In this video, experience the perfect harmony of smoky barbecued goodness and the rich, creamy indulgence of butter chicken. Watch as Chef John marinates succulent chicken pieces in a medley of aromatic spices, yogurt, and tangy lemon juice, infusing them with incredible flavors. Then, witness the magic unfold on the grill as the tender chicken sizzles and chars, creating a tantalizing smoky aroma. Get ready to satisfy your cravings with this extraordinary fusion of barbecue and Indian cuisine.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Hello this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Barbecued Butter Chicken.
00:07 That's right I'm going to show you a buttery twist on an old classic method
00:12 for barbecuing chicken. And besides learning the recipe I'm also going to
00:17 show you how to properly cut a chicken in half, as well as I tried an
00:21 experimental step which might eliminate the most common problem people have when
00:25 they make barbecued chicken. So yes we have a lot to cover which is why we need
00:29 to get started with this very simple marinade which will start with some nice
00:33 cold fresh water, as well as some white vinegar or the vinegar of your choice. We
00:39 will also need a generous amount of Worcestershire sauce or whatever that
00:43 stuff's called. And then we'll season this up with a whole bunch of kosher
00:47 salts, some freshly ground black pepper, some paprika, and I'm using regular
00:54 because we're gonna grill this. But if you're gonna just bake it you can use
00:57 smoked. And then we'll also throw in some onion powder, some garlic powder, a
01:03 little bit of poultry seasoning, or the dried chicken friendly herbs of your
01:08 choice. And then we'll finish up with a little touch of cayenne, followed by one
01:13 of the stars of the show, a nice big hunk of butter. And no not margarine, which
01:18 some of these recipes call for. Butter is good, margarine is bad. And then what
01:23 we'll do is place our heat on medium and we'll wait until that butter is about
01:27 halfway melted, at which point we'll turn off the heat and we will whisk this
01:31 until the butter disappears. And believe it or not that's it. Once the heat's off
01:36 and that's mixed, we will simply let that cool all the way down to room temp before
01:41 we add that to whatever chicken parts we're gonna marinate, which for me is
01:44 gonna be some chicken halves. So while that's cooling, let me go ahead and show
01:49 you how I like to cut a chicken in half. And I'll start that with one optional
01:53 step, and that would be to cut the flat part of the wings off, which we can cook
01:57 separately and eat as a snack, or simply add it to the stock we're gonna make
02:01 with the bones. But either way, to cut a chicken in half, we'll want to make sure
02:05 the breast side's down and the back side's up. And then we'll take a pair of
02:09 scissors and we will find the chicken butt. And we will start our cut on one
02:14 side of that, and we will cut up the entire length of the chicken to the
02:17 front, going along one side of the spine. And then once that cut is complete, we'll
02:22 start cutting on the other side of the butt. And that is a really fast and easy
02:26 way to remove the backbone that I think is much safer and simpler than using a
02:30 knife. And then what we'll do next is kind of spread that chicken out until we
02:35 can see the center of the breastbone. And while you're doing this, don't be afraid
02:38 if you hear a bone or two snap. And then once we have that spread open enough to
02:42 see what's going on, we will cut down about a quarter inch into that cartilage,
02:46 right exactly in the center of the breastbone. And then we'll simply spread
02:50 the chicken and push up to fully expose that bone, at which point it's pretty
02:56 easy to just pull right out. And in a perfect world, the cartilage at the
03:00 bottom comes along with it. But we don't live in that world. So if the cartilage
03:04 at the bottom doesn't come out with it, we can trim that out with a knife. Or
03:08 don't do anything, just leave it in. And we can simply eat around that once it's
03:13 cooked. And then all we have to do once that's been removed is make one cut
03:17 right down the center to split this in half. And the only thing in the way will
03:21 be a small wishbone, which is why I like to give the knife a whack to go through
03:24 that. And if everything's gone according to plan, we should have two perfectly
03:29 formed chicken halves. Then we could grill just like this, but as you know
03:34 when I marinate chicken, I often like to make a few cuts into the leg and the
03:38 thigh. And then a couple very shallow cuts just through the skin on the breast.
03:42 And I feel like that helps the dark meat cook a little quicker and more evenly.
03:46 And then those shallow cuts in the breast makes the marinade get in a
03:50 little easier. And that's it. Once our chicken's prepped, we can transfer it
03:54 into a zip top bag that I have placed into a bowl in case it leaks. And then
03:59 assuming it's cooled all the way down, we'll go ahead and grab our marinade.
04:03 And we'll give it a good whisk and we'll pour it in the bag. And by the way, I'm
04:07 calling this a marinade, but it's also a brine and a mop sauce. And eventually as
04:12 you'll see, a finishing sauce. So yes, as my good friend who I've never met all
04:16 brown would call it, a multitasker. And then what we'll do is squeeze out the
04:21 air and seal that up. And we will transfer it into the fridge for a
04:25 minimum of four hours, up to overnight. And in the spirit of full disclosure, I
04:30 let mine marinate for about six. And once my chicken was marinated, I decided to
04:35 transfer it into this baking dish. Since I wanted to test an experimental
04:39 technique where we pre-bake the chicken before it hits the grill. So what we'll
04:44 do is arrange those halves skin side up. And then we'll pour in all the marinade,
04:48 hopefully more carefully than I did. But anyway, I cleaned that up. And then what
04:54 we'll do is pop this into the center of a 325 degree oven for about 35 minutes.
05:00 Or until our chicken is partially cooked and looks like this. And the whole idea
05:06 behind this is that by barbecuing a partially cooked chicken, the inside
05:10 will be able to cook through before the outside completely chars and turns black.
05:14 Which if we're being honest, is what a lot of home barbecued chicken looks like.
05:18 And then very, very important, at this point we have to finish cooking the
05:23 chicken on the grill, or we have to transfer this to a plate and refrigerate
05:27 it until we are gonna grill. And since I'm not gonna cook this for a couple
05:30 hours, that's what I did. And then equally as important, we'll want to pour off all
05:36 that marinade into a saucepan. Since we're definitely gonna want to use this
05:39 as a mop sauce, or a basting sauce, and then ultimately as a finishing sauce. And
05:44 of course to play it safe, we'll want to bring that to a boil first, even though
05:49 it's probably safe. But hey, why take any chances? Right, just because your
05:54 neighbors are nice, does not mean they won't sue you for food poisoning. And
05:58 then once we are ready to grill, we're gonna prep our coals until they're
06:02 beautifully hot and white, and not black and still on fire. And we'll place that
06:07 chicken on skin side down. And then because I don't want this to cook too
06:11 hot, I'm gonna cook this covered. And we'll adjust those vents as we see fit.
06:16 And I'll generally leave it on the skin side for about four minutes, just to get
06:21 some initial color on that side. And then we'll flip that over to the bone side,
06:25 with the skin side up. And for barbecue chicken at least, I like to do the
06:29 majority of the cooking on this side. Right, since we have all that bone and
06:34 connective tissue to protect the meat. Oh, and for the rest of the cooking time,
06:38 anytime we turn it over, we will definitely give it a generous brushing
06:42 with that sauce, formerly known as our marinade. And again, once I poured that
06:47 into the saucepan, I boiled it first. And that's it. All we have to do is cook this
06:52 until it's perfectly done. And as usual, besides just turning it, we can also
06:57 rotate that chicken around, just in case one side is hotter than the other. Oh, and
07:02 I did edit this footage, so you're not going to see every twist and turn. So if
07:06 you notice those pieces of chicken mysteriously changing positions, that's
07:09 why. And that's it. All we have to do is continue to cook this chicken until both
07:15 the breast and the leg quarter are perfectly cooked. Which, by the way, is
07:19 impossible. Which brings us to the main dilemma when cooking a half chicken. Okay,
07:25 ideally we want to get the breast to about 145 to 150 before we pull it off.
07:29 Whereas the thigh we want to get up to about 175. And if those two pieces are
07:34 attached, like they are here, you cannot really do both. Which is why I almost
07:39 always separate the breast from the leg section. But growing up, Firehouse grilled
07:44 chicken was always grilled as a whole half. And what would usually happen is
07:49 they would split the difference, and the breast would be slightly overcooked, and
07:52 the leg would be slightly undercooked. But nobody cared because it was really
07:56 flavorful. And you were outside on a picnic table eating salt potatoes with
08:00 it, and coleslaw, and macaroni salad. And there would be beer and soda, and
08:05 everybody was happy. So to summarize, as long as it was cooked, we were not super
08:10 particular. So because I wanted that appearance from my childhood, I did
08:14 leave these halves in one piece. But if you do want perfectly cooked chicken
08:18 from both pieces, you will have to separate this and pull that breast off a
08:22 little sooner. Oh, and if you can, try to buy a grill where the grates are the
08:28 same distance apart as the average size of a chicken foot, so that that will get
08:32 stuck in and you won't be able to move it. But kidding aside, I'm glad that
08:38 happened, because when you see that leg quarter kind of start to pull away from
08:41 the body, and it sort of looks like it's separating, you know you're getting close
08:46 to this being cooked through. Since that means those connective tissues are
08:49 breaking down. And as far as our pre-baking the chicken first experiment
08:53 went, I think I'm a fan. Since if we hadn't done that, this chicken would have
08:58 been over those coals for an extra 20 minutes or so. Which possibly for your
09:02 less than expert home griller, might be the difference between golden brown skin
09:06 and golden black skin. And then once we're back inside with our cooked
09:10 chicken, we'll go ahead and brush over more of that sauce. And then I garnish
09:15 that with some homegrown grilled carrots, and for some reason a piece of speckled
09:19 lettuce. Since I do have to take a few contractually obligated pictures, so I
09:24 did a few of those before plating up. And I spooned over some more of that
09:29 beautifully buttery sauce. And no, that lettuce did not make the plate. But
09:34 anyway, I went ahead and grabbed a fork knife and dug in. And that my friends is
09:39 a truly great all-american barbecued chicken. Just very, very flavorful. And
09:44 even though that breast meat was technically overcooked by a little bit,
09:48 on purpose, because I wanted to do the whole half, it was not dry and it was
09:53 extremely enjoyable. Alright, moist is great, and if we want moist we have to
09:58 cook that separately. But for something like this, presented in this format, I'm
10:03 fine with it just being not dry. And this wasn't. And by the way, since I almost
10:08 never eat the whole half of chicken, I'll usually start with the breast and then
10:12 I'll reheat the leg for another meal. Which works out perfectly, since we can
10:17 cook that longer without it being overcooked. But of course, having said
10:21 that, I'm definitely gonna taste a piece of the dark meat, which was as equally
10:24 flavorful and delicious. And these types of marinades, made popular by decades of
10:30 firehouse fundraisers, are usually done with vinegar, spices, and oil. But here, by
10:35 using butter instead of oil, we're getting something that's a little richer,
10:39 a little more interesting. And as long as you don't completely incinerate the skin,
10:43 I think you are really gonna enjoy that flavor profile. Oh, and besides using butter
10:48 instead of oil in this, the other change you could make to this vintage recipe
10:52 would be to change the spices and seasonings you put in the marinade. And
10:56 by using the exact same technique, you could do a Mediterranean spin, or a
11:00 Middle Eastern spin, or a Southeast Asian spin, or a South American spin. I mean you
11:06 guys are after all the weekends of your barbecued butter chickens. And you go
11:10 ahead and add anything you want to that magic potion we use to marinate this, and
11:14 then brush on it, and then sauce it. So this is absolutely something you could
11:18 customize to your tastes. But anyway, no matter what you toss in, I absolutely
11:23 love the taste and the technique, and I really do hope you give this a try soon.
11:28 So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written
11:33 recipe, and much more info as usual. And as always, enjoy!
11:41 [Jazz music]
11:43 [Jazz music]
11:45 [Jazz music]
11:47 [Jazz music]
11:49 [Jazz music]
11:51 [Jazz music]
11:53 [Jazz music]
11:55 [Jazz music]
11:57 [Jazz music]
11:59 [Jazz music]