using hickory, oak and or mesquite chips.
Soak a few handfuls of the chips in water for about an hour before you put the chicken on the grill. Distribute the chips as evenly as you can, but don't waste much time doing it. Put the meat on the grill and put the lid in place. Putting flavor wood chips on your charcoal fire and then not putting the lid in place is just wasting the flavor wood chips. These flavor wood chips will give your chicken a wonderful smoky, tangy taste that you cannot get any other way.
You can also soak sprigs of fresh herbs from your garden in water and throw them on the fire. Rosemary, bay, sage, basil, thyme, dill, tarragon, and fennel will all give your grilled chicken an extra flavor dimension.
In using hickory, oak or mesquite chips, it is important that you do not use too many at one time. Adding too many chips to your charcoal fire will cool the fire down too much and the resulting smoldering of the chips will produce soot that will make the outside of the chicken turn black. You will have to experiment as only experience can tell how many soaked wood chips to add to a charcoal fire. For a fire in my Weber Kettle that uses 50 briquettes, I will put about a handful of wet chips on the coals. Remember, it is better to have too few chips rather than too many. When you put the chips on, they will begin to burn slowly and give off a white smoke. Don't worry that the white smoke goes away in a few minutes. The chips will not last very long but they will have flavored the outside of the chicken nicely. You can add a second handful of chips when you open the lid and turn the chicken.
4) Trim excess fat from the chicken.
Unlike roasting a chicken where the fat provides a lot of the flavor, we don't need any excess fat on the grill. The fat will only cause us problems. So take a pair of kitchen scissors and trim off all the fat you can find. The less fat there is on the chicken, the less fat there is to cause the fire to flare up. I don't know what chickens are like in other areas, but most of the brand-name chickens we get in Southern California, are very fat. So I always spend a few minutes and remove as much of the fat as I can before I do anything else to the chicken.
Tip: DO NOT
, I say, DO NOT, parboil the chicken before grilling to remove the fat. Parboiling chicken will remove most of the flavor as well as the fat. You might as well just leave the chicken in the pot and make stewed chicken.
5) Flavor the chicken with a brine, marinade, rub, baste/mop or glaze/finishing sauce, or any combination.
Here we come to the only complicated part of this process. Easy there, like I said earlier, it's not rocket science. You just have to make some decisions and experiment to find the way to make your chicken perfect for you. Remember, what gives me a 'perfect' grilled chicken may not be 'perfect' for you. What I will attempt to do here is to give you some basic techniques to help you grill chicken without burning it and to improve the taste of your chicken, the rest is up to you.
You will not get the perfect grilled chicken if you put it on the grill naked (nothing done to it). Your grilled chicken will be just grilled chicken if you skip this step (albeit not burned chicken). You do not need to do all these steps. I have made great-tasting grilled chicken with just a dry rub. You can also combine these steps.
Brining
Brining a chicken is simply submerging the whole bird, or chicken pieces, in a brine for about 12 hours. Be sure to do the brining below 40F, in the refrigerator or in an ice chest under the ice. Why should I brine a chicken? Well, to get the perfect grilled chicken, brining is the way to go.
[What's in the brine?]
The brine is mostly water, some salt at a minimum and some sugar and spices and herbs and onions and garlic at a maximum.
[What does the brining process do for my chicken?]
The brining process forces water into the muscle tissues of the meat by a process known as diffusion and osmosis. This additional moisture causes the muscle tissues to swell and hold more water. The resulting water in the muscle tissues will make the meat more moist and tender. Any spices, herbs or other flavorings you add to the brine solution will get taken deep into the meat with the water. See section 10.5.4 of the BBQ-List FAQ version 2.0 for more information on brining (brining a chicken is similar to brining a turkey).
[What do I use for a brine?]
As a general starting point, take one gallon of water and add 1 cup of salt (Kosher or non-iodized is best), 1/2 cup of sugar and then the rest is up to you. Sliced onions are nice, a few cloves of crushed garlic add a nice flavor and then there's the spices and herbs.
Try this modified brine from an expert in brining:
Dan Gill's Poultry Brine
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 1 | gallon | cold water | add: |
| 1 | cup | salt (Kosher) | |
| 1/2 | cup | molasses | |
| 1 1/2 | tablespoons | garlic | crushed or minced (or garlic powder) |
| 1/2 | tablespoon | onion powder | |
| 1/4 | cup | black pepper | |
| 1/2 | cup | lemon juice | |
| 1/2 | ounce | maple flavoring | (the real stuff) |
| 12 | ounces | ginger ale | |
| Alternatively, use: | |||
| 1/2 | tablespoon | ginger | (ground, or minced) |
| -- in place of the garlic and onion |
Or try this modification of Bill O'Reilly's brine:
O'Reilly's Chicken Brine
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 1 | gallon | water | |
| 3/4 | cup | salt | |
| 2/3 | cup | sugar | |
| 3/4 | cup | soy sauce | |
| 1 | teaspoon | tarragon | dried |
| 1 | teaspoon | thyme | dried |
| 1 | teaspoon | black pepper |
Here's Don's famous spicy brine:
Don Havranek's Jalapeno Chicken Brine
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 1 | gallon | water | |
| 1 1/4 | cups | salt | |
| 3/4 | teaspoon | garlic powder | |
| 3/4 | teaspoon | onion powder | |
| 1 | teaspoon | Liquid Smoke | |
| 1/4 | cup | brown sugar | packed |
| 1 3/4 | teaspoons | oregano | |
| 3/4 | teaspoon | black pepper | |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | cayenne | |
| 1 3/4 | tablespoons | olive oil | |
| 1 | bay leaf | ||
| 3/4 | tablespoons | pickling spice | |
| 2 | whole | jalapenos plus juice | canned jalapenos in Embasa Escabeche juice |
| --snap jalapenos in half | |||
| 3/4 | teaspoon | celery salt |
Warm the water in a large pot and add the salt and spices. Stir until dissolved. Cool in refrigerator.
Use only cold brine on the chickens. For whole chickens, Don brines them for 16 hours. For cut up parts, 4-6 hours is fine. Rinse the chickens well in cold water. Coat the chicken with olive oil before putting it on the grill and sprinkle with black pepper.
For all three brine recipes, put the water into a large pot and heat it. Add the ingredients and stir until dissolved. Allow brine to cool in the refrigerator. It is important not to add hot, warm or room temperature brine to the chicken. To prevent bacteria growth, the brine must be below 40F when it is added to the chicken and the brining process must also be carried out below 40F.
[How do you actually brine the chicken?]
I like to put the whole chicken, halves, quarters, or the cut up parts, into doubled new kitchen trash bags and add the cold brine. I tie the bags closed with a twisty and put the bag in an ice chest partly filled with ice. I then cover the chicken bag with more ice and leave it for 12 hours for a whole chicken or halves. If you've got the room, you can also do the brining in your refrigerator.
After removing the chicken from the brine solution, rinse it well inside and out with cold running water. This removes any excess salt that is on the chicken surface. It is very important to rinse the chicken after brining. The chicken is now ready for grilling or another flavor adding process.
The brining process is not necessary to get perfect grilled chicken. It is one way to make really outstanding grilled chicken. The brining process gives you more latitude in the grilling process—if you slightly overcook the chicken, it will still be good if you have brined it first. The brining process will get flavor deeper into the meat than a non-brining process.
Marinades
[What is a marinade?]
Here is a summary of what Jim Tarantino, in his book, "Marinades" says:
(I highly recommend Jim's fine book, ISBN 0-89594-531-2)
"Marinades are made up of three parts with three specific flavor roles. The first is acid, such as wine, vinegar, citrus juice, or yogurt, acting as a softening agent. The second is oil, which adds flavor and moisture. The third is the aromatics that give the marinade its aroma and flavor.
"First of all, marinades do not tenderize food. They soften and denature it. Tenderizing occurs in food when muscle tissue is separated, torn, or bruised. Tenderizing, for example, occurs when a cook pounds a chicken breast or a veal scallop with a kitchen mallet. Marinades soften or denature tissue with their acid ingredients.
"Marinades do not penetrate deeply into muscle tissue. When a marinade hits the surface of meat or poultry, the muscle tissue softens and expands; in some cases this stops penetration."
Jim Tarantino's Basic Chicken Marinade
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 1/2 | cup | orange juice | fresh |
| 1/4 | cup | lemon juice | fresh |
| 1 | teaspoon | Dijon-style mustard | |
| 1 | teaspoon | Worcestershire sauce | |
| 1/4 | cup | canola oil | |
| 3 | cloves | garlic | minced |
| 1/4 | cup | parsley, fresh | chopped |
| 1 | teaspoon | oregano, dried | crushed |
| 1 | dash | kosher salt | to taste |
| 1 | dash | black pepper | to taste |
Combine the orange and lemon juice, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce in a glass bowl. Whisk in the oil a little at a time. Add remaining ingredients.
Chicken breasts should marinate 3 to 4 hours. Wings 4 to 6 hours.
Here is a really simple marinade that makes surprisingly good chicken.
Simple Grilled Chicken Marinade
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 4 | tablespoons | soy sauce | |
| 4 | tablespoons | white wine | |
| 2 | tablespoons | vegetable oil | |
| 2 | tablespoons | cornstarch |
Mix all ingredients and pour marinade over chicken. Let chicken marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, preferably 2 hours.
For another quick and simple marinade, I like to take "Wishbone" brand Zesty Italian dressing and coat the chicken pieces and let them marinate in the refrigerator for about two hours. Longer than two hours and the chicken tends to get mushy.
Here is another good chicken marinade:
Harold McGee's Master Recipe for Poultry Marinade
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 1/2 | cup | olive oil | |
| 4 | cloves | garlic | peeled and lightly crushed |
| 1 | tablespoon | rosemary or thyme | fresh, minced |
| 1/4 | cup | juice lemon | fresh |
| black pepper | freshly ground, to taste |
Heat olive oil in a small saucepan. Add garlic and rosemary and let cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep for 10 minutes. Strain oil through a sieve. Add lemon juice and pepper and stir to mix. Makes enough marinade for 1 chicken, butterflied or cut into parts. Marinate 3-4 hours.
Here is another good marinade that I really like:
Mustard-Herb Marinade for Chicken
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 1/2 | cup | Dijon Mustard | |
| 2 | tablespoons | dry mustard | |
| 2 | tablespoons | vegetable oil | |
| 1/4 | cup | dry white wine | |
| 2 | tablespoons | tarragon | dried |
| 2 | tablespoons | thyme | dried |
| 2 | tablespoons | sage | dried, crushed |
Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl. Let stand 1 hour. Add chicken and coat well. Let chicken sit in marinade 3-4 hours. Pat dry with paper towels. Use the remaining marinade to baste chicken just before removing from the grill.
Note: if you have them use fresh herbs in place of the dried ones. Put the ingredients in a blender and puree the marinade.
Recipe by: "Mesquite Cookery" by John "Boog" Powell
Here is my recipe for a spicy Mexican style chicken. It makes El Pollo Loco chicken into an also-ran.
Lime-Cumin-Jalapeno Grilled Chicken
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 4 | large | chicken breasts* | skinless, boneless |
| Marinade: | |||
| 3 | tablespoons | lime juice | freshly squeezed is best |
| 1/2 | cup | canola oil | |
| 1 | teaspoon | cumin | ground |
| 2 | whole | jalapeno chiles | |
| 1 | bay leaf | fresh is best | |
| 2 | sage leaves | fresh is best | |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | salt | |
| 1/8 | teaspoon | black pepper | freshly ground |
* leg quarters work well also
Place all marinade ingredients in blender jar and blend to a uniform mixture.
Make diagonal slits with sharp knife about 1/8" deep and 1/2" apart on both sides of each skinless breast or skinless leg quarter.
Place chicken breasts in non-metallic dish and cover with marinade. Cover dish with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator. Let breasts marinate for 2 hours, turning every 1/2 hour.
Grill over medium heat coals using the direct or indirect methods. For the best flavor, use mesquite flavor wood chips.
I really like Indian food and just about anything that has a "curry" flavor. Here is a recipe for tandoori chicken marinade. Now I realize that you can't make real tandoori chicken in a backyard grill, but this comes pretty close:
Grilled Tandoori-Style Chicken
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 4 | each | chicken breast halves | skinless boneless OR |
| 4 | each | chicken leg quarters | skinless |
| Marinade: | |||
| 1 | cup | yogurt, plain | low-fat |
| 4 | cloves | garlic | minced |
| 2 | each | Jalapeno chili peppers | seeded and minced |
| 2 | tablespoons | ginger root, fresh | grated |
| 2 | tablespoons | lemon juice | |
| 2 | tablespoons | vegetable oil | |
| 1 | teaspoon | cumin | ground |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | salt | |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | coriander | ground |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | turmeric | ground |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | paprika | ground |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | cayenne pepper | ground |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | cinnamon | ground |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | cloves | ground |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | allspice | ground |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | black pepper | freshly ground |
Combine all the marinade ingredients in a blender bowl and blend to a uniform puree. Place marinade in a shallow glass baking dish large enough to hold the chicken in one layer. Add chicken pieces, turning to coat both sides. Marinate, covered, in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours.
For this recipe, do not use a dry rub, go right from marinade to grill. Grill over very hot coals using indirect method. Do not add any flavor wood chips for this recipe. Tandoori chicken made in Indian tandoor ovens is subjected to 700-800F temperatures and cooks quickly.
Here is the recipe for some of the best chicken I've ever had. This recipe is from my Pakistani friend's wife Jasmine. They live in Karachi:
Jasmine's Chicken Tikka
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 2 | pounds | chicken legs, | thighs or breasts |
| 1 | teaspoon | salt | |
| 1/4 | cup | plain yogurt | |
| 1 | teaspoon | red chili powder | |
| 1 | teaspoon | coriander seeds | roasted, ground |
| 2 | teaspoons | garlic | minced |
| 2 | teaspoons | ginger | fresh, grated |
| 2 | tablespoons | lemon juice | or white wine vinegar |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | black pepper | freshly ground |
| 1 | dash | red food coloring | for traditional color |
Remove the skin and make 2-3 deep cuts in each chicken piece. Roast the coriander seeds in a hot cast iron skillet. After cooling, grind to powder. Mix all dry ingredients with the lemon juice or vinegar and make a paste. Put this paste onto chicken pieces and leave them for at least 4-5 hours to marinate. Better if left in refrigerator over night.
Take out the chicken from the marinade and rub each piece of chicken with a few drops of vegetable oil. Do not use a dry rub. Grill over medium heat coals using direct method.
If you like an Asian-style grilled chicken, try this one:
Grilled Chinese Chicken
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 2 | cloves | garlic | minced |
| 2 | tablespoons | rice wine vinegar | |
| 2 | tablespoons | hoisin sauce | |
| 1/4 | cup | soy sauce | |
| 1 | teaspoon | sesame oil | |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | fresh ginger root | grated |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | hot chili paste | or crushed red pepper to taste |
| 4 | each | chicken breast halves | skinless, boneless OR |
| 4 | each | chicken leg quarters | skinless |
| 1 | teaspoon | 5-spice seasoning | (see recipe in rubs section) |
Combine all ingredients except the chicken in a shallow glass dish large enough to hold the chicken in one layer. Stir well to mix. Add chicken breasts, turning to coat both sides. Marinate 30 to 60 minutes at room temperature or 1 to 2 hours in the refrigerator, covered. Drain chicken from marinade.
I also like Indonesian and Thai curry-style chicken. Here is a recipe I developed:
Thai Curry-Style Grilled Chicken or Satay Chicken
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 1 | pound | chicken breasts | boneless, skinless |
| 1 | pound | chicken leg quarters | skinless |
| Marinade: | |||
| 1 | lime | juice from | |
| 2 | tablespoons | peanut butter | |
| 1/3 | cup | coconut milk | |
| 1/4 | cup | honey | |
| 1/4 | cup | plum wine | |
| 3 | tablespoons | yellow Thai curry paste | (recipe below) |
Make the marinade:
Add the marinade ingredients to the bowl with the curry paste and mix well.
Prepare the chicken:
Make slits about 1/4 inch deep across both sides of the breasts or the smooth side of the leg quarters. Place chicken pieces in the glass bowl and coat all sides with the marinade. Marinate the chicken for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator.
Grill over medium coals using direct or indirect method.
This marinade also makes very tasty chicken satay. Just cut the chicken breast into 1/4" thick by 1" wide by several inches long pieces. Thread the meat onto soaked bamboo or metal skewers. Place the skewered meat in a glass baking dish so that the meat lays flat. Pour on the marinade and make sure that each piece of chicken is covered. Marinate for 1-2 hours and then grill.
Serve with a spicy peanut sauce. For a spicy peanut sauce recipe Click here
Yellow Thai Curry Paste
| Amount |
Measure |
Ingredient |
Preparation Method |
| 1 | teaspoon | cumin seeds | |
| 1 | teaspoon | coriander seeds | |
| 1 | teaspoon | cayenne | powdered |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | cinnamon | ground |
| 1 | tablespoon | turmeric | |
| 1 | teaspoon | salt | |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | cloves | ground |
| 1 | tablespoon | lemon or lime zest | grated |
| 2 | tablespoons | shallots | chopped |
| 1 | tablespoon | garlic | chopped |
Place the cumin and coriander seeds in a pan without adding any oil. Dry fry them, stirring, over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes until they are slightly browned, and give off a roasted aroma.
Mix the curry paste ingredients together and place in a spice or coffee grinder and grind to a thick paste. Put curry paste to a bowl.
Put remaining curry paste in a tightly sealed jar and store in the refrigerator for future use, up to one month.
Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey Chicken
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 2 | each | frying chickens | halved* |
| 1 | cup | Jack Daniel's whiskey | |
| Whiskey sauce: | |||
| salt & pepper | to taste | ||
| 1 | pound | white mushrooms | sliced |
| 6 | green onions | chopped | |
| 2 | tablespoons | butter | |
| 2 | ounces | Jack Daniel's whiskey | |
| 2 | cups | brown sauce | (see instructions) |
* under 2 1/2 pounds are best
Place the chicken halves in a shallow pan and douse with whiskey. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the pieces; marinate in refrigerator for 2 hours.
FOR WHISKEY SAUCE: Sauté the mushrooms and green onion in butter until tender. Add whiskey and brown sauce and simmer until flavors have blended and the alcohol has evaporated. Keep warm until serving time.
BROWN SAUCE - To make Brown Sauce; thicken beef bouillon or homemade beef stock with cornstarch or roux in a saucepan over medium heat. Sauce should be consistency of gravy.
Grill over medium coals using the indirect heat method.
Serve the chicken halves with the whiskey sauce.
You can marinate whole chickens, halved chickens and cut up chickens.
After the marinade, you can go directly to the grill or follow up with another flavor enhancement process.
Tip: I DO NOT recommend that you poke the chicken meat with a fork or other sharp instrument to get the marinade deeper into the meat. This really has limited effect and causes the meat to lose the juices you are trying so hard to keep in.
Tip: If you wish to save the used marinade for use as a baste or mop while the chicken is grilling, then put the marinade in a small sauce pan and bring it to a boil for several minutes. This will kill any bacteria that are in the marinade. Remember, the last application of the marinade as a baste may not get much heat from the grill before the meat is removed. So always heat the used marinade before you use it as a baste.
Rubs
[What are rubs?]
Rubs are simply spices and herbs that are rubbed onto the surface of the meat. You actually don't have to rub the meat, you can sprinkle on the rub. The rub can be dry or have some liquid in it to form a paste. The liquid can be water or oil or natural moisture, say from lemon juice or from puréeing spices with fresh herbs, peppers, onions or garlic.
The rub will give the outside of your chicken the most taste enhancement of all the treatments discussed here. In my opinion, the rub is the most important flavor component to grilling perfect chicken. To skip the rub is to miss the best opportunity to turn your chicken from good to great.
The simplest rub is just salt and pepper. But that won't get you grilled chicken that will have your friends saying, "This is the best chicken I've ever eaten."
For a simple yet great-tasting finished product, you can use some commercial rubs. I always have some of Paul Prudhomme's Cajun Spice Blends in my spice drawer. I like his "Poultry Magic" and I also like his "Seafood Magic" spice blend on chicken. Just liberally sprinkle on the spice blend and rub or pat it onto surface of the chicken. If you're doing a whole chicken, just do the outside. Be sure to get in all the places, under the wings and between the legs and body.
Tip: Remember, with skin-on chicken, the rub will be mainly on the skin, so the flavors will not be very intense if the chicken eater removes the skin before eating. It is possible to get some rub under the skin if you work at it a little. So if you like your chicken with the skin on, then try to get some of the rub under the skin.
Here is a favorite rub from the classic barbecue book "Smoke & Spice"
Wild Willy's Number One-Derful Rub
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 3/4 | cup | paprika | |
| 1/4 | cup | black pepper | ground |
| 1/4 | cup | salt | |
| 1/4 | cup | sugar | (see note) |
| 2 | tablespoons | chili powder | |
| 2 | tablespoons | garlic powder | |
| 2 | tablespoons | onion powder | |
| 2 | teaspoons | cayenne |
Notes : I prefer to leave out the recipe's 1/4 cup of sugar when I use this rub for grilling because of the tendency of the sugar to burn.
This is an all-purpose rub, good on steaks, ribs, pork chops, and chicken.
Adjust the chili powder to suit you taste.
Here is a very tasty rub recipe from barbecue champion John Willingham:
Willingham's Poultry Dry Rub
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 4 | tablespoons | salt | |
| 1 | tablespoon | black pepper | freshly ground |
| 1 | tablespoon | lemon pepper | |
| 1 | teaspoon | onion salt | |
| 1 | teaspoon | mild chili powder | |
| 1 | tablespoon | cayenne pepper | |
| 3 | tablespoons | brown sugar | (see note) |
| 1 | teaspoon | white pepper | |
| 1 | tablespoon | marjoram | dried |
| 1 | tablespoon | sage | dried |
| 1 | tablespoon | cornstarch |
In the top of a double boiler, combine all ingredients accept the cornstarch. Heat over simmering water until the ingredients are warm to the touch (about 160F). Stir continuously during heating. As the sugar dissolves, it may form a crust.
Transfer the heated mixture to a glass bowl and cool to room temperature. Break apart the crusty mix and rub the mixture between your fingers so that it becomes granular again. Add the cornstarch and stir to mix. Use immediately or keep in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. Store in a cool dark place.
Notes : I prefer to leave out the recipe's 3 tablespoons of sugar when I use this rub from grilling because of the tendency of the sugar to burn.
Here is one of my favorite rubs. I originally made this for smoking chicken but it is equally good for grilling. This method uses all the flavor enhancing techniques.
Lemon-Pepper Rub and Mop for Grilled Chicken
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 10 | each | chicken breasts | boneless, skinless OR |
| 10 | each | chicken leg quarters | |
| Marinade: | |||
| 1 | cup | Wishbone Zesty Italian dressing | |
| Rub: | |||
| 4 | tablespoons | lemon pepper | |
| 1 | tablespoon | Willingham W'ham regular seasoning | see note |
| 1 | teaspoon | thyme | ground |
| Mop: | |||
| 1 | cup | apple juice | |
| 1 | cup | vegetable oil | |
| 2 | tablespoons | lemon pepper |
Brine chicken breasts or leg quarters (use recipe for Dan Gill's brine) for 4 hours.
Remove chicken from brine and rinse under cold running water.
Marinate chicken pieces in the Zesty Italian dressing for 2 hours.
Sprinkle on rub generously on both all sides of chicken. Pat onto meat.
Grill over medium heat coals using direct or indirect method. Use the mop every 20 minutes or so until chicken is done--160F in deepest part of breast or 170F in thigh.
This recipes produces a grilled chicken that is yellow in color. If you do not like yellow grilled chicken, add about 2 teaspoons of paprika to the rub to give a nice reddish color to the outside of the grilled chicken.
Notes: * A commercial product. Use the Willingham rub recipe above if you cannot find the Willingham W'Ham commercial rub.
If you like a Cajun taste, here is Martin Graw's recipe:
Mardi Gras Grilled Cajun Chicken
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 1 | teaspoon | salt | |
| 1 | teaspoon | cayenne pepper | |
| 1 | teaspoon | paprika | |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | white pepper | |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | black pepper | |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | oregano | |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | garlic powder | |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | onion powder | |
| 1/2 | cup | lemon juice | |
| 1/4 | cup | vegetable oil | |
| 4 | each | chicken breasts | skinless, boneless OR |
| 4 | each | chicken leg quarters | skinless |
Combine dry spices in small bowl. In a shallow glass dish large enough to hold chicken in a single layer, place lemon juice and oil. Add half of spice mix; stir to combine. Add chicken pieces, turning to coat both sides. Marinate 2 to 3 hours in the refrigerator, covered. Drain chicken from marinade and sprinkle both sides with remaining seasoning mix.
Grill chicken over medium heat coals using direct or indirect method.
Here is another Cajun dry rub that's good on chicken:
Cajun Paste Rub
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 1 | clove | garlic | |
| 1/2 | small | onion | |
| 1 | teaspoon | paprika | |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | black pepper | |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | cumin | |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | mustard powder | |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | cayenne | powdered |
| 1 | teaspoon | thyme | dried |
| 1 | teaspoon | oregano | dried |
| 1 | teaspoon | salt |
Chop garlic and onion and set aside. Put all other ingredients into dish of spice grinder and grind to a fine powder. Add garlic and onion to spice griner and grind to a uniform paste.
Rub this paste onto the chicken after marinating in Italian dressing.
Grill direct or indirect over medium coals.
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 1 1/2 | teaspoons | chili powder | |
| 1 | teaspoon | garlic | minced |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | oregano | dried |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | cumin | ground |
Combine all ingredients and store in an air-tight container.
Give the chicken a generous sprinkle with this rub about 2 hours before you put the meat on the grill.
This rub is especially nice with skinless and boneless chicken breasts.
Grill using direct or indirect method over medium heat coals.
Emeril's Southwest Spice Blend
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 2 | tablespoons | chili powder | |
| 2 | teaspoons | cumin | ground |
| 2 | tablespoons | paprika | |
| 1 | tablespoon | oregano | dried |
| 1 | tablespoon | coriander | ground |
| 1 | teaspoon | cayenne pepper | ground |
| 1 | tablespoon | garlic | powder |
| 1 | tablespoon | red pepper | crushed |
| 1 | tablespoon | salt | |
| 1 | teaspoon | black pepper | freshly ground |
Combine all ingredients thoroughly and store in an air-tight jar.
Give the chicken a generous sprinkle with this rub about 2 hours before you put the meat on the grill.
Grill using direct or indirect method over medium heat coals.
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 60 | each | black peppercorns | |
| 4 | teaspoons | anise seed | OR |
| 1 | each | star anise | |
| 1 | teaspoons | fennel seed | |
| 12 | each | whole cloves | |
| 2 | 2" long stick | cinnamon |
Put all 5 ingredients in a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder.
Use this dry rub after the Asian style marinade.
Grill chicken with direct or indirect method over medium heat coals.
As you can see, there is an infinite possibility here for experimentation with rubs.
Bastes and Mops
[What are Bastes and Mops?]
A baste and a mop are liquids that are applied to the outside of the meat as it is cooking. Some people think that this keeps the inside of the meat from drying out. This is incorrect.
Here is what my friend and barbecue scientist, Kit Anderson, says:
"Moistness is a function of temperature. As the meat heats up, things are headed out of the meat. Adding moisture to the cooking process doesn't make it more moist. Remember mom's dried out pot roast? [Cooked in liquid]. Muscle cells breakdown and release their contents at a specific temperature (168F). There is no biological feedback mechanism based on humidity to keep the cells from rupturing. One thing you can do to retain moisture is brine."
We will discuss this some more in the grilling section below.
[So what does a Baste or Mop do if it doesn't keep the inside of the meat moist?]
Basting or mopping serves two purposes.
First, it gives the cook something to do as he waits for the chicken to cook and more importantly, it gives any audience present the impression that the cook knows what he's doing because basting and mopping appear to be so critical to making great grilled chicken.
Second, basting and mopping will give the outside of your chicken a nice taste and look. Basting with an oil containing solution will keep the outside of the chicken moist and soft. If you want crispy-skin chicken, then don't mop or baste the skin of the chicken as it cooks.
You do not want to baste or mop your grilled chicken with a liquid that has any form of tomato or any form sugar in it. Using a tomato and sugar containing barbecue sauce (like Kraft's) will almost guarantee black chicken. The natural sugars in tomato and sugars that are added to the baste or mop when placed over the coals will first caramelize and then burn. An exception to this rule is a baste or glaze that is added just before the meat is removed. Another exception is the use of a fruit juice in the mop. If the mop containing fruit juice is very thin (watery) most of it will run off and not enough sugar will remain on the outside of the chicken to burn.
Again from Kit Anderson:
"Sucrose melts at 310F and starts to breakdown at 338F. As it breaks down, it changes from one sugar into more than 128 by the time dark caramel is formed. Once it turns black, there is no saving it. Corn syrup caramelizes at a lower temperature. Do not mop or baste the chicken too often or you'll increase the cooking time by losing heat when you open the lid."
[So, if I cannot use barbecue sauce, or any sugars or any tomato-based mops or bastes, what do I use?]
To make a mop that will add some flavor to the outside of the chicken, will not burn and will make the cook feel like he is doing something very important, use this formula:
Basic Grilled Chicken Mop
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 1/2 | cup | fruit juice | |
| 1/2 | cup | canola oil | |
| 2 | tablespoons | seasoning, herbs, | garlic or onion |
For the fruit juice, you can use orange, apple, cranberry, grapefruit, pineapple, peach, apricot, mango, guava, etc. Just keep the mop thin so it won't burn on the outside of the chicken.
For the seasoning, use some dry rub, some commercial seasonings (like Emeril's or Prudhomme's), or your favorite combination. For the herbs, try some minced fresh rosemary, thyme or sage.
Many grill experts I've talked to like to just use the fruit juice and oil, with no other ingredients. Some like to use beer while others like red or white wines.
Bill's Lemon-Pepper Mop
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 1/2 | cup | apple juice | |
| 1/2 | cup | vegetable oil | |
| 2 | tablespoons | lemon pepper |
Add the apple juice and oil to a quart Mason jar. Add the lemon pepper and put on the lid and shake well. Shake the jar well just before using to mix the oil and apple juice.
There is no end to what you can use for a mop or baste. If you like an Asian style chicken, then mop with soy sauce. However, do not use the thicker teriyaki sauces, as they contain a lot of sugar.
[How do you put on the mop?]
The method you use to apply the mop is somewhat dependent on what's in the mop.
A spray bottle is very handy for applying a mop to the meat. If the mop has spices in it, then you cannot use a spray bottle as the spices will clog the nozzle unless you filter the mixture through a coffee filter before you put it in the spray bottle. Some barbecuers like to add the spices and simmer the mop in a pan on the stove for an hour or so. Then they put the mop through a coffee filter. Then they can use the mop in a spray bottle. There are two kinds of stray bottles I've seen used: a trigger operated sprayer and pump-up sprayer. I suggest that you do not use an end of garden hose sprayer, however.
Many grillers use a small string mop brush, like a miniature floor mop. This kind of mop brush will hold a lot of liquid. Others like to use a long-handled barbecue mop brush, with bristles. My fiend Rock likes to use a small wadded piece of clean paper towel held in his barbecue tongs as a mop brush.
Finishing sauces and glazes
[What is a glaze and when do you use it?]
A glaze is a thick liquid that contains some form of sugar. The glaze is put on the outside of the chicken just a few minutes before the chicken is done. When the glaze is put on while the meat is still cooking, the heat melts the sugar and gives the outside of the chicken a very nice look and taste. The glaze must be put on just a short while (5-10 minutes) before the chicken comes off the grill. If you are using the direct cooking method, you must keep a close eye on the chicken during this period and make sure that the sugar-containing glaze does not burn. It is best to leave the dome lid off the grill after you have put on the glaze if you are using the direct heating method. If you are using an indirect cooking method, then you can apply the glaze and replace the dome lid.
Glazes can contain various forms of sugar and other flavor ingredients. I often use honey all by itself, honey mixed into barbecue sauce or honey with some other ingredients. If I'm making an Asian style chicken, then I like to put about a 1/4 cup of honey into a Pyrex cup and add a tablespoon of soy sauce. Then I put it in the microwave for a minute or two to get it warm. Mix it well and then paint the glaze on the outside of the chicken pieces with a basting brush.
[What is a finishing sauce and when do you use it?]
A finishing sauce can be your favorite barbecue sauce, or just about any sauce that will compliment the chicken. The finishing sauce is thicker than the baste and may or may not have sugar in it. The finishing sauce is applied just before or just after the chicken comes off the grill. The meat is still hot but not hot enough to burn any tomato or sugar in the finishing sauce.
If you put on the finishing sauce while the chicken is still on the grill, do not let the meat stay on the grill for more than a few minutes or the sauce may burn. The idea here is to get a little browning of the sauce, but not any burning. This lightly browning will make the finishing sauce look and taste great.
[How do you put on the glaze or finishing sauce?]
I like to use a pastry brush--a 1-inch brush works very well. Just dip into the sauce and paint it on the meat. If you are careful and watch closely, you can add some sugar and tomato containing finishing sauce a little earlier in the process, maybe 10 minutes before the chicken will come off the grill. Paint on a thin layer and then a few minutes later, paint on another layer. Just be careful that the sauce does not get hot enough to burn and turn black.
Tip: When the chicken is done, you can also use some compound butters on the outside of the chicken for a different taste. I like to experiment here. You can make compound butters by combining soft but still cool unsalted butter with minced fresh herbs. Tarragon, basil, sage, rosemary all work well. Take about 1/4 cup butter and mix in a tablespoon of minced onion, garlic or herbs. You can make the compound butter nice and spicy by adding some ground chile powder.
Here is my favorite barbecue sauce. I like to paint on this sauce just a few minutes before I take the chicken off the grill.
Kansas City-Style Barbecue Sauce
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 3/4 | cup | light brown sugar | packed |
| 1 | package | chili seasoning* | (1 1/4 oz.) |
| 2 | teaspoons | dry mustard | |
| 1 | teaspoon | ginger | dried, ground |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | allspice | ground |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | cayenne pepper | |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | mace | ground |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | lack pepper | freshly ground |
| 1 | cup | white distilled vinegar | |
| 1/4 | cup | molasses | |
| 1/4 | cup | water | |
| 32 | ounces | ketchup | |
| 3 | teaspoons | liquid smoke | (optional) |
* you can also use chili powder here
In a large saucepan, combine the brown sugar, chili seasoning, mustard, ginger, allspice, cayenne, mace, and black pepper. Add the vinegar, molasses, water, and liquid smoke. Stir until dry ingredients are dissolved. Add the ketchup and stir to mix.
Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly to avoid spattering. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Use immediately or cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate for up to 1 week.
This sauce (and most barbecue sauces) improves in taste if allowed to sit overnight in the refrigerator before use.
Source: Paul Kirk, in "Willingham's World Championship Barbecue"
Tip: For that Asian-style chicken you like, now is the time to use the teriyaki sauce. Teriyaki sauce has a lot of sugar in it and it will badly burn if you paint the outside of the chicken early in the grilling process. But if you apply it during the last five minutes and move the chicken off the direct heat of the fire, then the sauce will get nicely caramelized and add a lot of taste to your chicken.
6) Do not use a sugar or tomato-containing mop or basting sauce on the chicken until the very last.
We have already discussed this topic above. Just remember, that a heavy sauce that contains anything that will burn, tomato, sugar, etc., will char while on the grill and make the meat black and give it a bitter and undesirable taste.
7) Use an accurate meat thermometer and remove the chicken from the grill when it is perfectly done—at 160F in the breast or 170F in the thigh.
Now, here is the real secret to grilling a great whole chicken. DO NOT OVERCOOK IT. Remove the chicken from the grill when the internal temperature of the meat in the deepest part of the breast (don't touch the bone with the thermometer probe) reaches 160F. In the thigh, the internal temperature will be about 170F. Let the bird sit for a about five minutes before you start to carve her up.
If you are concerned about 160F in the breast not being hot enough (many cookbooks call for 180+F in the breast) don't worry. The cooks in the Sunset Magazine test kitchens are now recommending a temperature of 160F to take the chicken out of the oven/grill/cooker. I have been cooking chicken this way for over two years and I've never gotten sick from taking it off the grill/smoker or out of the oven at 160F in the deepest part of the breast.
If the meat still looks pink and the juices do not run clear, then the temperature is not high enough. If this happens to your chicken, then perhaps the thermometer probe was touching bone (the bone will conduct heat into the deeper parts of the breast) or your thermometer is reading too high. This happened to me once. I used my Polder digital thermometer and I took the chicken off the grill when the internal temperature reached 160F. But the chicken was not done next to the bone and the juices were not clear. After I put the chicken back on the grill, I checked the Polder digital thermometer in boiling water and it was reading about 5 degrees higher than the glass laboratory thermometer I use for a reference. I removed the batteries from the Polder, reinstalled the batteries and checked it again in boiling water. It read the same as the laboratory thermometer.
After you remove the chicken from the grill when it reaches the correct internal temperature, the meat will continue to cook for a few minutes from its own internal heat. Waiting until the breast meat reaches 180F before you take the bird off the grill is just asking for dry, tough white meat. I use this technique for all chicken cuts--160F for white meat and 170F for the dark meat. The dark meat will get hotter because of the better heat-conduction properties of the fat within the dark meat. It is amazing how critical the internal temperature of the meat is to getting perfectly-grilled chicken. If you cook the chicken too long, to say 175 or 185F in the breast meat, it will much drier and less tasty than if you took it off at 160F.
Tip: Here is what I do--I mount my little wood stand-off block on the lower part of the kettle's dome lid. Then I run the probe through the open top vent and I stick the probe into the deepest part of the breast. Now I can monitor the internal temperature of the chicken as it cooks without losing heat to open the lid every few minutes to get the chicken out at 160F/170F.
[I see grilling recipes that say, "grill over medium coals". What does that mean? How do I determine if my grill is medium, hot or cool?]
Determining how hot your charcoal or gas grill fire is can be rather subjective. Even with an accurate temperature measurement from a hand-held pyrometer, there is no way to correlate the reading with most grilling recipes. So an empirical method developed that is about the only way you can really gauge how hot your grill is. This method is called the "Hand Test".
The idea is to stick your hand, palm down, an inch or so above the meat rack of your grill. Careful, that meat rack is HOT! Count "one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand" etc. for how long you can leave your hand over the fire before you must pull it away. This is not macho contest to see how much pain you can endure, but a way to gauge how hot the fire is. If you must pull you hand away in:
| 1-2 | seconds | that's a hot fire |
| 3 | seconds | that's a medium-hot fire |
| 4-5 | seconds | that's a medium fire |
| 6 | seconds | that's a medium-low fire |
| 7 or more | seconds | that's a low fire |
8) While grilling the chicken, eliminate flare-ups:
a) by using the indirect heat method and the dome cover on the grill,
b) by using the direct heat method, but keeping the heat of the coals low
enough that flare-ups do not occur,
c) by using the direct heat method with moderate heat from the coals but using
the dome lid to snuff out any fat flare-ups,
d) by removing the excess fat from the chicken.
OK, so now we come to the heart of grilling perfect chicken. It is here on the grill, where the chicken meets the fire, that the master backyard chef excels over the backyard hack (like I used to be). No matter what you did before to prepare and flavor the chicken, poor grilling techniques will result in disappointing chicken, i.e. black.
What we are trying to accomplish is to obtain just the right amount of heat from the coals. Too much heat and the chicken gets burned and overcooked—too little and the chicken never gets done. To make this more complicated, there are many variables to consider here: type of fuel, amount of fuel, height of meat rack above the coals, shape of the grill, grill covered or not, time after coals started, outside weather (wind, rain, ambient temperature, etc.)
Using a charcoal grill
It is beyond the scope of this FAQ to be able to tell you how to make the perfect fire in your particular grill. But what I will try do in this section, is to tell you how to make the perfect fire in a 22 1/2-inch Weber Bar-B-Kettle Grill using charcoal briquettes and you can take it from there. In the next section, I will suggest some ways that you can control the flare-ups in a gas grill.
In the 22 1/2-inch Weber Bar-B-Kettle Grill, the meat rack is 5 inches above the coal grate. So if your grill rack is higher then you will need a little hotter fire if your grill rack is lower, then you will have to make a smaller and cooler fire.
The amount of heat an individual briquette gives off is dependent on the time it has been burning. If we could graph the heat output versus time, we would see the heat level climb slowly from ambient temperature and then reach a plateau as the entire surface area of the briquette is burning. As time proceeds, the burning briquette gets smaller and the surface area that is burning gets smaller and an ash layer builds up that acts like an insulator, so the heat level begins to fall. An isolated briquette burns slightly slower and cooler than a briquette that is surrounded and touching other briquettes.
There are two ways to grill chicken on a charcoal grill. One is the direct method. Here, the chicken is directly over the burning coals. The radiant heat comes up and directly hits the chicken and cooks it. This method also gives the outside of the chicken the most crispy skin and adds grill marks. The second technique is to use indirect heat. Here, something is between the coals and the chicken. That something can be space or a water pan or a baffle. Most of the time, indirect grilling means locating the chicken so that it is not over the burning coals, but is off to the side. This method will give you the very best looking chicken but will not give you crispy skin. You can also combine the two methods--cook the chicken first with indirect heat and then move it over the fire to crisp up the skin.
Note: The grilling directions here are based on cooking in the summer, in the shade, with 75F ambient temperatures and no wind. You will have to make some adjustments if your cooking situation is different. If your grill is in direct sunlight and it's 100F in the shade, then you will need to reduce the heat within the kettle (fewer briquettes). If you're cooking in the shade, in the fall and it's 60F with a stiff breeze, then you will need to add more heat (more briquettes) to the kettle.
Tip: Before I put any meat on the grill's meat rack, I always first give the rack a spray with cooking spay (Pam or Crisco spray). BE CAREFUL of any flare up from the cooking oil spray. If you don't have any cooking spray handy, just use any cooking oil. Apply it with a brush or a piece of paper towel held in the tongs. If you don't oil the grill, then it is likely that the meat will stick to the metal. This is especially critical while grilling fish.
Direct heat method of grilling
First, I recommend that you not use the direct heat method to grill whole or half chickens. The whole and half chickens are too big to grill over direct heat without having a fat flare-up at some point during the grilling process. It is next to impossible to cut out all the excess fat on a whole bird. So unless you have a rotisserie, then a whole chicken should be grilled over indirect heat. I recommend that you use only cut up chickens for the direct heat method.
Some grilling experts say that using the direct heat method is the only 'true' way to grill chicken. However, using the direct heat method on a home grill is also the most challenging. It is the direct grilling method that used to get me into trouble and produce all that wonderful black chicken that the dog loved so much.
[Why is my chicken black?]
The black chicken is caused by two related but independent processes. When we grill chicken directly over the hot coals, the dripping fat falls onto the glowing coals, is heated to its ignition point and catches on fire. The flames from the burning fat are yellow and smoky, indicating that the flame is from a fire that lacks sufficient oxygen for complete combustion. When we burn an organic material (wood or an animal product for example) with lots of excess oxygen, we will get complete combustion--i.e. the chemical reactions that takes place will give the end products water and carbon dioxide (plus an ash of any non-combustible materials). This situation is almost impossible to get in a backyard grill--there is not an excess of oxygen for the combustion process--so the chemical reaction that takes place produces other end products besides water vapor and carbon dioxide gas. Within the yellow flames of the fat fire, there are trillions of very tiny (microscopic) particles of carbon--called soot. This soot is from the carbon within the fat molecules that was not completely burned to carbon dioxide gas. When this sooty flame touches cooler meat (cooler relative to the flame temperature), the soot particles are deposited on the surface of the meat, and the meat becomes smoky-black in appearance. This is not the black from the outside of the chicken charring. It will take several minutes for a fat fire to actually char the outside of the chicken. But the soot from a fat fire will 'pollute' the outside of your chicken with soot in seconds.
So our aim in mastering the art of direct grilling of chicken is to prevent the fat from catching fire, for as soon as it catches fire, we will get soot forming.
Tip: While we are on the topic of sooty chicken, if this happens to you, immediately get the chicken out of the flames of the fat fire. Now use a mop of apple juice and a mop brush to wash off the soot. If you are quick doing this, you can save the appearance of your chicken with this technique. In my opinion, a little soot on the outside of the chicken does not affect the taste, but it sure ruins the appearance.
The second process that produces black chicken is the charring of the outside surface of the chicken. This can be charring of the skin and outside of the meat or it can be a charring of some material containing sugar and or tomato that was put on the outside of the chicken--i.e. barbecue sauce. We can eliminate the charring caused by the burning of sugar and tomato containing products by not putting them on the chicken in the first place. We can eliminate the charring of the meat, by controlling the heat of the fire and the length of time the chicken is over the fire.
There are three ways to use the direct heat method to grill chicken successfully, i. e. keeping it from turning black.
1) Use a grill that will let you maintain a space between the coals and the meat rack of 15-18 inches. With this kind of spacing, the flames from the burning fat that drips on the coals is much less likely to reach the chicken.
2) In a typical backyard grill, where the meat rack is 5-6 inches above the coals, you must control the heat from the charcoal fire to a low enough level that the dripping fat will not catch fire.
3) If you have a hot fire, you must control the burning fat by keeping the lid in place so that there is not enough oxygen available for the fat to catch fire. Your grill must be air tight enough that this will work. If your grill leaks in a lot of air, then the fat fire will continue to burn after the lid is in place. This method is in my opinion, risky and not the best way to use direct heat for grilling chicken. For even a few seconds of flames from a fat fire touching your chicken will be enough to deposit soot and give you a not-so-perfect looking end product.
[I don't have a grill that has 15-18 inch spacing between the coals and the meat. How do I control the heat low enough to cook the chicken but not hot enough to catch the dripping fat on fire?]
You control the heat in the grill by the amount of fuel that you are using. If you have twenty glowing briquettes on the charcoal grate, you will have a much lower temperature than is you have fifty briquettes burning. It's almost a direct relationship--more briquettes burning gives a hotter temperature at the grill.
Here is a method that my friend Danny Gaulden gave me for controlling the heat in direct grilling of chicken. Get your briquettes going and then arrange them on the charcoal grate in a checkerboard pattern. Use your long-handled tongs and wear your gloves to do this. You want the grill rack to be 50 percent glowing briquettes and 50 percent empty space.
[How do I tell how many briquettes will I need to do this?]
Easy, just fill out the checkerboard pattern on the charcoal grate in your cold grill with unlit briquettes. I did this for my 22 1/2 inch diameter Weber Bar-B-Kettle and it requires 42 Kingsford briquettes to make a rough 50 percent checkerboard pattern.
When you do this with glowing briquettes, don't take too long to do it. Remember, this is not a work of art, it's chicken grilling. If you have a few extra briquettes, put them on the perimeter of the charcoal grate. But if you have way too many extra briquettes, just take them out of the grill and put them somewhere they can burn out safely.
When doing chicken on the Weber kettle grill, it is usually not necessary to add more briquettes as the cooking process continues. The chicken is done before the briquettes burn out.
[So how do we grill the chicken over the checkerboard-patterned briquettes?]
When the glowing charcoal briquettes are spread out in a checkerboard pattern, it is less important where you place the chicken on the meat rack as long as the thicker parts are not on the far edge of the rim. You want to orient the thicker parts (breasts and thighs) more toward the middle of the rack with the wings and legs toward the perimeter. Putting the briquettes in a checkerboard pattern makes it harder to put on flavor wood chips.
Tip: Here's what I do: I take about six extra burning briquettes and put them together at one point of the rim of the charcoal rack. I then put the handful of soaked flavor wood chips right on top of these briquettes. I also make sure that I don't have a piece of chicken directly over these briquettes. So when I grill chicken using this method, I use 48 briquettes.
With the briquettes spaced out in a checkerboard pattern, it is much less likely that the dripping fat will catch on fire and cause problems. The fat just hits the isolated briquettes, sizzles and evaporates without catching fire. The fat drops that miss a briquette, just go into the bottom of the kettle.
Place the chicken on the meat rack, place a handful of soaked flavor wood chips on the meat rack directly above the extra 6 briquettes at the rim and use your tongs to make the chips go through the slots in the meat rack directly onto the burning six briquettes. Then put the lid in place. Don't touch anything for about 20 minutes as you want that smoke to get into the surface of the chicken. If you open the dome lid to peek, you'll lose some of the smoke.
At about 20 minutes, remove the dome lid and mop and turn the pieces of chicken over. Check the internal temperature of the thinnest breast. From here on, I leave the temperature probe in the smallest breast for the rest of the cooking time. Add some more flavor wood chips over the six extra briquettes and close the lid.
When the smallest breast reaches 160F internal temperature, open the lid and remove that breast and any other breasts of a similar size. Also remove the wings and legs now. Place these pieces in a glass baking dish or a large serving platter and cover with foil and a clean kitchen towel to keep them warm. Transfer the temperature probe to the largest breast. Be careful when doing this as the probe and metal jacketed cord are very hot. Now mop once more and replace the dome lid. Continue cooking until the largest breast reaches 160F internal temperature. Remove all the chicken from the grill and serve.
Tip: If you have a bunch of breasts to grill and they vary quite a bit in size, put on the biggest ones first and wait about 5-6 minutes before putting on the smaller ones. This way, they will all get done at about the same time. Add some more flavor wood chips to the briquettes when you add the smaller breasts.
If you want to experiment with putting a full layer of burning briquettes on the surface of the charcoal grate and try direct heat grilling by keeping the dome lid in place to prevent the fat from catching on fire, try it. I have done this with some success, but it is very tricky to do it perfectly all the time. It only takes a few seconds of flames from the burning fat to discolor your chicken. Here is how I do it. Arrange the briquettes in a uniform single layer across the entire surface of the charcoal grate. Toss a handful of soaked flavor wood chips on the meat rack and make the chips fall onto the charcoal by using your tongs. Now quickly place the chicken pieces on the meat rack and put the dome lid in place. If you're using a Weber kettle, close two of the three bottom vents and half close the top vent. Now do not open the lid for 20 minutes. As soon as you do open the lid, you must be ready to deal with any flare-ups. This is why this method is so difficult. If the fire is hot enough to make the fat catch fire (and it will be with burning briquettes all across the charcoal grate) and the chicken still has fat on it (which it will) then it is likely that a fat fire will flare up within seconds of opening the lid. You must get the chicken turned over and the lid back in place as quickly as possible to snuff out the flames.
Using this method of direct grilling, it is important to leave the temperature probe in a breast for the entire cooking time so you can monitor the progress of the cooking chicken without having to open the lid to measure the temperature.
Indirect heat method of grilling
How we manage the fire in the grill is dependent on what kind of chicken cuts we want to grill.
1) Whole chickens--
For whole chickens, I like to brine them for 12 hours and rinse them well in cold running water. I then pat them dry with a paper towel. Then I give the outside of the chicken a rub with olive or canola oil. Next, I give the outside a rub with a dry spice mixture that has some paprika in it. This gives the chicken skin a nice taste and an especially beautiful color. Try the Wild Willy's rub recipe above.
To prepare the fire for grilling a whole chicken, rotate the charcoal rack until center bar points toward the kettle's handle on the outside. It will take about 60 briquettes to provide enough heat to cook a whole chicken. Start the briquettes by your favorite method and when they are covered with a light gray ash, place them on the charcoal rack and divide them equally into two piles. Make sure that each pile has about the same number of glowing coals in it, as you want the fire to be equally hot on both sides of the grill so you will get uniform cooking. Now place one pile of coals on the right side of the center bar and the other pile on the left. Then take a 9 x 13 inch aluminum pan and place it in the middle of the Weber grill's charcoal rack, between the two piles of glowing briquettes. Do not allow the charcoal to touch the aluminum pan. Build the briquettes up the side of the kettle if necessary by using your barbecue tongs. So now we have the aluminum pan in the middle of the charcoal grate and two piles of glowing charcoal briquettes along each long side of the pan.
I do not like to truss whole chickens, and I never stuff them while grilling or smoking. I feel that tying the legs and wings to the body just makes the breast and thigh meat cook unevenly. I just let the legs and wings hang lose. I place the chicken over the aluminum drip pan so that the sides of the chicken are parallel with the long sides of the pan. You can add some liquid to the pan or not. Throw some wet hickory or mesquite chunks on the hot coals and put the kettle cover in place. Set the vents like this: two open vents under each side pile of coals full open, with the third bottom vent closed. Keep the top vent about 1/2 closed and orient the lid so the vent is in-line with the long direction of the pan. The temperature in the covered kettle will be between 300-400F. I usually find that a 3 to 3 1/2 pound chicken cooks in 1 to 1 1/4 hours. I will usually mop the outside of the bird at the halfway point--about 35 minutes. I also add another handful of flavor wood chips at this time.
Some BBQ List members like to use a wire stand that goes up the cavity of the bird and keeps it upright during cooking. I have not tried this, as just placing the chicken directly on the meat rack of my grill works well for me.
2) Half chickens--
[What's the easiest way to cut a chicken in half?]
Take the whole chicken and place it breast side up on the cutting board with the butt end facing you. Take a very sharp chef's knife and plunge it straight down through the centerline of the breast to the cutting board. Now rock the knife and cut toward you, through the breast bone and down to the board. When you have finished with that cut, turn the chicken around and make a cut for the other end.
I recommend that you grill the chicken halves using the indirect heat method. In a Weber Bar-B-Kettle, you can get indirect cooking by placing the coals to one side of the charcoal grate and putting the chicken halves on the opposite side of the meat rack, or you can place the coals in the middle of the charcoal grate and put the halves around the pile of coals, just be sure that no part of the chicken half is directly over the coals.
For me, the easiest method is to place the coals on one side of the charcoal grate and then use the opposite side of the meat rack for cooking. I pile them up so they are 3-4 briquettes deep. I even run them up the side of the kettle a ways, by placing them with the tongs. In all cases, what you are trying to accomplish with the indirect cooking technique, is to not have the meat in a direct line above the charcoal. When the fat drippings render out of the chicken and fall, they will not land on glowing charcoal and catch on fire.
Prepare the chicken halves as you like (brine, marinade, rub) and get them near the grill in a glass dish covered with a cloth napkin or paper towel.
For two chicken halves, I take about 30 briquettes and get them going in the starter chimney. When they are covered with a light gray ash, I dump them on the charcoal grate of the kettle and move them with my tongs to one side. Now put a handful of soaked flavor wood chips onto the hot coals, put the meat rack in place, spray it with some cooking oil spray and put on the chicken halves. Arrange the chicken skin side up and so that the thickest part of the breast is facing the charcoal so it will receive the most heat.
Place the dome lid on the kettle and don't touch a thing for about 20 minutes. Then remove the lid, mop the chicken halves and turn them over. Make sure that the thickest part of the breast is still facing the pile of charcoal. Now add more flavor wood chips and put the lid back in place. In another 20 minutes, remove the lid and check the temperature of the thickest part of the breast. Gauge how much more time the chicken needs to cook. You can also leave the temperature probe stuck into the breast for the entire cooking time. Like when I grill a whole chicken, I mount my Polder thermometer to the dome lid with my stand-off block and thread the thermometer probe through the top vent and place it in deep into the breast meat. This way I know exactly when to take the chicken out.
3) Cut up parts--
I cook cut-up parts with the indirect method the same as I do chicken halves. But with parts, I always place the breast closest to the fire with the thickest part facing the coals--along the centerline of the meat rack. I put the leg quarters, thighs and legs half-way between the breasts and the outside rim of the rack and put the wings near the rim. If I have legs, I point the thickest part of the drumstick toward the coals and the thin bone end toward the rim of the rack.
If you're doing a mixture of breasts, legs and thighs, put the temperature probe into the thinnest breast. When this piece reaches 160F internal temperature, remove it and similar-sized pieces from the grill and place the probe in a remaining large breast. When the largest breast reaches 160F, then remove all the chicken pieces from the grill.
If you're cooking only leg quarters or thighs, then take the chicken off the grill when the internal temperature in the thickest part of the thigh reaches 170F. Use the same temperature to remove legs from the grill.
4) Skinless, boneless breasts--
The skinless and boneless chicken breasts are a favorite with me. I can get a lot of flavor into the meat with a marinade and dry rub when there is no skin to form a barrier. So prepare the skinless and boneless breasts as you like and then prepare the grill for indirect cooking.
With the skinless and boneless breasts, one end is much thicker than the other. If you just toss them on the meat rack and grill them, the thin ends will be overcooked when the thicker part is at 160F. So here are two ways to get around this problem.
a) Before the marinade step, take the breasts and place them within two pieces of plastic wrap. Pound them with a meat hammer until they are about 1/8 to 3/16-inch in thickness from one end to another. These thinly pounded pieces of meat are called paillards. You can now marinate them but since the surface area of the paillards is so great, limit the marinade time to 20-30 minutes. Over-marinating these thin pieces of breast will get you mushy meat. Now you can give the breasts a sprinkle with the dry rub of your choice. Using the direct or indirect method, carefully place the pounded chicken breasts on the oiled grill rack. These will cook very quickly, about 1-2 minutes per side over hot coals. I sometimes put these thin paillards on an oiled piece of aluminum foil to keep them from falling apart while on the meat rack. Again, as with any white meat chicken, do not overcook. Since these paillards are too thin to use the thermometer probe, you will have to gauge when they are done by sight, just after they turn from pinkish to white.
With the thin skinless and boneless breasts, if you throw on some DRY flavor wood chips, the meat will taste almost as if it were hot smoked in a smoker. You don't want to use wet chips here as you want the smoke from the flavor wood chips to come on fast and furious during the short cooking time required for the pounded chicken breasts.
b) After the marinade and rub steps, place the skinless and boneless breasts on the oiled grill for indirect cooking. Use your tongs and overlap the thinner ends (put one 'tail' on top of another) so these do not get overcooked.
Tip: A great way to use leftover grilled or smoked chicken breast is to prepare your favorite green salad and then julienne the cold chicken and add it to the salad. I especially like to do this with Cajun or Southwestern style grilled chicken breasts.
Using the indirect and direct methods together
This method is for half and cut-up chickens with skin. First, grill the chicken using the indirect cooking method and when the internal temperature of the breast is 150F or the thigh is 160F, move the chicken directly over the coals, and place the pieces skin side down. Your charcoal fire should not be cool enough that a fat fire does not develop. The direct heat from the coals will cook the skin and make it crispy and will add the grill marks to the skin side of the chicken pieces. If your fire flares up, then move the chicken off the fire quickly as the soot in the yellow fat fire flames will coat the outside of the chicken with soot in a matter of seconds. If you get a flare up, then I'd suggest that you give up on trying to crisp up the skin and just continue cooking with indirect heat.
If your fire does not flare up with the chicken directly over the charcoal, then grill the pieces about another five minutes. This should be enough to crisp up the skin. At this point, if you like your chicken with a barbecue sauce taste, you can paint it on with a pastry brush. Let the chicken continue cooking for another minute or so, but not long enough for the sugars and tomato in the sauce to burn. You want the sauce to be to caramelize but you don't want it to carbonize, so watch it carefully. During this skin crisping and finishing sauce period, be sure that you do not overcook the chicken. Leave the temperature probe in the breast or thigh and remove the chicken when the internal temperature reaches 160 for the breast or 175F thigh. It is better to have not-so-crispy skin than to have crispy skin over dried out breast meat.
Remember, grilling chicken, even with direct heat, will never produce as crispy skin as will a deep frying process.
5) Grilling on skewers--
Whenever I have had chicken kabobs, it always seems that the vegetables and fruit are nicely done but the chicken is dry and tough. So whenever I do chicken kabobs at home, I do the meat on a separate skewer and vegetables, mushrooms and pineapple on other skewers. This way I can get everything to come out perfectly cooked.
For chicken kabobs, I like to cut the chicken breast meat into chunks about 3/4-1 inch in size. Marinate the chunks for 1-3 hours. Then thread the chunks onto the metal or water-soaked bamboo skewers. Next, give the chicken a sprinkle of rub or seasoning or a coating of a non-burning baste.
Tip: If you keep the meat chunks separated and leave a gap between the pieces, the chicken will cook faster. If the meat chunks are touching, then it will take a little longer to cook.
When doing kabobs, it is more difficult to gauge just when the chicken is perfectly done as the meat chunks are usually too small to get a good temperature reading. You can try using the temperature probe and take the skewers off when the internal temperature reaches 165F for white meat and 170F for the dark meat. If the chicken chunks are too small for the probe, then you will have to learn how to tell when it is done by catching it just as the meat turns from pinkish to white and the juices run clear. As with any type of grilled chicken, the secret here is to not overcook it. I find that chunks of white meat chicken take about 3-4 minutes on a side directly over medium coals. I usually turn them 180 degrees once.
I always do skewered chicken directly over the glowing coals. Since there is no skin and very little fat, there will be no flare-up from a fat fire. When you do chicken kabobs, you have to be right there with the chicken all the time or you'll overcook it. While the meat is grilling, baste with your marinade or a basting sauce. Here, you can use a sauce with some sugar in it as the cooking time will be short enough that the sauce should not burn.
There is no end to the marinades, spice rubs, bastes and finishing sauces you can apply to chicken kabobs.
For grilled skewered vegetables, there are many to choose from: mushrooms, onions, bell peppers (red and green), eggplant, tomatoes (chunks and cherry tomatoes), beets, potatoes (white, red or sweet--boil for 10-15 minutes until almost soft before grilling), chunks of squash (zucchini, banana, acorn, butternut, pumpkin--boil for about 8 minutes until almost soft before grilling), broccoli (blanch for about 5-6 minutes before grilling), Brussels sprouts (blanch until they turn bright green), carrots (blanch until almost soft). Skewer the vegetable chunks and then give then a light spray of olive cooking oil. Give the vegetable skewers a shake of salt and freshly ground black pepper. You will have to experiment on how long each vegetable will take to cook, but a general rule is 8 to 12 minutes. Turn often to prevent burning.
You can marinate mushrooms and they will take up the flavor well. Here is a nice mushroom marinade:
Marinated and Grilled Mushrooms
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 1 | pound | mushrooms | any variety |
| Marinade: | |||
| 1/4 | cup | lemon juice | fresh |
| 1/4 | cup | pineapple juice | |
| 1/4 | cup | scallions | minced |
| 2 | tablespoons | light soy sauce | |
| 2 | teaspoons | ginger | freshly grated |
| 2 | tablespoons | dry sherry | |
| 1 | tablespoon | brown sugar |
In a small sauce pan, combine all the marinade ingredients. Heat gently until the sugar dissolves.
Transfer marinade to a glass bowl and add the mushrooms and let marinate for at least 3 hours.
Recipe Source: "Grilling From The Garden" by Diana Shaw
Here is another of my favorite skewered recipes:
Chicken Curry Kabobs On Rice
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 1/2 | cup | yogurt, plain | |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | curry powder | (recipe follows) |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | ginger | freshly grated |
| 1 1/2 | pounds | chicken breast | |
| 3 | cups | Basmati rice | cooked |
| 1 | teaspoon | garlic | minced |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | cayenne chile | powdered |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | salt | |
| 2 | green onions | sliced | |
| 2 | medium | tomatoes | diced |
| vegetables for grilling | |||
| Garnish: | |||
| 1 | teaspoon | curry powder (for rice) | |
| 1/4 | cup | cilantro | chopped |
Mix yogurt, garlic and spices in a glass bowl. Cut chicken breasts into cubes and add to the glass bowl with yogurt and spices. Marinate in refrigerator at least 6 hours, mixing with a spoon occasionally.
Just before the chicken comes out of the marinade, start a batch of Basmati rice. Dice a tomato and a few green onions.
Soak bamboo skewers for 1 hours. Drain and discard marinade. Thread chicken on skewers.
On other skewers, place your favorite vegetables to grill, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, chunks of zucchini squash, chunks of onions, pieces of red or green bell pepper, slices of eggplant, etc. Give the vegetable skewers a sprinkle salt and some freshly ground black pepper and a dash of curry powder and place them on the grill before the chicken.
Grill the vegetables 8-12 minutes directly over medium hot coals.
Grill the chicken 8 to 10 minutes, turning once at 4-5 minutes (160F if you can use the thermometer). Do not baste.
As soon as the chicken comes off the grill, sprinkle the rice with 1 teaspoon of the curry powder and toss the rice with the diced tomatoes and the green onions. Place a bed of rice on each serving plate and serve skewers of chicken and vegetables on the bed of rice. Garnish the chicken with the chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lemon. If you manage to do this recipe without overcooking the chicken, your family and guests will rave.
Curry Powder
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 4 1/2 | teaspoons | coriander | |
| 2 | teaspoons | turmeric | |
| 1 | teaspoon | cumin seed | |
| 1 | teaspoon | whole black peppercorns | |
| 1 | teaspoon | cayenne pepper | |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | cardamom seed | |
| 1 1/2 | inch stick | cinnamon | |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | cloves, whole | |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | ginger | powdered |
Mix thoroughly and grind very fine in a spice or coffee grinder. Store in an air-tight jar in a cool dark place. Making your own curry powder blend is always much better than buying premixed curry powder.
Grilling Perfect Chicken on a gas grill
In my opinion, it is not possible to obtain chicken that tastes as good on a gas grill as you can get on a charcoal grill. But if add some wet flavor wood chips to the ceramic briquettes or lava rocks and learn to control the heat, it is possible to make some pretty good-tasting chicken on a gas grill. Before you add any flavor wood chips to your gas grill, read the manual that came with your gas grill or check with your grill's manufacturer to see if the ash from the flavor wood chips will cause problems with the gas burners on your grill.
Indirect method on a gas grill
If you wish to grill chicken with the skin and fat on it, your options for controlling a fat fire flare-up are more limited than for a charcoal kettle grill. Gas grills by their very nature cannot be air-tight. You must have air for the combustion of the gas, and there are air intake slots on the bottom of sides of the gas grill housing that let in this air. So you cannot successfully damp down a fat fire by closing the lid. I know this from experience with my old gas grill.
So to prevent a fat fire from turning your chicken black, you must grill the skin-on chicken by using the indirect cooking method. Since in a gas grill you cannot move the fire to one side or the middle of the grill, you must make do with the fixed positions of the gas burners.
One-burner gas grill
If your gas grill has only one gas burner, then you will have to determine where the hottest spots are and where on your grill it is cooler. Most likely, the gas burner will be positioned in the middle of the meat rack. So, to successfully grill skin-on chicken, you must put the chicken pieces on the outer edges of the meat rack. You will have to determine how high to set the burner gas-control knob for the right amount of heat. If you need more room for your chicken pieces, then you will have to come up with some type of heat baffle to place on top of the lava stones or ceramic briquettes that will block the flames from burning the chicken. You can put a heavy-duty aluminum baking pan half-filled with water directly onto the lava rocks or ceramic briquettes. The baking pan should be a little bigger than the gas burner itself. With the baking pan in place and half-filled with water, it will form a barrier that will do two things: it will catch any fat that drips off the chicken above it and it will block and flames from reaching the chicken.
If you are doing a whole chicken, place the bird over the water pan. Adjust the gas flame to give medium heat and put the coven in place. Cook the bird for 30 minutes and mop it. Replace cover and grill until the breast me is 160F.
For halves and pieces, with the water pan in place, you can use the entire grill surface. Again, grill the chicken for 30 minutes with the lid down and them mop the chicken. Replace the lid and continue grilling until the breast meat is 160F and the thigh meat is 170F.
Multiple burner gas grill
Here you have more control of the heat. turn on all the burners and put the lid in place. When the grill is hot, turn off one burner if your have a two-burner grill or two burners if you have a three-burner grill. You can place the chicken on the parts of the grill except the part directly over the burner. If you have a three-burner, I like to use the middle burner and put the chicken on the right and left of center. Adjust the gas control for medium heat and grill the chicken as above.
Direct heat method for a gas grill
This is more challenging than using the indirect method. The secret here is to lower the flame until the lava rocks or ceramic briquettes are cool enough that the dripping fat will not ignite and flare-up. This will take some experimentation. I was able to successfully use direct heat on my gas grill, but I had to play around with some to find the right setting. When you determine the correct control setting, make a note of it in your grilling notebook (you are keeping one aren't you?) so it will be easy to repeat next time you grill. I think the thing that helps most here is to remove as much of the excess fat from the chicken pieces as you can. This will reduce the possibility of flare-ups. I recommend using only cut up pieces and not whole birds and halves for the direct heat method.
When using the direct heat method on a gas grill, you need to keep the lid up and a watchful eye on the chicken at all times. Use that mop a lot and be ready to move the chicken out of any flames that may flare up.
[What is 'beer can' chicken?]
'Beer-Can" chicken is more of a way to Wow your grilling audience than a way to produce perfect chicken. The basic procedure is to take a prepared whole chicken and set it onto an opened beer can half full of beer. Be sure to open the beer as the can will explode and scatter your chicken all over the inside of your grill if you leave the can unopened. The premise is that while the chicken grill-roasts, the beer in the can will boil and flavor the chicken from inside the cavity. After the chicken is set onto the beer can, the chicken is set onto the main grill and the grill is covered. the chicken is then grill-roasted for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours at 300F.
In addition to using a can of beer, you can use a can of soda, like Coke, Dr Pepper, ginger ale, 7-Up, wine or fruit juice.
If the idea of cooking a whole chicken over a can of beer, interests you, Steve Rachlen (the Barbecue Bible guy) has a whole cookbook devoted to the subject. "Beer-Can Chicken" ISBN 0-7611-2016-5
Here are some more excellent grilled chicken recipes:
Famous Kansas Flightless Grilled Chicken Wings
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 3 | pounds | chicken wings | |
| 1/2 | cup | Dijon mustard | |
| 2 | teaspoon | olive oil | |
| 4 | cloves | garlic | minced |
| 1/4 | cup | soy sauce | |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | ginger | ground |
Cut chicken wings into three pieces and discard the tips. Combine other ingredients in a large bowl. Add wing pieces and stir to coat well. Cover and let stand for 45 minutes. Place wing pieces on the grill and brush with remaining mustard mixture.
Grill over medium-hot coals about 15-20 minutes, turning once.
Source: Kansas City Barbeque Society, "The Passion of Barbeque"
Amy's Grilled Chicken Breasts
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 4 | chicken breast halves | skinless | |
| 2 | teaspoons | Dijon mustard | |
| 3 1/2 | tablespoons | white wine vinegar | |
| 2 | teaspoons | garlic | minced |
| 2 | teaspoons | honey | |
| 1 1/3 | tablespoons | fresh thyme | minced OR |
| 2 | teaspoons | dried thyme | crushed |
| 1/3 | teaspoon | coarse salt | |
| 1 1/3 | dashes | red pepper flakes | |
| 1 | tablespoon | olive oil | |
| 4 | sprigs | fresh thyme |
Place the chicken breasts within a folded piece of plastic wrap; slightly flatten upper portion of each breast with the broad side of a chef's knife to promote even grilling. Place breasts in a shallow glass or ceramic dish. Place mustard, vinegar, garlic, honey, thyme, salt and pepper flakes in a small bowl; stir with fork to combine. Add oil a little at a time and whisk to combine marinade. Pour marinade over breasts.
Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in refrigerator, turning once or twice in marinade, for at least 2 hours, or up to 4 hours. Remove breasts from marinade, scraping any bits clinging to chicken back into the shallow dish. Transfer all marinade to small saucepan and bring to a boil; reserve. Lightly grease grill rack with cooking spray. Preheat grill. Place breasts on grill. Cook covered with lid, basting frequently with marinade, until tender, approximately 5 to 6 minutes on each side.
Recipe from: "Lean Italian Cooking", by Anne Casale
Chile and Lime Grilled Chicken Wings
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 5 | pounds | chicken wings | separated |
| 1 | cup | lime juice | |
| 4 | ounces | green Anaheim chiles | peeled and sliced |
| 4 | tablespoons | garlic powder | |
| 2 1/2 | tablespoons | paprika | |
| 1 | tablespoons | salt | |
| 2 | tablespoon | lemon pepper | |
| 1 | tablespoon | soy sauce | |
| 1/4 | cup | vegetable or olive oil |
Puree the chiles in a food processor or blender. Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Marinate for at least 2-3 hours in refrigerator.
Grill wings, basting as needed with saved marinade. Wings are done when they don't stick to the grill.
If you want to add a little kick to 'em, throw a tablespoon of cayenne in the mix.
Recipe By: Steve Hopkins
Chili-Basted Barbecue Chicken
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 1 | cup | vegetable oil | |
| 6 | cloves | garlic | pressed |
| 1 | tablespoon | chili powder | plus 1 teaspoon |
| 1 | tablespoon | fresh lime juice | |
| 2 | teaspoons | cumin | ground |
| 1 | teaspoon | coriander | ground |
| 1 | sprig | fresh cilantro | chopped |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | clove | ground |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | cayenne pepper | |
| salt | to taste | ||
| pepper | freshly ground, to taste | ||
| 5 | pounds | chicken pieces |
Combine first eight ingredients in a medium bowl. Arrange chicken in large pan in single layer. Pour oil mixture over it. Turn chicken to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least four hours or overnight, turning occasionally.
Prepare barbecue grill (medium heat). Remove chicken from pan, reserving marinade. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Grease grill rack and arrange chicken on rack, skin side down. Cover and grill until cooked through, basting every 10 minutes with reserved marinate, turning occasionally, for about 30 minutes or until done. Transfer to platter and serve.
Recipe By: Dr. Karen Howard, Abilene Reporter-News
Vince's Grilled Chicken
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| Marinade: | |||
| 3/4 | cup | lemon juice | |
| 3/4 | cup | white vinegar | |
| 1/2 | cup | water | |
| 1 | cup | cooking oil | |
| 3 | tablespoons | salt | (don't skimp) |
| 1/3 | cup | sugar | |
| 1 | tablespoon | Tabasco | (don't substitute) |
| 1 | pound | chicken breasts | with skin |
| 1 | pound | chicken leg quarters | with skin |
Mix marinade ingredients. Place chicken in a glass bowl and add marinade. Mix chicken pieces well to get every piece coated well with marinade. Let chicken sit in marinate overnight.
Recipe By: Vince Vielhaber
Grilled Fiery White-Peppered Chicken Wings
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 20 | chicken wings | tips removed | |
| 1/4 | cup | white pepper | freshly cracked |
| 2 | tablespoons | salt | |
| 1/2 | cup | soy sauce | |
| 1/4 | cup | lime juice | |
| 2 | tablespoons | ginger | minced |
| 2 | teaspoons | garlic | minced |
| 2 | tablespoons | red or green chile pepper | minced |
| 1 | tablespoon | sugar | |
| 2 | tablespoons | fresh basil | chopped |
| 2 | tablespoons | fresh cilantro | chopped |
Sprinkle the wings with pepper and salt. Grill over a medium-hot fire until they are well browned, 5 to 7 minutes, turning a couple of times. Take the largest wing off the fire and check for doneness by eating it. Remove the wings from the grill and place in a large bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients, toss well, and serve.
NOTES : I like to grill chicken wings for three reasons. First, they are easy and fast; second, they have an almost limitless versatility as to the flavors you can combine with them; and third, you have to pick them up with your hands to eat them. That kind of sets the mood for the rest of the meal, letting folks know right up front that they can relax.
Recipe By: "Big Flavors of the Hot Sun" by Schlesinger and Willoughby
Peruvian Grilled Chicken Thighs
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 8 | chicken thighs | ||
| 1 | teaspoon | coriander | ground |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | cayenne pepper | |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | salt | |
| 2 | cups | rice | cooked |
| 1 | ripe | avocado | peeled, sliced |
| 4 | tablespoons | sour cream | |
| Tomato-Cilantro Sauce: | |||
| 2 | ripe | tomatoes | coarsely chopped |
| 1 | medium | red onion | coarsely chopped |
| 1 | clove | garlic | coarsely chopped |
| 1 | jar (7 oz.) | roasted red peppers | (drained) |
| 1/4 | cup | cilantro leaves | |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | salt | |
| 1/8 | teaspoon | pepper |
In small bowl, mix together coriander, cayenne and salt. Rub thighs with mixture.
On prepared grill, place chicken and cook, turning, about 12 minutes or until internal temperature of 160F. is reached when tested with a thermometer.
Spoon rice onto 4 individual plates, top with Tomato-Cilantro Sauce and arrange chicken on top. Garnish with avocado slices and dollops of sour cream. Makes 4 servings.
Tomato-Cilantro Sauce:
In blender or food processor, place sauce ingredients and process until smooth.
Source: Bon Appetit magazine
1997 National Chicken Cooking Contest
Rosemary Chicken Marinade
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 4 | chicken breasts | with skin OR | |
| 4 | chicken leg quarters | with skin | |
| Marinade: | |||
| 1/4 | cup | fresh rosemary | |
| 1 | medium | lemon, zest of | grated |
| 2 | teaspoon | black pepper | freshly ground |
| 2 | teaspoon | olive oil | |
| 2 | teaspoon | lemon juice |
Combine all the marinade ingredients. Place marinade in a 1 gallon Ziploc freezer bag. Add chicken breasts and shake the bag well to coat all the pieces with the marinade. Let the chicken marinate for at least six hours (overnight is best) in the refrigerator.
Grill using indirect method.
Bourbon Grilled Chicken - Orange-Flavored
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient | Preparation Method |
| 2 | pounds | chicken breast | boneless and skinless |
| 1/2 | cup | onion | chopped |
| 2 | cloves | garlic | minced |
| 1 | tablespoon | olive oil | extra virgin |
| 2 | teaspoons | orange zest | grated |
| 1/3 | cup | orange juice | |
| 1 | tablespoon | wine vinegar | balsamic is best |
| 1/3 | cup | bourbon whiskey | Jack Daniel's is best |
| 1/2 | cup | molasses | unsulphured |
| 1/2 | cup | ketchup | |
| 1 | tablespoon | steak sauce | like A-1 |
| 1/4 | teaspoon | dry mustard | powdered |
| 1 | pinch | salt | to taste |
| 1 | pinch | black pepper | freshly ground, to taste |
| 1 | dash | Tabasco sauce | to taste |
| 1 | teaspoon | chili powder | |
| 1 | pinch | cloves |
Mix all ingredients other than chicken well. Marinate chicken 4 hours. Remove from marinade and grill, basting with marinade frequently.
Grill using indirect method over medium coals.
More information
For more information on grilling and barbecuing, brining and other topics that fall under the heading of 'outdoor cooking', check out version 2.0 of the BBQ-List FAQ.
Click HereIf you'd like the recipes in this FAQ in MasterCook export format along with another 200 or so grilled chicken recipes Click Here
[Can you suggest some good books on grilling?]
"Born To Grill" by Cheryl and Bill Jameson, ISBN 1-55832-111-X An excellent grilling book, full of techniques and recipes.
"License to Grill", by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby A very good book on grilling. If you're serious about grilling, this is the book. Excellent recipes. William Morrow & Company; ISBN: 0688139434
"The Thrill of the Grill", by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby A continuation of their first work on grilling. William Morrow & Company; ISBN: 0688088325
"Paul Kirk's Championship Barbecue Sauces", ISBN: 1558321241 Very useful book. Lots of background reading about the sauces. Helps you to 'build' you own rubs and sauces.
If you'd like more information on the subject of Maillard reactions in food, check out these web sites:
http://hbd.org/brewery/library/Maillard_CS0497.html
http://chemistry.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa122898.htm http://www.pdlab.com/pdproteinx.htm
End of Chicken Grilling FAQ