By Andy Mueller
Correspondent
As Mother Nature continues to smile brightly, it gives us plenty of opportunities to hone our skills on our way to becoming the neighborhood grill master.
Charlie Murphy made it to legendary status with his bratwurst commercials back in the day, and you can too – just follow along.
Mastering the art of grilling can be a challenge, and success is achieved by balancing the art (flavor, color, presentation) and science (time and temperature).
Both are equally important.
Living in the age of technology, there are many tools, gadgets and gizmos that can make us all look like culinary geniuses.
This recipe comes together beautifully with one of my all-time favorite kitchen must-haves.
Every chef and home cook should never be without a digital thermometer with a wire probe extension.
Checking to see if the chicken is done by cutting into it is a culinary cardinal sin.
You spend all that time getting the perfect sear to seal in the juices, then you cut into it and all that vigilance is for naught as you watch those beautiful juices run out.
There should be no comfort in the fact you now have the best tasting charcoal in the neighborhood – it doesn’t pair well with cardboard chicken.
The wire probe attachment on a digital probe allows you to insert the tip into the center of the thickest part of the dark meat, set your desired temperature (chicken should be 165), close the cover, and an alarm sounds when the temperature is achieved.
You can find them in any big box store or online.
They’re relatively inexpensive and absolutely necessary if you want to achieve legendary status and rave reviews.
This recipe for BBQ Chicken requires a marinade in a brine for at least 4 hours and up to 12 before grilling.
The brine helps the juices stay inside the meat when cooking, tenderizes it and makes the chicken unbelievably juicy and full of flavor.
BBQ Chicken
For the brine marinade, in a large container add:
• 2 quarts ice cold water.
In a small saucepan over medium-high heat add:
• 2 cups water.
• 1/2 cup salt.
• 1/2 cup sugar.
Whisk until salt and sugar is dissolved.
The water doesn’t need to boil, just have it hot enough to dissolve the salt and sugar.
Remove from heat.
Add about a dozen ice cubes to the water to rapidly cool the water temperature.
Add to the large container of cold water and stir to mix.
Add to the brine:
• 2 fresh bone in 1/2 chickens (breast, wing, thigh and drumstick all still attached).
Place the container in the fridge for at least 4 hours and up to 12.
Heat gas or charcoal grill, keeping one half of the grill the direct heat hot side and the other side indirect heat with no heat source from below.
Allow the coals to get on the other side of the hottest temperature (after they turn white and start losing the bright red glow).
For a gas grill, the hot side should be medium-high heat.
Clean the grates with a wire brush, then place a little canola oil on a paper towel and lightly oil the grates using long-handled tongs.
Place the chicken, skin side down over the direct heat side of the grill and let it get a nice golden color.
If it starts to flare up, move to the cool side of the grill.
Do the same on the other side to get a nice golden color.
Move the chicken to the cool side, place the wire probe in the thickest part of the dark meat and set the temperature to 165 degrees, close the cover.
The grill is now acting like an oven and will cook slowly and won’t burn the chicken.
As the internal chicken temperature reaches 145 degrees, brush on your favorite BBQ sauce and close the cover.
The sauce will caramelize during the last 15 to 20 minutes of cooking.
Remove chicken from the grill, let rest for 10 minutes so the juices all settle back into the meat.
Serve with coleslaw, baked beans, potato or cucumber salad and enjoy.
Chef Andy Mueller is owner/chef of Galley 57 Supper Club in Bellevue – galley57.com.
Editor’s note: To read about another recipe by Chef Andy, CLICK HERE.Â