Acclaimed Pitmaster Pat Martin gave tips on how to grill a whole chicken and made his Alabama White Sauce. Pat's debut cookbook, Life of Fire: Mastering the Arts of Pit-Cooked Barbecue, the Grill, and the Smokehouse, will be released everywhere on Tuesday, March 15. Meet him at a book signing on March 15 at 6:30pm at Parnassus Books in Green Hills. For more information, visit https://www.parnassusbooks.net/event/store-pat-martin-author-life-fire-conversation-andy-brennan.
WHOLE CHICKEN WITH ALABAMA WHITE SAUCE
PAT MARTIN, Life of Fire
4 servings
1 whole chicken (31/2 to 4 pounds), brined or dry-brined
1 tablespoon Big Hoss Rub (see recipe below)
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup apple juice
Pat's Alabama White Sauce
To help the chicken cook evenly and expose more of it to the smoky fire, I
butterfly (aka spatchcock) it first. But my method is unconventional. Frankly,
it’s backward: instead of removing the chicken’s backbone (as is the established
method), I split the bird through the breastbone. This technique was born years
ago out of a screwup: I accidentally cut down the wrong side of a chicken, but
I cooked it anyway, and I actually preferred the results. The breast and leg meat
cooked more evenly, and to me it just looks right: When you lay the bird out flat,
the legs fold neatly around the breast to create a tight square of meat. If you think
I’m full of it, try my “reverse spatchcock” method once, and see for yourself.
To keep your bird from drying out over the dry heat of the fire, I highly
recommend using a brined chicken. Many of the chickens you buy at the grocery
store have already been injected with brine, or “plumped.” The label will tell you
if it’s been brined, and how much of its total weight is brine (look for something
that has been plumped by at least 9 percent brine or broth). Organic chickens have
probably not been plumped, and the same goes for anything you buy from a local
farmer. In those cases, you can dry-brine the chicken: Season it all over, inside
and out, with kosher salt (about 1 teaspoon of Diamond Crystal per pound), then
place it on a wire rack set over a sheet pan and refrigerate it, uncovered, for at least
6 and up to 24 hours.
Using kitchen shears, split the chicken by cutting up from the cavity, through
the breast side. Cut close to the breastbone and through the wishbone. Season
the chicken with the dry rub (see How to Apply Rub, page 97).
In a bowl, whisk together the vinegar and apple juice; this will be your mop.
Prepare a bed of coals (see Getting Ready to Cook, page 85) below the grill
grate and let them burn down until they’re medium to medium-low (you
should be able to hold your hand just above the grill grate for 7 to 10 seconds).
(recipe continues)
Open up the chicken so that it lies flat and place
it skin-side down on the grill grates. Cook,
undisturbed, for 5 to 10 minutes. Flip the chicken
over and let it cook for 5 minutes longer.
Using a shovel, pull the coals below the grill grate
toward the perimeter of the grill to make a four-
sided bed of coals around the grate. Lay a few logs
or wood slats around the perimeter of the grill on
top of your coals. At this point, there should be
nothing but smoldering ash below the chicken; the
ring of coals will do the cooking from here on out.
Flip the chicken over and wait 15 minutes, then
rotate it 180 degrees (without flipping). Wait 15
minutes, baste the chicken with some mop, and flip
over. Continue alternating between flipping and
rotating the bird every 15 minutes, basting it with
the mop every time you move it.
As your wood burns down, push or shovel some
coals from the perimeter of the grill inward (about
a half shovelful per side) and add new wood to the
top of the coal bed. You’ll probably need to do this
about every 30 minutes, more often on windy days.
Check the ambient temperature around the chicken
with your hand every so often; you’re aiming for
250° to 275°F, or 7 to 10 seconds with the hand test.
Continue this process until the chicken is almost
cooked through (the thickest part of the leg should
be around 160°F), about 2 hours.
Pour the Alabama white sauce into a large bowl
or baking pan and add the chicken, turning it until
it’s well coated in the sauce. Return the chicken to
the grill grates, skin-side down, and cook until the
sauce is clearly reducing on the skin, about 10 more
minutes. Coat the chicken in the sauce once again,
then transfer to a cutting board and let rest for about
10 minutes; the heat of the cooked chicken will turn
the sauce into a shiny glaze. Carve the bird into
pieces and serve.
ALABAMA WHITE SAUCE
Makes about 4 cups
21/2 cups mayonnaise
11/4 cups apple cider vinegar
11/2 teaspoons Worcestershire
sauce
2 tablespoons honey
1 garlic clove, finely grated
1 tablespoon Diamond Crystal
kosher salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground
black pepper
11/2 teaspoons chile powder (see
Note)
11/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
11/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
In a medium bowl, whisk together all the ingredients. Transfer to an airtight
container and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
BIG HOSS RUB
Makes about 5 cups
11/2 cups packed light brown
sugar
1 cup Diamond Crystal kosher
salt
1 cup garlic salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup sweet paprika
3 tablespoons lemon pepper
2 tablespoons chile powder (see
Note)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon
mustard powder
1 tablespoon freshly ground
black pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
In a medium bowl, whisk together all the ingredients. Store in an airtight
container in a cool, dry place for up to 1 month.
