STICKY, DIRTY, BARBECUE CHICKEN

Eve Simmons

7 years ago

There’s not many nude, hairless bodies that I’m comfortable with, but hand me a naked, raw chicken and I’m as relaxed as I’ll ever be. I’ve always found something oddly satisfying about fingering the pimply skin and shoving half a lemon up a dead animal’s butt hole – not in a weird way. For years I’d roasted my trusted version of garlic butter basted chicken and plated it up for housemates, best friends and boyfriends a like. Until, that is, I decided unwittingly that butter was to be avoided at all costs and any chicken consumed had to be followed by 24 hours of near starvation. When recovery came about and, with that, my increased preference for poultry, I’d be damned if I was to return back to boring, old lemon breast.

A culmination of my ever-expanding spice cupboard and the resurgence of my dietary repertoire led me to explore all sorts of flavours and ingredients that could jazz up my favourite meat. Barbecue very quickly became one of my favourites – the moist meat sliding off the bones every time. Succulent, juicy breast meat on top; and flavoursome, tangy, melt-in-your-mouth dark meat on the bottom. And then there’s the sauce…

Feel free to substitute brown sugar for more honey, and wholegrain mustard for american/english; the resulting flavour won’t be too different, it’s simply this flavour combination that I find creates the best sticky, crispy skin. Which reminds me – if you don’t eat the skin, you’re missing out m8.

INGREDIENTS

Whole chicken
Garlic (2 bulbs)
Cumin Seeds (2 tsp)
Smoked Paprika (2 tsp)
Salt & Pepper
Honey (1 tbsp)
Olive Oil (2 tsp plus more for drizzling)
Small knob of butter
Worcester Sauce (3 tsp)
Balsamic Vinegar (3 tsp)
Brown sugar (15g)
Tomato Puree (a big squeeze)
Wholegrain Mustard (1 tbsp)
1 Orange or Clementine
Red Onions (2) *optional

METHOD

1. Remove the string and packaging from a medium chicken and set aside.

2. Combine paprika, one clove of garlic, cumin seeds and salt & pepper and bash for around a minute in a pestle and mortar. Add 2 tbsp of honey and 2 tsp of olive oil and mash further until you reach a paste.

3. Make small slits in the side of the chicken flesh with a knife and then rub the paste onto the chicken, making sure to cover the entire animal (legs, wings, e.t.c). If the paste is a little too thick, mix in some more olive oil.

4. Combine a small knob of butter and a clove of crushed garlic. Lift the chicken skin and push the garlic butter between the breast bone and skin, onto the meat. Squidge it down so it covers most of the breast meat.

5. Roughly chop two red onions (optional), place them onto a large baking dish and drizzle with olive oil. Sit the chicken on top of the onions, add a big splash of water and roast in the oven for 1.5 – 2 hours at 180°c.

6. Next: Make the barbecue sauce. Combine the light brown sugar, tomato purée, Worcester sauce, mustard, balsamic vinegar, mustard, the juice of one orange and a small sprinkle of chilli flakes in a bowl and mix well.

7. Pour the mixture into a pan and heat gently, stirring often. If the mixture seems a little watery, you can always add an extra tsp of honey or brown sugar.

8. When the chicken has been cooking for 20 minutes, take it out of the oven for 10 seconds – or just long enough for you to go in with a spoon and get some of the juices from the pan.

9. Add about 1-2 tbsp of these juices to the warming barbecue sauce and stir. Don’t panic if you get a bit of onion in there – it will add to the sweetness. Keep the sauce on a very low simmer.

10. Throughout cooking, keep basting the chicken with the juices in the roasting tray to keep it from going dry. Add more water to the roasting tray to loosen up the sticky bits if need be.

11. Ten minutes before the chicken is cooked, remove from the oven and pour half the barbecue sauce all over the bird, then return to the oven.

12. Just before serving, pour the rest of the sauce over the cooked chicken. Shred, or portion as you wish. Use napkins.