Urdu Poetry/Shayari Forum - View Single Post

**llvlliss_chlak0** · #1 10-21-2007, 12:57 AM

Devil's Chicken
1 chicken, butterflied
5 garlic cloves
1 bunch each of fresh thyme, rosemary, parsley, sage, basil and marjoram or oregano
10 dried bay leaves
1 lemon
olive oil
salt and pepper

Ideally you should buy a free range corn fed chicken who led a happy life and did not see your grill coming. Clearly it is hard to make good grilled chicken with one of these jail house birds who never saw the light of day and live in a cascade of refuse. But they cost more. I recommend a half chicken per guest so nobody will feel stepped over if they don't get their favorite part. Just take smaller chicken to adjust portion size.

Pound the garlic and herbs in a mortar except for the bay leaves. Add a little olive oil to obtain a smooth paste. Don't be mean on the oil as it will prevent the chicken from drying out.

Butterfly your chicken. This means cutting it lengthwise, emptying whatever was left of the insides and flattening it on a board (photo). Rub the pounded herbs all around the chicken and between the skin and the flesh.

Place the chicken in a freezer bag and leave to marinate in the fridge. Some recipe call for overnight marination, others for 1 hour. With an oil-based marinade the longer the better as your chicken won't disintegrate, but one hour is good enough if you have to make do.

Prepare a fire with hardwood or quality charcoal. Here I used 5-years dry apple wood. Wait until the wood has turned into embers and a small layer of white ashes covers it. But don't wait too long, you need real heat otherwise your chicken will take too long too cook and will dry. Put your chicken on the cooking grate skin up.

In a small bowl, whisk the juice of one lemon with an equal amount of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and prepare a flameproof brush.

After about 10 minutes or when it has marked properly, baste with the lemon-oil mixture and turn.

Leave to cook until done - about 30 minutes in total. I recommend you get a temperature probe to check for doneness. Baste regularly. I cooked some onions directly over the embers as you see above. More on that in a later article.

When the chicken is almost done, sprinkle a few bay leaves or rosemary over the embers and let burn. This will generate a most fragrant smoke that will infuse the meat. Very pleasant!

Baste some more. Some local variations on this recipe call for sprinkling with white wine while still on the grill. I will try it next time as a slightly acid baste works wonders with this dish.

Let your chicken rest, wrapped in foil, for about 10 minutes before serving. Serve each guest a half chicken and they will be as happy as the devil in hell.