Was barbecuing chicken thighs last night, and they ended up with super-charred skins and with a little bit of meat close to the bone still being pink (well, the smaller ones cooked through). Some facts to help frame the situation:
I use a dirt-cheap barebones charcoal grill. I can make rockin’ burgers, sausages, and hot dogs on that thing, though. Last night was the first time I’ve tried chicken.
Bought a 3.6 lb bag of MatchLight charcoal. The directions said to use 3 lbs of charcoal (why not sell a 3 lb bag ). I went crazy and used the whole 3.6 lbs.
The charcoal “pyramid” lit easily, but flamed strong for longer than the 10 minutes or so that the directions indicated they would. So I waited until the flames got somewhat low (maybe 15-20 minutes), and spread them out. There were some licks of flame still going strong, and some of the charcoals that weren’t flaming before started flaming at this point.
I only waited a few minutes after spreading the charcoals to throw the chicken thighs on the grill. Each averaged about 1/2 pound before cooking, and – FWIW – the pack was really bloody. My wife had poured some type of vinaigrette salad dressing + spices over the chicken a few mintues prior. They were all pretty fatty, which led to Crazy Flames o’ Hell once it melted and dripped down (I’m sure the oil from the dressing contributed, too).
I liked the effect of the open flame on the chicken at first … until I saw what it was doing to the skins. “Crispy” is great, but the skins were getting charred way too quick.
So after about 3 or 4 minutes, I moved the most-charred pieces to the far edges of the grill surface and closed the cover (vents left fully open). I cooked the chicken this way for about 20-25 minutes more, opening the cover every few minutes to adjust chicken placement, turn them over, move pieces around, and what have you. No piece stayed on the edge the entire 20-25 minutes … all the piececs spent some additional time over the center of the grill. The more charred pieces stayed over the center a lot less time than the less-charred pieces, though.
After cooking the chicken, the charcoals still had lots of glowing-orange areas. Needless to say, the grill was still lplenty hot – I could have thrown down some thick burgers right then and there and cooked them through with no problem.
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All right, the above is provided so that the resident barbecue experts can point out the obvious errors. Too much charcoal? Don’t use MatchLight? Start chicken thighs off on the edges so they don’t char? Nix the last-second oily salad dressing quasi-marinade? Prep/wash the chicken in such a way that the flesh is less bloody?
Is it really supposed to cook through in exactly the way oven-roasted or fried chicken does? Is a little pink (even if it’s close to red) near the bone acceptable? I ate it with no reservations last night since the pink was not pervasive throughout the cooked meat.
One way is to bake the chicken and finish on the grill.
Another way is to use INDIRECT heat. You don’t plop the chicken directly over the flames.
Here’s a recipe from Steve Raichlen, the king of grilling, that explains the technique. He uses chicken halves rather than pieces, but the idea is the same.
P.S. Generally with any grilling, you want a dry rub for flavor to start, then mop with wet sauce towards the end. If you DO use a wet marinade, you still want to pat the pieces dry before putting on the grill. Otherwise, any sugars in the marinade (and most all of them have some sort of sugar, even if it’s just fruit juice) will burn.
Sounds like the heat was too high. Probably need to wait for the coals to cool down a bit more before putting them on. The flareups probably didn’t help either… not quite sure what you can do about that, but probably using a less-oily dressing would help.
-QuercusMax, whose middle name really is “Grill” (no joke - it’s a family name)
The grill should have coals only on one side. Start your chicken, skin-side down, on the cold side. Let it cook for 15 minutes or so. That way the fat from the skin renders off and doesn’t cause flare-ups. Then line up the chicken pieces skin-side up along the edge of the coals. Let cook another 4-5 minutes or so. Finally move the chicken directly over the coals, skin-side down, for its final crisping, say another 4-5 minutes.
Perfect chicken with no charring or under-done meat.
I probably could have used a lot less charcoal, too. All the brands of bag charcoal I’ve seen say “3 lbs” in their printed directions … but I am quite sure half the 3.6 lb bag would have been plenty. And then in turn, with less charcoal, I’d have had more grill area available to use indirect heat.
EDIT: and **silenus **confirms my thoughts on the amount of charcoal while imparting a viable technique. Thanks, all!
Yeah, chicken takes for freaking ever on a grill. You need to treat it like you’re baking, not grilling the meat, except for that initial and/or final singe for crispiness. What you describe above is good for hamburgers or medium cut steak where you don’t mind pinkness in the final product. silenus advice above is a good approach.
Anybody have tips for boneless chicken breasts on the grill?
It’s seems to take some type of magic to cook them thoroughly, not dry them out, and not curn the outside to a crisp.
Sometimes the smoke can cause pink near the bone if you slow cook it in a covered low temp charcoal grill situation. But the meat is the cooked texture instead of a raw texture.
All things being equal, I like to start by a slow baking on my chicken, no BBQ sauce at all. Just a nice dry seasoning patted on after drying the brine off. I tried the parboiling, and didn’t think the skin crisped up quite as well as when baked [it seemed to keep a slight rubberiness]
I wait until the last minute to brush on BBQ sauce, though lately we have not been using bbq sauce, and just providing it at the table for people to use - we have a couple different kinds so you can take whichever one you like.
Sounds like you need to get a charcoal chimney. It’s the perfect amount of charcoal for this type of grilling, and gets them to the point where you’re not going to get a lot of flames from the coals themselves. If possible, try switching to lump charcoal as well.
And yeah - more indirect cooking will help a great deal here, without having to boil anything.
Hampshire, I’ve taken to cutting my chicken breasts into cutlets before putting them on the grill. 2-3 minutes on side one, two minutes on side two and we’re eating. They are thin enough that if the outside is pink the inside is too. You do have to be careful not to overcook, but if they are on the grill for less than five minutes they come out juicy and delicious.
First that’s not a dirt cheep grill. I just grilled hamburgers for 40 on one of those that was 20 years old. It worked great. Anything that lids up tightly, has multiple vents and allows you to change the distance of the coals from the meat is a good grill no mater how much it costs.
I’ve noticed these grills run hot, really hot. So that could be an issue. The coals should not have flames. There should be no black only gray. That takes between 15-30 minutes. Then spread the coals out evenly. Make sure you start off with the coals in maximum distance then close the lid and let it sit for a 5 mins and allow things to come to an even temp. Put on the chicken and close the lid. Check in 5 mins. Flip as you need to keep from scorching. Chicken parts should take between 20-30 mins depending on size and temperature. Cooking with the lid closed speeds things up.
Parboiling and prebaking is for sissies. At that point just add some BBQ sauce and broil it cause your certainly not grilling.
But Match-lite, seriously don’t use that stuff. It always makes food taste like it’s been cooked over diesel exhaust. Like others said get a chimney and get a good grilling book. After a while you may like grilling so much you move up to one of these.
If you ever find out how to barbecue chicken so it’s cooked all the way through, please teach the technique to the chefs at Hell’s Kitchen. If I have to watch Gordon Ramsey puke on some poor schmuck’s shoes one more time. . .
I forget to add that if you are putting any kind of sauce on your chicken, it doesn’t get plastered on until Step 3.
Follow the same steps for boneless breasts, only cut down the time by 15% or so. Getting the fat out of the skin early without flareups is what keeps the chicken moist without charring it. You don’t have to fight the different forces if you work by steps.
Cook’s Illustrated has a summer special magazine out on “American Classics”, one of the recipes being The Best Barbecued Chicken.
It’s basically the method silenus details above… except the times are longer. Much longer. Step 1 is 30-35 minutes, with half-open lid. Step 2 is 20 minutes, flipping every 5. Step 3 is about 5 minutes. Although they sauce in 2 & 3 both.
I always close the vent on mine most of the way so the coals get less air flow and burn cooler. I also leave them in a pile in the middle and put the chicken around it, so it’s more indirect than direct. When you turn the chicken, switch the side that’s closer to the coals.
And if you choose to pre-cook it in water, don’t boil it, poach it. Keep the water at 160 degrees F until a meat thermometer shows you that it’s done enough, then finish on the grill. When I do my sausages I figure an internal temperature of 140 is close enough, chicken would probably be around there as well. It takes the excess fat out without robbing flavor.
As far as boneless skinless chicken goes, the way to make it tasty is to find someone with bone-in chicken with the skin still on it and trade your nasty old boneless skinless stuff for his.
). I went crazy and used the whole 3.6 lbs.
They are thin enough that if the outside is pink the inside is too. You do have to be careful not to overcook, but if they are on the grill for less than five minutes they come out juicy and delicious.
