Recipe #9 - The Ultimate Barbecued Chicken

Back in the good ol' US of A and nothing more American than lighting up the grill and throwing down some meat.   And this weeks meat of choice is chicken.  Many things claim to taste like it, but nothing comes close to the real thing.  And who doesn't like chicken?  I know people that don't like beef, lamb, bison, deer, octopus, whale...I could go on and on.  But everyone likes chicken.  So without further ado I present to you Tyler Florence's Ultimate BBQ Chicken!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/the-ultimate-barbecued-chicken-recipe/index.html

This is not a picture of chicken.

This isn't a difficult recipe, it's just involved with more steps than you'd think are neccessary to make bbq chicken.  In the past I put some sauce on the chicken and put it on the grill.   20 minutes later, I had bbq chicken.   Was it good?  Probably but I didn't know what I was missing.  

Most of the ingredients.  Pretty crappy picture since you can't read the labels and it's a bit blurry.  Unfortunately it's the only one I took so you'll have to deal or just don't look at it.  I really don't care either way. 

First step in this multi-step process is to make the brine for the chicken to soak in.  It's similar to marinating where you put together some liquid stuff and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours or more.  "Brining foods in a saltwater mixture before you cook them adds flavor, tenderness, and reduces cooking times." - About.com  

Is that the correct way to quote other sources in a blog?  I don't want to be accused of blog plaguerism and since I have more than 10 followers it's quite a possibility.   

Anywho, back to the brine at hand.  

Water, Kosher Salt (must be blessed by a Rabbi), brown sugar, thyme, and garlic.  Make sure the chicken is completely covered and ALSO make sure that the ziploc bags are sealed well.

  

Before going any further I'd like to mention that I am using legs, thighs, and breasts, all on the bone.  The recipe calls for leg quarters which is the leg attached to the thigh but since I already had a package of legs in the freezer I decided to go this route.  So you can use any type of chicken you want, as long as it's still on the bone.   Don't like eating chicken on a bone?  Have your mother take it off the bone for you when it's done cooking.  

While the chicken is getting it's brine on, you can make the sauce.  Step one is to wrap a piece of bacon around thyme and tie it with kitchen twine.  1.  I don't have any kitchen twine and 2.  I used turkey bacon due to religious dietary restrctions of my guests.  It was hard, since I love the bacon, but I also love my guests so I decided to make the sacrifice.  No need to start any holy wars over a slice of tasty pork goodness.....mmmmm........salt cured.......mmmmmmm..... in a blend of spices and aged for perfect taste.......

Bacon Break!

Thats how I'm serving gravy next thanksgiving.

Is this real?!

 Gross, funny, weird, sexy?

The Bacon Explosion.  I need to make this.  If you are not familiar with the BE check it out here.

It's a BA-K 47!  Perfect for those long nights in the jungle when your fighting the enemies and get hungry!

Ok, that's enough bacon....for now. 

Back to the recipe.  So I used turkey bacon which works well enough.

Turkey bacon rolled around the thyme.  It was a good thyme.

Cook this in a medium size pot or saucepan until the "bacon" gets crispy and then add the onions, garlic and cook on low for about 5 minutes.  Then add the rest of the ingredients and cook the sauce on low for 20 minutes.  I cooked mine a bit longer,but just make sure the heat is low enough as not to burn the sauce.  

Sauce will look like this, unless you use bacon and then it might look different.  I don't know, I didn't use bacon.

So you got the sauce done, the chicken is brining and now it's time to either sit back and relax until 2 hours is up, or make some side dishes since you probably want to have something with the chicken.  I decided on tater salad, grilled asparagus and grilled corn.  I made the tater salad before starting this process, since I wanted to give it time to cool.  Loosely based on a tyler florence recipe but not close enoyugh to take credit as one of my 100 recipes.  If you're interested check it out here.

Well now it's probably been at least two hours so get the grill going cause we're all getting hungry.  If you are a poor soul that has no grill you can use a grill pan on the stove.  And if you don't have a grill or a grill pan then lord have mercy on your soul.  

The Weber Q300!  A fine specimen and highly recommended outdoor cooking device.  Cast iron cooking grates, two stainless-steel burners at a combined 21,700 BTU per hour and 393 sq inches of cooking heaven.  (Note :  Weber has not endorsed this blog, but if they'd like to I am open to receiving free products)

Cook for about 10 minutes (5 on each side) or long enough to get some nice grill marks.

Close up of the image above in case you wanted to see it closer.  I did.

After the chicken has grilled up, you transfer it to a baking sheet and cook for 15 minutes at 375 in the oven.  Then cover the pieces with your homemade sauce and cook for another 20-25 minutes in the oven.  You can baste the chicken with more sauce during the final cooking stages but at this point they looked to be doing just fine on their own.  

The Chicken is in the Oven!

And that does it friends!  You have now made Tyler's Ultimate BBQ Chicken or at least read the blog on how I did it.  This was probably the best bbq chicken I've made and had.  No jokes about it.  This is some fine tasting chickity chicken!  Tangy sweet sauce with a juicy flavorful bird.  Doesn't get much better than this.  

The finished product! 

As I said before I paired it with tater salad, grilled asparagus and corn.

 

Summer on a plate!

Another highly reccomended recipe but be warned that it takes some time.  Perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon with family and friends.   I also doubled the recipe so I'd have leftovers for a few days.  Once again this receives the 4 clean plates

and a happy baby who ate the chicken faster than I could get it to her tray.

And being Easter Sunday we ended the meal with an apple pie topped with an easter surprise.

Finally opened the Peeps!

Special thanks the my wife, my kiddo, my stepbro, stepsister-inlaw, and step niece.  I think I have enough steps to build a staircase.



Next up:  Unknown!?!

Recipe #8 - Coq Au Vin

I decided to stay in France for one more week and give one of their traditional recipes a go.  Literally translated, Coq Au Vin means "Rooster with Wine."  Not sure if anyone cooks roosters but I imagine it tastes like chicken.  Joining me on this adventure as sous chef and photographer, David, who also happens to be my brother in law.  Brother in law is a strange term.  Pretty much means that he is my brother by law.  If I was to get divorced, would he no longer be my brother in law?  Is there a term for that?  My ex-brother in law?  Dude who used to be my brother in-law but now is just a guy I hang out with cause he's cool.  This is getting too complicated so I'll just stay married.

And without anymore sidetracks or silly anecdotes we get to the cooking.

Quite a few ingredients.  I substituted white boiling onions for pearl onions because I couldn't find them.  Why are pearl onions so hard to find.  Stop and Shop had 2 options.  1. Frozen Pearl onions in a white cream sauce. I could have washed off the cream sauce. Gross.  2. Frozen Peas with Pearl Onions.  I could have bought 10 packages and picked out all the pearl onions.  Too costly and a waste of peas.  Probably should have gone to Whole Foods.

 I put Dave to work on the onions.

Dave peeling onions in a red shirt and jeans.  

  And I started in on the carrots.  One of the carrots looked like a finger.

Finger carrot!

My finger with the finger carrot!

After the veggies were prepped you can start the bacon.  The recipe calls for 4 slices but you know you're going to want to eat some when it's done so cook a few extra.

Do not remove bacon when it looks like this.  This is not crispy. 

THIS is CRISPY!

Remove the bacon when it's nice and crispy and coat your chicken in flour, salt, and pepper and brown it in the bacon fat.  So pretty much the only reason to use bacon was for the grease that comes off it.  Granted later on, if you haven't eaten all the bacon, you can crumble it up and use it as a topper for the meal.  

Flouring the chicken.  Thanks to Dave you are able to see things which I couldn't photo in past blogs, unless I wanted to get uncooked chicken and flour on my camera.  Not going to happen.   (If you are interested in being my sous chef/photographer please send a 1000 words or  more essay on why you deserve this prestigious position). 

Breasts and Thighs lightly browned. Could probably use a little more browning.  Recipe calls for 2 legs, thighs, and breasts but you can't just buy 2 thighs so I cooked 2 breasts and 5 thighs.  As long as you cook with the bone and skin you are good with any cut of chicken.

Now take all your veggies and throw those in the pot.  Get them to mingle with the chicken, oils, and juices.  

I don't see any mingling!  Must have taken this just after putting them in the pot.  Give them time.  They will eventually get to know each together and before long they'll be making beautiful music (or food) together.   

And we finally get to the step in the recipe that we've all (except my wife) been waiting for...... 

lighting the brandy on fire!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was pretty excited since I'd never done this before and had seen the chefs on tv light the pan and the flames go flying up to the ceiling.  I had my fire extinguisher at the ready

and Dave was ready with the camera to get that award winning shot.  I was expecting it to look like this...

when in really only looked like this...

Not sure if that flame is from the lighter or the chicken.  Either way I was disappointed.

So no giant flames, but I did hear it more than see when it caught fire.  Maybe it didn't work well in a pot.  I usually see them do it in a pan.  Anywho, I tried a few times while adding more brandy than the recipe called for.  

After that debockle, I added the burgundy wine, chicken broth, and spices. 

3 happy bay leaves in a sea of mushrooms and wine.

Cover and simmer for about 1 hour and then uncover and continue to cook for another 15 minutes and you're ready to eat my coq au vin.  

I paired this dish with roasted potatoes and onions, and green beans.  

Chicken will be purple from the burgundy wine.  Looks a little strange but taste delicious.

This dish tasted great.  The flavor from the wine and spices infuse itself into the chicken.  The vegetables also pick up the flavor profile quite nicely.  There was enough food for 4 of us with a bit left over.  I had leftovers last night (2 days later) and did not like the flavor of the chicken.  Sitting for 2 days in the wine made the flavor too acidic and over powering.  So if you are planning to have leftovers, I'd take the chicken out of the sauce and eat it within a day or so at most. 

Special thanks to my lovely wife Robin, Dave, and Amanda for sharing this adventure in French Cuisine.  Once again I give this my four clean plates of approval.

and a hungy baby

 

Coming up next:  Tyler's Ultimate BBQ Chicken

And speaking of BBQ, this weekend is the Lexington Battle Green BBQ Festival!  It's gonna be a BBQ filled weekend!

Recipe #7 - Chicken Franceseseseses

From Portugal we travel across the great Spanish countryside and arrive a week later in France.  Why did it take me a week to get across Spain?  First, my rental car was confiscated at the Portugal/Spanish border for not having the correct paperwork (Damn you Rent a Wreck!).   After walking for a day or two in the hot Spanish sun, I needed to find a quicker method of travel.  Then I saw this sign in a store window of a small village:

 

 I inquired to the shop keep when the next running would occur and he said, "It is today.  If you wish to run you must wear the traditional white clothing with red scarf.  I can sell them to you for a small fee".  So I bought the clothes, entered the run and was chased all the way to France. 

People think Marathons are hard.  Try being chased by a bull while running across Spain.  And there were no kids handing out orange slices or cups of water.  For shame Spain, for shame.

If you're still reading this, I commend you on your persistence in waiting to get to the recipe.  If you decided to skip over the nonsense above, you missed out on a wonderful tale.  Now on to the cooking.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chicken-francese-recipe/index.html

If you click the link above you will notice that there is no picture.  This is the first recipe I have attempted that does not include a picture so it worried me a bit.  Does this mean that Tyler's food was not picture worthy?  Did the photographer have the day off or called in sick?  Did no one at the food network have the ability to take a picture and upload it to the website?  I find it hard to believe that in 2011 a picture would not be provided on a website to show the food.  How would I know what this is supposed to look like?   So many unanswered questions.

But alas, I push forward with all my previous experience.  And by the the end of this recipe you will have photos to compare your cooking to as well.  Let's start with one now.

Simple list of ingredients and of course the peeps are back for an encore performance.  If this picture was bigger you could see the wine cost less than $5.  I was pretty happy to find a bottle of Pinot Grigio for under 5 bones.  Why spend more when you're just using it for cooking.  Ok, well we drank it as well cause we couldn't let the rest go to waste.  Wasn't too bad.  Tasted at least like an $8 bottle.

Just like with the Chicken Marsala recipe, I decided to buy the thin sliced cutlets instead of pounding the breasts with my meat mallet.  It saves time and they cost about the same.  But if you'd rather take the time to pound breasts with your meat mallet then go for it.

As with most recipes you need to get your mieces and pieces together.

Seasoned flour on the left and Eggs on the right.  If you thought the eggs were on the left then you shouldn't be cooking, or you need to adjust the contrast and color of your monitor.   A shallow bowl works best for this so you can coat the entire breast at once.

One lemon prepared two ways.  Thinly sliced and juiced.  It's not juiced yet, but it will be soon. 

Let's get that chicken cooking in the olive oil.  Dip it in the flour and then the egg and then to the hot pan.  Depending on the thickness of the breast and heat of the oil it only takes a few minutes per side.  You want to get them to a nice golden hue like this.

Happy little cutlets dancing in the oil of olives.   

Once you have cooked the chicken (may have to do this in batches), put it aside and cook the lemon slices.

If you connect the lemons you get.....

A Pentalemonagram! - The religious symbol for the worship of lemons.

After praying to the lemon gods, add the liquid ingredients and cook for a bit to form a sauce.  Add butter and some flour to thicken.  Once it thickens up, add the chicken to the sauce.  Should look something like this.

The sauce has a consistency of gravy.  Season it with some salt and pepper to your taste.

And that's it!  Fairly simple recipe.  I decided to serve it over a bed of linguine surrounded by a nest of french cut green beans.

You can't eat the lemon but it looks nice on top of the chicken.  Impress your family and friends with this one.

If I had to sum up this recipe in one word it would be "lemony."  Is that even a real word?  Can you add a "y" to the end of words to make them adjectives?  I'll have to consult the wife on this one.  For those of you who don't know, she's an accomplished, tenured, and award winning English teacher in a town that I cannot reveal to protect her and the schools identity.  

And while on the subject of my wife, she thoroughly enjoyed this dish.  Much more her taste than last weeks fish stew.  I enjoyed it as well.  The flavors blend well and leave me wanting more.  Good thing, cause it made enough for 2 nights which is why this received the coveted 4 clean plates of approval!

and a baby in shades

Next recipe:  Coq Au Vin

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/coq-au-vin-recipe2/index.html