Cuban mojo crillo is always a good and flavorful marinade for chicken.
I also like using buttermilk or yogurt along with any herbs and spices that seem appropriate. The buttermilk/yogurt seems to have a similar effect as a brine, in that it sort of tenderizes the chicken and keeps it moist. Try salt, pepper, rosemary, fresh garlic, with buttermilk or yogurt. Or if you want to go in an Indian direction, mix the yogurt with tandoori masala, either store-bought or look online for a recipe.
My standard grilled chicken recipe is jerk, but it contains brown sugar and lots of habanero, so I’m going to guess your friend is not going to be interested in it.
I tried a recipe for honey-lime chicken once. It wasn’t incredible, but it seems like it would pass the requirements. Mix honey and lime juice in approximately equal proportions and baste as you grill. Salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes could all be added to good effect, I would think.
We did a grilled chicken in a honey-lime-pepper marinade the other day that was really quite good, very quick and safe for someone with your friend’s allergies.
Basically, I stirred together the juice and zest of two limes, one finely minced red hot chili pepper, around 2 tbsp honey, a drizzle of olive oil, and a couple hefty pinches of salt. Then I scored the skin on some skin-on chicken thighs and marinated them in the mixture for a couple of hours before grilling on the BBQ.
If it’s a genuine allergy YES, IT MUST BE 100% SUGAR FREE. There is no safe “little bit” when it comes to allergies. And having to call 911 during dinner is SUCH a bummer.
Redbridge by Anheuser-Busch. Don’t laugh, it still tastes better than Budweiser.
Yes, it costs about twice as much as domestic beer. It’s not great beer, but it’s drinkable. It’s certainly beer you can cook with - HOWEVER, it does not last as long as barley-based beer. Buy it, keep it cool, or cold, and use it within two weeks.
Actually, around here beet sugar is common as dirt, and I normally buy it as it can be grown in the US - I think it’s a regional issue as your location is Virginia whereas I am close to Michigan, which is a major beet sugar producer. Anyhow, if she can tolerate Splenda you might wish to use it to substitute for sugar. But ask her first.
Nope. That’s wheat. However, quinoa is of simliar size, most brands in the supermarket are easy to cook, and my husband frequently mistakes it for cous cous though he should know better by now. It should work in Shark Sandwich’s salad if you substitute quinoa for cous cous.
Somewhat off topic:
One of my neighbours is also allergic to gluten/wheat. So in the dishes we made for our last get together, we used Quinoa seeds. They taste great.
As a side note on the issue of whether someone can legitimately be allergic to sugar or not…
Having a genuine allergy (defined as having an abnormal immune response against the substance like hives, difficulty in breathing, etc.) against sugar is extremely unlikely. Most allergic reactions are in response to proteins, and sugar is not a protein.
However, people often use the term “allergy” rather imprecisely to refer to any unpleasant physical sensation attributed to taking a substance.
For example, I often encounter people who think that they are “allergic” to a medication because it gave them an upset stomach. That isn’t an allergy. It’s not caused by the person’s immune system. It’s a side effect.
There are people out there who have difficulty digesting a certain type of sugar due to an enzyme deficiency. For example, everyone has heard of lactose intolerance. Lactose intolerance is not an allergy, as demonstrated by the fact that such people can tolerate lactose if they take pills with supplemental enzymes to help digest the lactose.
However, if someone says they can’t handle cane sugar but can handle beet sugar, it is very doubtful that it is even an issue of intolerance since both of those contain the same kind of sugar (sucrose).
The mind can be very powerful. Just as some people can develop a legitimate upset stomach due to anxiety before a stressful event, I can believe that someone is able to psychologically convince themselves they have an allergy and truly experience physical symptoms…but that doesn’t make it a real allergy.
I’m not saying that the OP should confront the friend about their allergy or force the person to eat stuff they don’t want to. However, with this board being the way it is, I think it’s appropriate to be skeptical of such claims. Just as we’d all raise an eyebrow if someone came on here asking for help planning a meal for someone who follows the “Eat Right for Your Blood Type” diet (which really exists, by the way).