Archive for the ‘BBQ’ Category
Barbecued Turkey Breast with Orange-Herb-Wine Sauce
November 30th, 2007 | 
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It seems there’s at least three ways to make a Thanksgiving holiday turkey. The traditional oven method we all grew up with and usually do. The “set the back yard on fire” method that is all the rage right now, namely the deep-fried turkey. And then there is a lesser-done middle of the road method that straddles nicely between those two which is turkey on the grill, or to be more accurate, the barbecued turkey.
Which one to do this year? Well the weather decided it for me. Here in Philadelphia in November the norm is pretty much 55°F on a nice day, and on the occasional day when we get a Canadian down-draft maybe 42°F for the high. This year, as the weather tends to do what it wants, we inexplicably had a two-day warm spell with the day before Thanksgiving reaching to 66°F And the day of the feast just glancing the 70 degree mark. (Mind you, the very next evening it went down to 30°F). So with this as a sign — well, ok, I don’t actually believe so much in signs so I should say, with this opportunity presented I decided to make the most of it. One finally grilling for the year. And what a way to go out with a bang but with my first-ever BBQ turkey breast!
My obvious concern was: this could easily go wrong. Then again if I really thought that, I wouldn’t have begun the venture in the first place. That said, it was still a slight gamble. And what’s the best thing to do with a gamble? Why, hedge your bets of course. And so, along with my first BBQ turkey so also came my first time brining anything. I’ve been hearing about this brine technique for a few years now and I wasn’t completely sold on the idea. (I’m still not, not totally. It has it’s place though for certain.) You see if a turkey, whole or breast can get dry in the oven, then it most certainly could on the grill if I wasn’t careful. And so I took the plunge. Literally. Or at least the turkey breast did.
Now, I had a plan in mind. BBQ the turkey. Give it a dry rub. Offset the dry rub with some kind of a thin sweeter sauce. Once I decided that the sauce would be citrus, I knew when making the brine I would give it a bit of “umpf” in the same direction. You see, yes a brine is most definitely not a marinade; it’s something totally different. But I figured that shouldn’t stop me from in some way thinking of it a bit as a marinade too. And so I had the seven pound turkey with ribs. Got a huge metal pot, put in the water and the requisite salt and sugar mix. Then I also took two large juicy oranges, cut them in half, squeezed out at least half of the juice and plunked them in the brine with the turkey and let it set in the refrigerator for four hours.
As I did this at 9am and I wasn’t grilling until about 1pm, I then happily went back to sleep for a couple hours. I love it when something gets done *while you’re sleeping — that’s the true measure of quality multitasking to me. LOL!
Later, with my charcoal “tank” — my beautiful large outdoor grill — all ready, I proceeded with figuring out what to do for my rub. I definitely wanted it to have a nice smoky flavor, but not too overpowering either. So I decided a bit of a regular BBQ rub, minus some of the normal things I would use and other ingredients in less proportions — this was poultry after all, not a side of beef. I added some of the traditional turkey herbs of sage, rosemary and thyme and was off. I set the grill up for the normal off-set or indirect heating, charcoals on the two sides, open in the middle with a drip pan below. Grilled — as in direct flame — the top skin side of the two half breasts (I cut the breast into two halves for same reason, stack the odds in my favor, easier cooking, less time, therefore less change to dry out), and after five minutes of giving the top side a nice sear, went for the barbecue, the indirect heating with the turkey breast in the middle. Two hours later it was done.
Brought it inside. Crisp as you ever saw turkey skin with the strong dry rub and the smoky charcoal flavor. Super moist, very white, cooked meat with the slightest hint of orange from the brine. Made my light sauce, and the rest of my sides and there was the holiday feast. The techniques used for the turkey all worked out very nicely. Definitely not your momma’s or your grandmama’s Thanksgiving Day bird, but also definitely a winner. The barbecuing turned out to be a good idea. The brine worked out fantastically. The orange in the brine and then in the sauce offset the rub seasonings and complimented the smoky flavor marvelously. Some smoke, some herbs, some citrus. Moistest meat inside with the crispiest skin outside. What more could you want?!
Citrus-Brined Barbecued Turkey Breast with Orange-Herb-Wine Sauce
©2007 Harry Kenney7 pound young turkey breast with ribs
citrus brine:
2 large, juicy oranges
1 gallon water, cold
1 cup salt
1 cup sugarherb dry rub:
3 tblsps rosemary
3 tblsps sage
3 tblsps thyme
1 tblsp garlic powder
2 tsps onion powder
1 tblsp dried oregano
1 tblsp dried basil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tsps salt
1 tsp pepperorange-herb-wine sauce:
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup white wine, dry, semi-sweet (I used chablis)
thyme
rosemary
1 tblsp honey
zest (2-3 tsps) and juice from one large orange
1/4 tsps
pinch chilli powder
1 tblsp garlic powder
1 tbsp minced onion (dehydrated)
salt
pepper
2 tblsps vegetable oil
1 tblsp butterBrine: Cut turkey breast into two halves. Place in very large container that can fit into the refrigerator with brine solution ingredients for 3-4 hours.
Rub: Take out of solution. Wash completely off, especially to get salt off of it. Pat dry with paper towels. Get grill going. Mix herbal dry rub ingredients and rub onto both sides of turkey halves, especially the top. Set up grill for indirect heating.
BBQ: On the grates over the charcoals, place the halves top side (skin side) down and give a good sear for 4-6 minutes. Then place, top up, on middle grates over a drip pan, to the sides (or in the middle) of your grill for indirect heating. Cook at a minimum of 225°F and no higher than 325°F for about two hours. Check with internal thermometer and take off when thickest part of the meat reads at least 160°F.
Sauce: Make sauce in small pot on stove: Tossing in all of the ingredients except the butter and cornstarch and reducing it down. After getting it down about 1/3, add cornstarch, reduce further. Add butter two minutes before done for sheen and added flavor.
Serving: When turkey cools a bit, take out the rib section and all bones. Suggest serving by cutting the turkey more as you would a meatloaf or a roast: slicing across the short side and giving thick half-inch or larger slices. Two or three pieces per plate, staggered slightly atop each other, spoon sauce down the middle or completely over it and serve. Makes 10-12 servings.
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Oven-Roasted BBQ Beef Brisket
I’ve made brisket of beef before several times and each time it was made the same basic way, maybe a bit more “American” standard roast a few times, maybe a bit more “Italian” flavoring once or twice, but I was definitely in the mood for something more robust and different. Only one way to go then, BBQ-style, and when it comes to beef and BBQ, that means Texan. Actually, not, it seems.
I thought Texan, but I missed by a few states. Seems Texas does love it’s brisket big-time, but a little research turns out they’re not much into the sauce masking the meat taste. Seems when it comes to sauce as well as ingredients like cinnamon, brown sugar and a tomato base, and beef instead of pork, we’re talking more towards Missouri.
Hey I may be a Northerner, and I might get the flavor of my states wrong once in a blue moon, but baby, whatever it is and wherever it comes from I can still cook. So I might not be the Alton Brown of cooking — which is cool, cause we got one of those already and he does a fine job — and I might not get my facts about the origins correct 100 percent of the time, but I still say you’ll be back for seconds and maybe even thirds!
My occasionally confused geography knowledge out of the way, you know I’ve discovered something. That as I do more and more cooking, I am surprised to find I never do a single rub or one (only) BBQ sauce. I guess that’s good, but it’s very surprising. You see, after I made one that I considered “my master” sauce (as well as the rub) I figured at the time “Great, this is the one I will stick with”. And it turns out, I don’t.
Again, that’s probably a good thing. Not only am I constantly making variants according to, what may just be my whim of the moment, but perhaps I am also altering the sauce and the rub each time to go better with the component ingredient at hand. In this particular case, especially with the rub, I went a bit sweeter … we’re talking lots of brown sugar and some cinnamon. To counterbalance that I also went a tad hotter than normal with the other ingredients (it still balanced at the end, that’s what always counts)
And in the case of the sauce, very tomato-y (I was using up some bruschetta and some extra cherry tomatoes I had left over instead of using ketchup as my base.) I often add some lemon or lime towards the end for acidity, thing is I was over acidity this time, didn’t need it. Also, since I had diced tomatoes and cherry ones I used a blender for the first time, instead of just mixing with a spoon. Again, a bit diff than usual, but worked out nicely
I sometimes like looking at other folks recipes before doing my own. It gives me a direction, and sometimes a side influence. See what others do, what I like and don’t like. Then no printing of their recipes (do print and use mine though!) … just something to keep in mind before I start and go on my own trek, my own way. And I’ll tell you something, what I consider a big tip. Looking about for different recipes I kept seeing people putting in BBQ sauce and water, or BBQ sauce and either chicken or beef stock. And this is my advice.
Some important words — and my philosophy — when it comes to thinning something out, or adding more liquid … If you need to add something too thin or because your reduction is going to fast (and you can’t alter the heat setting), here is how it works with me. If something says water, well … that’s it, it is water, as in watering down. Most of the time, adding water means “taking away from”. Unless the sauce or whatever is super thick (and well-spiced). So if you have to add something, at the very least add stock instead — this will give something to the dish, albeit subtle it is still adding not subtracting. So if the choice is between water and stock, go with stock.
However, there is one much better way to go, the next order of magnitude, if the choice is water or stock, don’t go with either of them — go with wine. A totally new, deeper level will be added, naturally more so if it’s a red wine, and something a bit more subtler (though not as subtle as stock) if it’s a white wine. When do you add which? You should know by feeling. If it’s light and delicate, let’s say a spinach and cheese sauce, white wine. If it’s a hearty, spiced out, beefy, tomato-y BBQ sauce — red wine, baby.
Oven-Roasted BBQ Beef Brisket
©2007 Harry Kenneyingredients:
2 1/2 lb – 4 lb brisket of beef
dry rub:
3 tblsps light brown sugar
1 tblsp cinnamon
3 tblsp chilli powder
1 tblsp red cayenne
2 tsps cilantro
1 tbsp dry mustard
1 tblsp cumin
2 tsps garlic powder
2 tsps onion powder
salt
peppersweet and hot BBQ sauce:
to taste:
16 oz. diced tomatoes (or crushed or ketchup)
vegetable oil
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes (I had these on hand)
lots of soy
lots of worchestershire
honey
molasses
minced garlic
dijon
cumin
cayenne
salt
pepper1 1/2 cups of a full bodied red wine (I used Chianti)
Make many light scores with knife through the fatty bottom side. Mix rub ingredients together well and now “rub” onto all sides of your brisket. Place in either in large gallon-sized zipper bag or on plate covered well with both plastic and aluminum foil. Let sit in refrigerator as long as possible. An hour at the least, or even overnight.
When ready to cook, get a pan hot, then add oil and brown and sear brisket on all sides. I find tongs help do this best without letting out the blood that forks would. This takes two to five minutes. Now either you have done this in a pan or pot that is able to be put into the oven, or if you hadn’t, now place in dish or other oven vessel, fat side upward.
Place in preheated oven at 375 degrees. No lid nor covering. Meanwhile combine ingredients to make the sauce, using blender or food processor to mix and get tomatoes down to a finer pulp. After the brisket has been in the oven for 45 minutes, place entire sauce over and on the sides of the brisket along with the wine. Now cover. About every 30-45 minutes mix sauce around sides and take some and baste over the brisket. On at least one of the there intervals, actually turn the brisket over so the fat side is on the bottom, remember next time to turn it again fat side up and leave it that way for rest of cooking. For a 2.5 pound brisket this is going to take roughly 2 to 2-1/2 hours. For a 4 pound brisket about 3 to 3-1/2. hours.
Sauce you have reduced down into a thick blackish red after about 2.5 hours. You do not want this to burn or it will give a bitter and burnt taste to your brisket. If necessary, add some more wine or some water and mix. This is especially true for if you have the larger and weightier slab. When temperature gets to 160°F and looks like part of it is flaking, the brisket is done. 2 1/2 lb brisket will get you 4-5 servings, a 4 lb one will make you about 7-10, depending how you slice it.
Apricot-Glazed Grilled Chicken Drumsticks
I had a BBQ party this weekend with relatives and friends attending. The star was (no surprise) my BBQ pork spare ribs. But that wasn’t going to be enough to feed this hungry crowd — not even with appetizers and sides, so I needed a second “main” course or second meat here, and while still maintaining that grill theme wanted to vary it as much as I could. Fist way to go different was a different meat, natch, in this case good-ol’ chicken, still there was no way it was going to be sauced identically to the first one.
Afterall, just because it’s barbeque doesn’t mean it has to be the “same BBQ”, if you know what I mean. If you don’t, then what I mean is this: there’s the traditional wood-chip “real” smoked BBQ. As you might recall from the primer, real BBQ means smoked and cooked by indirect-heating. Now to vary things up there’s the other way — which here in America is not technically called BBQ but grilling and this is — with direct heat, over the coals, and using dry rub and BBQ sauce
What ways can you vary it? Many. Go a different direction: Spicy, or sweet, tangy, fruity, mustardy, tomatoy, southwestern, Asian, Morrocan, Turkish, etc .. plus combinations of each. So for me, for this party, time to change up with sweet, so an apricot glazed chicken drumstick. Now mind you “sweet” is another relative word. I’m not trying to make this dessert. As you’ll see later in the ingredient list there’s some tang and always a touch of fire. But the predominent characteristic is, in this case, sweet.
Now drumsticks are difficult to cook. Hmm, difficult might not be the correct word. Let’s say, for their size, they take a surprisingly long time. A good medium drumstick will take around 45 minutes. I had bought a mix from the store, and opening the package, even though they were overall large, the 14 pieces did have a variety of sizes. About eight medium (ok, I said large overall, so medium here means “of those in the pack”, if you were looking at it normally, this medium you would consider “large”). For large (red jumbo) and four smaller ones (what you might normally consider to be “mediium”). Ah, everything is relative.
Point is that was three different cooking weights and cooking times. When this happens when I’m on the grill, I just start taking the smaller ones that look done, and move them over to a cooler side of the grill. If there is no such thing as a cooler side, or if the grill is just very hot overall, then I remove them right to a plate and cover immediately with foil.
Ok, one thing here to remind folks. You have to be careful, even over-careful with chicken. When you have something like this, drumsticks, you’re talking some meat around a big bone. That bone is what really causes “difficulty” in cooking. Especially in taking the internal temperature. You get false readings. Both pro and con, that is, high and low. They do take long. But I was having a tough time getting these to the proper temperature near the end. Every time I’d poke the largest pieces with the thermometer I was getting back 130.And after 40 minutes and having added red-hot charcoals from my chimney smoker, I knew what I was seeing on the thermometer just didn’t jive with what I was seeing with my own eyes and with experience. (Guess this is part of where cooking becomes part art and part gut feeling.)
When I finally said, these have to be done, took them inside and sliced one open, it was definitely done, even though the temperature gauge had been telling me it wasn’t.
What though had it been true that it wasn’t cooked all the way through? Hey, it happens to the best of us. Here’s a tip to be safety conscious. Use a microwave. You won’t lose any flavor, you won’t mess it up. Microwaves cook from the inside out, so you’re sure to get it right without and lose nothing that way. Who cares if a chef in a five-star restaurant or even a grizzled veteran of BBQ comptetions would never do that. This is us, not them. You want pride to stand in your way and take a chance on your guests getting sick? Hell no. A little nuking (my sometimes funny term for microwaving) might not be found in Culinary Institute’s handbook, but this is you and me in our front patios and backyards and in our kitchens. Never serve chicken undercooked, either put back on the grill, place in the oven, or give it a minute or two in the microwave if you definitely need to or just feel unsure about things.
Apricot-Glazed Grilled Chicken Drumsticks
©2007 Harry Kenney14 large chicken drumsticks
rub:
salt
pepper
cinnamon
ginger
cumin
garlic powder
chilli powderglaze:
4oz apricot preserves
3 tblsp apricot snapps (you can use regular brandy)
2 tblsp whole-grain mustard
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsps worsteshire
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp chilli powder
salt
pepperPut on rub and in ziplocked bag into the refrigerator. Put in fridge for about 30 minutes minimum, up to four hours is great. Take out and leave out on table still in the bag another 30 minutes so chicken gets more towards room temperature and they’re ready for the grill.
This is should take in total about 20 minutes per side. This is one item that you baste early and you turn often on the grill. Many times my advice is leave it alone. Not this one. Place on grill, baster with glaze. Five minutes later, turn, baste. Do that about every 10 minutes, getting all the sides a few times. Do put the lid or cover down in between. At about 35-40 minutes, start checking with an internal meat thermometer the largest ones.
Drumsticks are difficult at times because of that big center bone. You don’t want to serve raw and get anyone sick. You also don’t want to so overcook as to make things dry. Chicken needs to be 165°F minimum, and starts drying out at higher than 175°F. After 50 minutes over a good hot grill if you find you are still having problems, put the larger drumsticks and any others you feel may not have cooked thoroughly into the microwave for a minute or two to be sure. Serves about seven, depending upon if you are serving lots of sides or if your guests are football player size, serves: 5-9.
BBQ Pork Spare Ribs
Here we go. The meat of meats, the summertime special, the reason — so many thousands of years from cavemen, we still like to do it their way — old school, neolithic old school — we’re talking about BBQ spare ribs, baby.
Maybe you’re totally into BBQ and smokin’, or perhaps you’re totally new. Either way, I’ve decided the best way to get the main elements across isn’t to repeat them in every barbecue recipe, but to refer to a single primer on the subject BBQ: Bringing Smoke to the Fire.
So feel free to give a once-over before continuing. Or, if you’re a veteran or you feel confident, let’s jsut get at it. One quick thing first, you need a grill, charcoal and wood chips. (If you do propane, fine, recipe doesn’t change at all.)
This is going to take about 2.5 hours of cooking time. That’s an important phrase. Like football playing time, 2.5 hours cooking time may actually mean 3-3.5 hours. This is an investment in time. And if you know me and my way of thinking, I don’t like putting a lot of time into my cooking unless the reward is worth the effort. And when it comes to BBQ spare ribs, yeah, it’s definitely worth it.
BBQ Pork Spare Ribs
©2007 Harry Kenneyingredients:
One, three-pound slab, pork spare ribs
dry rub:
1 tbsp Paprika
1 tbsp Cumen
1 tsp Ginger Powder
2 tbsp Garlic Powder
1 tbsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Cayenne
1 tsp Dry Mustard
1 tbsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Pepperbbq sauce:
1 cup Ketchup (base)
1/3 cup Worchishire
2/3 cup Soy Sauce
1/2 cup Honey
2 tbsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Ginger Powder
3 tbsp Dijon
1 tbsp Pepper
2 tbsp Lemon Zest
2 tsp Hot Sauce
2 tsp Horseradish sauce
Juice of 1/2 large lemon (or all of small lemon)smoke:
chardonnay wood chips, personal preferrerence (mesquite or apple wood are very nice choices)
Put together dry mixture for rub. Rub all over the defrosted ribs. About 2/3 or 3/4 on the top, and the remainer on the underside. Place on cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap and aluminum foil and place back in refrigerator for 1-6 hours. (No, not that long, you’re saying.) Bare minimum time 30-60 minutes, but really, the longer in the fridge with the rub, the tastier the meat and the more the tough meat will breakdown. Rush this and you will pay for it later; your call.
Get your grill going with your charcoal and wood chips. Shut the lid. Internal temperature of your grill should be at least 180°F and rising, also smoke should be seen coming out the sides. At that point, place the rack of ribs on the grill, facing upwards, on the side of the grill without coals nor wood. Remember this is indirect-heating and smoking. Shut the lid and check the grill’s temperature (from the outside) every half an hour. You should keep the heat between 220°F and 240°F; this is the ideal zone.
After the first hour, you will need to change wood chips for certain, and probably refresh the coals as well.
If you haven’t changed the coals in the first hour (you probably have), you’ll definitely need to add to them by hour-and-a-half. Again, let your temperature gauge tell you. Remember too, when the temperature has gone down to much, and/or the smoke has thinned to much, the cooking time has halted. You can’t start counting again until heat and/or smoke are back up to proper levels.
Before the two hour mark, make the BBQ sauce up as given above.
At the two hour mark, see how things look. Good chance the ribs are looking good. Pick them up with the tongs by the middle, over the grill. Just lift them up in the air. See how much bend you get. They should be benind like a U-shape at least as the cartiledge is cooking between each rib. Place back down, still facing upward. Add coals as needed. You probably do not need to add more chips. But it’s up to you to gauge this.
Take an internal meat thermometer and see if the ribs are getting towards where they should be. 150°F is the minimum safe temperature to safely eat pork and have any contaminants killed off. In terms of doneness, for pork: 160°F is considered medium, 170°F as well done. If you feel there’s about a half-hour or so left, start brushing on the BBQ sauce and do so every 10 minutes. Remember, the longer the lid is up, the longer amount of time for heat to escape. so do it right, but do it quickly and shut that lid back down.
Two things, you don’t want to burn sauce; put it on too soon and you will. (That is if you think there’s 30 minutes left and it’s close to an hour, you could burn the sauce). Second, when it’s all done you want the meat to almost fall off the ribs by themselfves with little prodding.
When you pick up the rack with tongs in the middle and it bends so much the two ends want to touch each other, you’re definitely at doneness. So, sight it, keep an eye on the barrel or drum (the grill’s inside) tempeature to make sure it stays in that zone, see how much the rack bends, and when you get 160°F-170°F, bingo.
Take inside, slice into individual ribs. Serve with sides and call yourself King (or Queen) for the BBQ.
BBQ: Bringing Smoke to the Fire (1 of 2)
Before we even begin, it seems that old Churchill adage comes up again: “two countries divided by a common language”. Seems the term barbecuing means different things in different places.
So you know what this particular article is about, we’re talking the US version, namely, according to Wikipedia: “In US English usage, however, grilling refers to a fast process over high heat whilst barbecuing refers to a slow process using indirect heat and/or hot smoke. For example, in a typical US home ‘grill’, food is cooked on a grate directly over hot charcoal; while in a US ‘barbecue’, the coals are dispersed to the sides or at significant distance from the grate.”
Since you’re no doubt curious, now what it means in the UK: “In British English usage, barbecuing refers to a fast cooking process directly over high heat, whilst grilling refers to cooking under a source of direct, high heat – known in the US and Canada as broiling.” Below is a chart I made up to simplify matters. Btw, I had thought the UK did not have any “real BBQ” until a friend told me some folks do there, and that they call it “California” barbecue.
| technique / name | US, Canada | UK |
| cooking under direct high heat | broiling | grilling |
| cooking over direct high heat | grilling | barbecue |
| indirect slow cooking and/or hot smoke |
barbecue | California barbecue |
Fine, with that now out of the way, this here initially started out as a short “pre-article” or “back story” to one of my recipes, in fact to the first BBQ recipe on my site. But as I wrote and then continued writing, I realized this would much better serve as a general BBQ and smoking primer that all the following and future BBQ recipes could also be sent.
This is your introduction into the world of BBQing. That is not grilling. That is not tossing BBQ sauce slathered on a chicken breast for 10 minutes and saying done. We’re talking big time, real thing, testosterone-infested, thick, quality slabs of meat, men-from-the-boys (and ladies-from-the-girls), slow-cooking, indirect-cooking and smokin’, my friends. Even if you know BBQing, I’m sure there might be something here for you to think about.
Is Mine Big Enough?
Is an “average grill” big enough for smoking? Good question, tough answer. If an average grill is a medium round one, maybe. How shallow or deep is it? Yours doesn’t have to be a big long rectangle or “barrel” one. A significantly deep and/or large round one can be enough. This is how you know for sure:
For BBQing and smoking, you need enough room in your grill to have the food take up space with no coals beneath, plus (the rest of the remaining room) there to be enough space to fill with coals and get the amount of heat required. You see, this is going to be indirect-heating. So a large rectangular or barrel grill no problem. A large round Weber type one, again no problem. A medium or small grill, there might be a problem. The food will be on the top level or cooking grate (or grill) with a drip pan beneath it and no coals. Next to it, the top cooking grate will be empty, and beneath it on the charcoal grate will be enough charcoal to heat the entire grill up to the temperatures required.
Note I’m not mentioning a gas grill. I know the folks in Arlen, Texas and Hank Hill especially will consider this blasphemy, but I don’t do propane (and propane accessories). If you do, fine. As propane gas grills only tend to come in “large butt” size and since you don’t use charcoal, smoking and indirect-heating won’t be a problem for you.
Also some gas grills come with a separate smoker chamber. So do the larger charcoal ones, either as a part of it or as an additional attachment.
Understanding “Cooking Time”
In one of my recipes I say: “2.5 hours of cooking time should do it.” Stop right there. Read that again. Those words seem deceptively simple. They are – that is they are not simple, they are deceptive. A precise understanding of those words “cooking time” is essential. And so we go to football. The American one.
How many minutes in a football game’s quarter? 15 minutes. And four quarters to the game. How long does a football game actually run? Riiiight … 3 to 3.5 hours. Now you know where I am going with this concept of “cooking time”; it’s a lot like the amount of “playing time” on the field clock where the game itself takes longer.
Do not start counting until you have two things: a temperature of at the very least 180*F, and it should then climb up to between 220 and 240. And, also don’t count until you first see the smoke is so thick inside the covered grill that you see it wisping out of the crevices. It is when you have these two items at the same time that you can start counting.
This part is trickier. As you should only see wisps of smoke at the start of cooking and in the middle of that particular packet of chips, lack of smoke does not necessarily mean stop counting. But sometimes it does. If your temperature drops below 180, you do stop counting for positive though. Remember every time you open up the lid of your BBQ you will be letting out smoke and for every two minutes, lose about 50 degrees temperature. This is why, you may put the lid back down, and see the heat at 150, starting to rise back to the 220-240 area. And when that happens you don’t start counting again until you see it passing the 180 mark.
Changing It Up
As mentioned you’re going to need to “change things up” now and again. As this is a long cook, be prepared to add additional hot coals probably twice, and a new packet of chips at least once. This means you need a mechanism, such as a purchased or home-made chimney starter. When you do, that, open the BBQ lid quickly, get it done as fast as you can. Why? As said before, you will lose some smoke, but definitely heat as well. For a more accurate time-keeping, you probably should suspend your counting for about 5-10 minutes, until the heat inside (and smoke) gets back up to where it was.
Baste your sauce after the two hours of cooking time (not real time) is up, about every 10 or 15 minutes (that’s in real time) towards the end of the cooking, and up to you if you want one more right as you’re taking them off the grill). By now you’re wonder what the real time will be. Depends on a lot of factors but about the same as a football game, about three hours. More if you drop the ball and let the temperature get too low, don’t change the smoke packet at the right time, or (don’t do this) keep opening the lid too much. In which case, it will be closer to three and a half hours.
Smoke Packets and Chimneys
Touching on smoke packets. I like Rob Rainford’s method the best. Aluminum foil. Then two parts wet chips that have been soaking for 30-60 minutes and one part dry chips. Wrap them into the foil as a rectangular pouch. Poke holes all through them with your fork. Make sure the dry side goes atop the coals. I start out with two of those. Later, during the cook, I replace them. Sometimes both, sometimes one.
As for the chimney smoker, it’s definitely worth purchasing one if you intend to do real BBQ. At the start and middle of the season (summer) they can be as much as thirty bucks. Get one off-season as I did and you get it for seven, that’’s right, seven bucks. Now, maybe you don’t want to buy one first off, or maybe you’ve misplaced yours over the winter, ok maybe you just like handmade … well you can make one for yourself if you really want to or need to do so. Take a aluminum coffee can, the large one, and with a can opener to the part of the opener one uses to make pouring holes, make triangles across the top and bottom. With a screwdriver or something poke some small holes in the middle. Place on a rock, something that won’t burn nor singe. Put in crumbled newspaper and then coals and try to light from the top and bottom (now you understand the air holes.)
Some folks say don’t use charcoal lighter fluid, you’ll taste it. Myself I’ve never tasted it, and the coals don’t usually start for me without some. So if you can forgo the fluid or light on it, cool. If you need to use it, use it.
You Need Thermometers
I hate it when I watch a cooking show and the chef or cook has some sophisticated piece of equipment I don’t and bases everything on that. I do understand though, when you get into cooking you really get into cooking and that’s why they have the cool toys you don’t. With me, I have one great “luxury” and that’s my giant charcoal grill and BBQ. And one of the best things on it is the thermometer that’s embedded on the outside and tells me the internal temperature. I just can do so many things with that, I love it.
Now, you DO need a thermometer. Of some kind. You really should have one for the temperature inside of your grill. Smaller units don’t have these. In which case, get yourself a candy or deep fry oil thermometer and use that to the best of your ability. You most definitely need an internal (inside the meat, not the oven or grill) thermometer. That is a must. And knowing the internal temp of the grill is needed too. I know, I do hate to insist on equipment, but really it’s so difficult to do a job without the right tools, and in this case BBQing ribs is a job, a project, and something that let’s you check the internal kettle temperature and meat temperature really are required.
However, there are two ways if you really don’t have a therm, or you just stubbornly refuse to get one. There is of course, looks. Which can be deceiving, but with enough practice, looks and often touch can tell you doneness. However here’s the big, cool tip: When you pick the rack them up at the middle with tongs, and the ribs give a bowing that’s past a U shape and more of C shape (in other words, past a simple 180 degrees (of inclination not temperature), the ends start going in somewhat towards touching each other, that’s when you know you are either done, or you getting towards done.
These two methods said, however, if you get food poisoning, it’s not on me. Sorry to end with a bummer moment, but as said, you come to job, you bring the right tools. Period.
In the second part of this article, we’ll talk about rubs, mops and sauces, different types of wood chips, cooking and cleanup utensils and some fun accessories.
Roasted Orange-BBQ Chicken Leg Quarters
If I had my druthers, the best way to do this recipe would be on my charcoal grill with the lid down — the perfect combination of flame and air moving all around the poultry. But that’s not the goal of this recipe. The challenge I set up for myself here was how to get a BBQ-like chicken with savory, crisp skin in the oven. (Cause not all of us are crazy enough to shovel through three feet of snow at 10 degrees F and use the outdoor grill in the winter. Or, for me the day I came up with this, it was was a 98 F day with 85% humidtiy. I’ll take the indoors with AC blasting and an oven on, then cooking by a roaring fire outside, thank you.)
This is one of those ideas that took two trys to nail down, call them version one and two. As I am known to say, you learn as much (if not more) by your mistakes. So I’m sharing it with you because like me, you’ll pick up some ideas when you run across these problems again. I certainly know I’ll be keeping these solutions in mind myself next time and at least avoid these same errors. (As always, you can feel free to skip down to the bottom and get the “unvarnished” recipe. Or take the ride with me and continue reading. Your chice.)
I knew there were going to be “technical details” when I came up with the idea for this dish. First, I wanted BBQ but with Orange and I hadn’t done anything like that before (not a biggie, just mentioning it was one element). Second was I was trying to BBQ inside, and because the pieces were large and thick, I knew I had to abandon the idea of the two-burner kitchen grill. That means grilling in the oven. (strictly speaking that’s not possible if you go by the exact meaning of the words, but I think you get the concept).
I wanted to add OJ to my sauce which make my base not so much ketchup but the orange itself, plus doing so would thin the sauce out. Second problem, getting a good crisp skin, an “eatable skin”, without charring the sauce atop it into black, burn. (When I say eatable skin, meaning I rarely eat chciken skin. But if I did it correctly even I would love it.)
And so came try numero uno with it’s mistakes and problems:
Mistake one … putting in large baking dish … for one, wasn’t exposing underside to air heat … two as it would fry, juices and fats would mix into bbq sauce … In short, I was cooking this like a chicken in a sauce dish. Why, I dunno. I had to make this it’s original intention: BBQd tasting chicken, crisp skin, in the oven. Silly me. So in version two (my second try at this the next day) I ended up removing and placing on wired grill atop baking sheet as should have
Problem one … As mentioned, the OJ made sauce too thin. (I think that’s one of the reasons I made the other error of putting it in a deep baking dish, because it would “hold” to some degree to the chicken, but not as much as I wanted, and I didn’t want a big mess.) So version one solution tried, helped a bit, some cornstarch. Cornstartch is a nice thickner which unlike flour does not require heat as an element. (Sure heat would help the thickening and did during the actual baking.) The answer I found was to reduce the sauce. More concentrated flavor and it thicken more to my liking.
Problem two: Skin did get crispy … but … could be cripsier … problem, at it’s best, would have left in any longer and bbq sauce would have burnt … how to more scripy without burning? Doing it in the casserole deep dish was the mistake. The simple answer was doing it atop the grill on sheet increased both the crispieness and let dry heat get under the poultry. One thing I did get right the first time, scoring the skin; second time I went from a few scores to around on dozen on each quarter.
Yes, I’ve done my best to ignore the option of placing it in the broiler for a quick bit at the end. Why? Too easy in one way. Too “dangerous” in another. How so? Remember, you can go from slightly crispy to burnt in as little as 20 seconds. Remember those of you who are masters of the outdoor grill this isn’t going to be 100% perfectly identical … but we’re trying for 95% or so and it gets there.
Now two challenges for you. First, see if folks don’t think you did it on the outside grill. See their eyes perk up when you tell them you did it in the oven. Second, those who love to eat chicken skin are going to think this is incredible; and while not all, some people who never eat skin, ask them to try this. I’m betting there will be one or two converts.
One last (and probably obvious observation to share) This is definitely a cost-cutter meal: cheap to buy and then you take it home and make it extra flavorful.
Roasted Orange-BBQ Chicken Leg Quarters
©2007 Harry Kenneyingredients:
Four or five large chicken leg quarters (theighs and legs together)
mini rub:
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp paprika
1-2 tsps salt (this helps dry the skin as well as add flavor, that’s why a bit more than normal)
2 tsps peppersauce:
1 cup ketchup
3 tbsps worchestershire
4 tbsps honey
1 tbsps dijon (or brown)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp horseradish sauce
dash of salt
dash of pepper
1-2 tbsps lemon or lime juice (totally optional)
zest of one large orange (as much as you can get out of it)Make many small scores through skin of top side of chicken. Mix dried ingredients and apply the rub to top of chicken; don’t neglect putting some on the under side. Put in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the BBQ sauce as listed, placing all the ingredients in a small pot. As the OJ will have thinned the sauce, reduce it down until you get to a somewhat thicker consistency (such as that of say, steak sauce).
Preheat oven to 425. Baste chicken with sauce. Place on shallow wired rack atop baking sheet and place in oven. Expect this phase to take roughly 45 minutes (depending on your oven, size of chicken, size of bones, etc.)
15 minutes into it, turn chicken over. After 15 more minutes, again turn chicken over. Lightly cover the top of chicken with more of the BBQ sauce (not too thick, we want crispy skin.)
After chicken has been in for about 40 minutes, check with internal thermometer every 5-7 minutes until temperature is 150F. At this point turn oven to highest setting (often 500, some ovens go to 525 or 550). Skip checking with thermometer for now and instead check every 5-7 minutes for color and doneness visually. You will start to have a smoky kitchen at this point, that is normal.
When you feel it looks right and is done, again check internal temp. You must achieve a minimum of 165F to safely eat chicken. So when you are between 165-175F it’s perfect. Remove from oven and let rest at least ten minutes then serve.