continues...I decided to try Adam Perry Lang's chicken. This is his competition thigh recipe, but I used an entire discombobulated chicken. It's a pretty involved recipe (for chicken) but I think you'll agree that the layers of flavour here are really fun and tasty.
Start with marinating the chicken for a few hours in Italian dressing. I hate to say it, but the sight of cold, raw chicken in a ziploc bag with Italian dressing just seems nasty.
Am I wrong? Ok, let's cover that chicken up. After it's been in the fridge a few hours, light up a fire in your bbq. We'll be using indirect heat today.
Make a lovely rub of:
¾ cup ancho chile¾ cup sweet paprika
½ cup sugar in the raw
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
Meanwhile, pour:
4 tbsp unsalted butterinto a pyrex baking dish.
¼ cup water
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp MSG
A brief aside about MSG. A lot of folks think that MSG is bad for you/causes Chinese restaurant syndrome/will make your head explode. Decades of research have failed to find a connection between ANY health problems and MSG. MSG is a natural nutrient found in many foods (indeed, it's the reason that soy tastes good). That said, if you don't want to eat it, and are more concerned with mythology than with yumminess, leave it out. Okay. Rant over and out.
Dry of the chicken slightly and place the chicken in the dish. Sprinkle on that delicious rub. Now the chicken no longer looks obscene.
MMMmmmmm... Cover the dish in foil, and cook at 300°F for 45 minutes.
MMMmmmmm... Cover the dish in foil, and cook at 300°F for 45 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the grill, and let rest in the pan for 15 minutes.
Transfer the chicken to a cookie sheet, and sprinkle on the remaining rub.
Toss back on the grill, and cook for an additional 45 minutes at 300°F, this time adding some wet hickory wood to the fire to generate a little smoke. While this is cooking, make the sauce:
2 ¼ cups Adam Perry Lang's delicious signature bbq sauce from the brisket post3 tbsp apricot preserves
3 tbsp pineapple preserves
3 tbsp honey
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 ½ tsp Japanese soy sauce
1 ½ tsp MSG
Remove the chicken from the grill, and slather on the sauce, being careful not to mess up that beautiful crusty rub.
Put the chicken back in the bbq.
Cook for another 30 minutes. Remove and serve immediately.
MMmmmm... delish. The layers of flavour on here are really fun. And this is a big, bold chicken. So we served it with a cabernet sauvignon.
Lots going on in that chicken. It looks great. Is any of the cook directly on the grate, or is it all in the dish?
ReplyDeleteThe first step is in a covered dish with water, butter and MSG all around it, the next two are on a cookie sheet. The coating is pretty fragile, and I think moving it off and on the grill might damage the coating. It does mean less access to smoke, but I tried to counter that by dialing up the amount of smoke I made on that fire.
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