BBQ Brethren Masters Cut #4 - Chicken Leg Quarters (Today is the last day to enter!)

bproffer said:

Well I guess since I cooked up some chicken quarters, I might as well enter them here.

First of all, these were some funky cut leg/thigh quarters. I got them at Fresh and Easy on the way home from the golf course today because they were on sale for .89/lb. There wasnt much care in the butchering of these quarters...

As you can see, I had alot of trimming to do.

Here they are nice and trimmed. I scored them to allow my Apple Jerk rub to penetrate deeper into the meat and also allow for the rendered fat a place to escape and allow the skin to get crispfied. (I may be blowing smoke, but hey...it sounds good, right?)

Here they are with the Apple Jerk rub applied.

and onto the egg at 300­° with a chunk of applewood thrown in for good measure.

I cooked them for about 45 minutes and then basted them with a mixture of lemon juice, EVOO, garlic and honey every 10-15 min until done. They may not be the prettiest quarters you have ever seen, but they were farkin delish! Nice crispy skin with just the right amount of heat from the jerk rub!

Click to expand...

Now that looks tastey!

Since my girl had to hold down a booth at the Turtle Fest today, I figured I'd cook up some chicken for when she got home.
Leg quarters


Marinated in Charlie Mills Famous BBQ Sauce



Smoked hot on the UDS with a chunk of apple



Plated and awaiting her arrival. Thanks for looking.

Looking good!

OK, just making up the numbers here Brothers...

I probably should not post this, but there is something to learn here.
1. Stubbs BBQ Sauce has a lot of sugar in it.:idea:
2. Maybe I shouldn't of had that last 2 or 3 nips of whisky.:doh:
3. I gotta get some decent outside lighting.:tsk:

Anyway... first thing here is to prove to the entire USA that we people of Australia call Chicken Leg Quarters "Chicken Maryland"..

See....


Not only that, I bet most Aussies would not have a clue that you do not use the term in America...

I hereby recommend henceforth that all brethren call Chicken Leg Quarters "Chicken Maryland"... but I'm farked if I know why... maybe just because Gore lives in Maryland and he's a good cook... whatever...:crazy:

Anyway, one thing that I do with a Maryland cut is the following...


I score into the bone with a knife. It allows for a more even cook and allows you to get rub close to the bone for better flavour.

Then I made up my own rub...


I'm afraid the recipe has to remain secret because it belongs to my Dad who used to own a chicken BBQ shop... I've modded it over the years but not really improved it much, if at all frankly. Maybe it needs herbamare and dulce granules... yes... it does...

Anyway, then I dusted the chicken and it went into the fridge overnight.


Next day, they went on the Offset indirect at about 300 until 160 internal. I used lump to start and Peach wood for the whole smoke.


And then came the big mistake. I brushed them with Stubbs, that I just discovered at my USA Foods store the previous day...

They then went for a fast reverse sear... Oops.


And then off pretty fast as I realised they were blackening up too much...


In cutting them, you can see they are nicely cooked on the inside. They were really moist... nice colour. The skin was really tasty, but way too black, so not much I could save in the photo and still make it real...


Anyway, thanks for looking

Cheers!

Bill

I'd hit it anyway Ausz!
Mather of fact.....I could use some right now for lunch!

^^^^^^I'd hit it as well!

Heck Bill, it's "Blackened". No longer chicken Maryland but rather Chicken N'awlins...:becky:

Bill. I don't know about the chicken, but I enjoyed your post. :becky: . Having gone through several bottles of Stubbs, I would have never guessed it has a lot of sugar in it. I've never found it to be sweet. Was this the original? They are stating to put the Stubbs name on tons of stuff these days. :sad:

Not very worthy, but it will get us one entry closer to closing this one :becky:

Used Traeger Rub on these, and cooked them on the pit. It's really hard to beat yardbird over an open fire, I hope you've have a chance to try it...enjoy :thumb:



Nice oak fire stoking...





Tim (Oakpit) hanging out with one of my Sous Chefs...






It turned out very tender and juicy...:thumb:

Yes that is some fine chicken pron right there! Love that fire pic too

That's a nice reportage right there!
My tummy now tells me that I have to eat chicken!

Here's my entry.

Grilled Chicken Cacciatore

Grilled Chicken Cacciatore

One of my favorite dishes to make from leg quarters is Chicken Cacciatore. For some reason, I didn’t make a batch all winter which is unusual for me. I heard on a tv show that Chicken Cacciatore means something like “chicken in the style of the hunter”. So I figure if a hunter’s cooking it, it’s just got to be better if live fire is involved. So here goes…

I start by removing the hip and backbone from each of the quarters. This does 2 things, first it makes eating the leg quarter a lot easier, and second, there’s a lot of flavor and connective tissue in those boney pieces so I will make a stock to extract all that yumminess.


As soon as the grill is hot, I brown off the hip bones.


Then they go into a pot with the veggie trimmings and some herbs and garlic.


While that is cooking, I grill the veggies to help develop their flavors.


I grill the chicken just enough to brown it and render some of the excess fat.


After the stock simmers for a couple of hours, I strain it and then reduce it to 1 1/2 cups. I stir it into the canned tomatoes (that I’ve broken up into bite sized chunks). And then I arrange the grilled veggies in two small copper roasters I have.


The sauce goes in before the chicken, so I can keep the skin crispy. I also add garlic, rosemary and bay leaf. And the pans go back one the kettle now set for indirect cooking.


It takes about 45 minutes for the legs to get to 170°. I pull them from the roasting pans and let them rest for 15 minutes. The veggies and braising liquid are mixed with some rigatoni I’ve cooked up. Meanwhile I spread the coals out. The legs go back on the grill for about 3 minutes a side to crisp them up.


I arrange the legs on top of the noodles and add some parsley and grated parmesan cheese. It looks good enough to eat!


Here’s my favorite picture:


Wow! It was easily the best Chicken Cacciatore I’ve ever eaten! The chicken was moist and sweet, the sauce on the chicken was the perfect compliment to the crispy browned chicken skin. And the sauce really stuck to the noodles. The salty parmesan on top really kicked it out off the park.

Thanks for Looking!

:yield:

Wow MCJ, that was a lot of work but looks and sounds like it was well worth the effort! :thumb: