This is a summer essential: sticky, crispy barbecued chicken that comes together in less than 20 minutes. An ideal lazy-man’s recipe, here’s a technique that puts to rest once and for all the ornery side of grilling cutup chicken: one piece is raw at the center while another piece is turning to cinders. Instead, oven-roast the chicken ahead, so when it hits the grill all it needs is warming and anointing with a good BBQ sauce. While any will do, we recommend you give our Sweet-Tart BBQ Sauce a try. It is well worth the additional effort. Serve this chicken with Tijuana Cole Slaw and a pile of napkins.
Think of this as a foundation to build into other cuisines. For instance, evoke Morocco by adding a little sweet paprika and cinnamon; head to India with the addition of more coriander and black pepper; and channel your inner Mexican by adding more chile and cumin.
A dry rub is the fast solution to flavoring virtually everything you cook — from seafood, to steak, to chicken, to veggies and tofu. Even ten minutes of letting a rub settle into a piece of fish before it’s grilled can take it into a new realm. And the spice rub doubles as a seasoning blend for anything else you’re cooking. Add it to salad dressings, soups, dips, sautés — you get the idea.
If there were ever a recipe that represented the whole Adam Perry Lang Playbook, this is it: active and aggressive with scruffing, mucho basting, tempering, the Maillard reaction, board dressing. I split the bones apart a bit to create more surface area for the heat to penetrate. Then I pound the meat. It has a similar effect to pounding a veal cutlet or a chicken breast, except in this case my goal is not to flatten a rib roast to a 2 1/2-inch scaloppine. My intention in pounding is to compress the meat, adding density and creating more surface area for the crust to develop and incorporate flavor. When I demonstrated this technique to the guys in my butcher shop, they thought I was crazy -- that is, until they shared one with me.
Ingredients
This miso-based marinade produces spectacular results with fatty or oily fish such as salmon, sea bass, yellow tail, black cod, blue fish, and pompano. It cures the flesh slightly and permeates it with a delicate flavor. Grilling caramelizes and glazes the surface, leaving the flesh succulent. Plan to marinate the fish at least 12 hours before cooking. If you don't have sake, use a total of 1/2 cup mirin.
This is a wonderful rub for meats and fish. While I prefer it as a dry rub, you can add lemon juice or a neutral oil like grapeseed to make it wet if you like. Use the rub on your choice of meat, allow it to marinate for a few minutes, and then grill, roast, or sauté. As with any spice, if you are going to store this for a long time, please ensure it is still flavorful before using. Use your nose—if you can smell the spices, it is still good to go; if not, toss it and make a fresh batch. This rub lasts up to two months in a sealed container.
Darra Goldstein, in her book The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia, tells how suckling pig is rubbed with a blend of soaked black and red pepper pounded with garlic, coriander and summer savory. When she mentioned it was also excellent on roast chicken, we gave it a try.
A lovely thing about this dish is that it can be a meal for vegetarians or carnivores alike, and nothing says summer like eating with our fingers. Eating outside means we have permission to pick up all sorts of things — from chicken wings and hot dogs to these lamb–and vegetable–filled rollups. This is the way it works: Set out a pile of lettuce leaves, a pile of fresh herbs, some ground chile, a bowl of store-bought chickpea dip (hummus), and some instant chive-yogurt sauce. Heap the grilled vegetables on one platter, the cooked lamb on another.
The coffee in this marinade accentuates the bitter and smoky flavors of molasses, which is particularly delicious with pork ribs. This recipe is a favorite for marinating ribs of any kind: bee prime ribs or short ribs, as well as gone-in rib pork chops. My absolute favorite is pork spareribs because of their high ration of fat to meat. If that weren't enough, this marinade also makes a wonderful dipping sauce because it's not too salty.