Many regions have their signature items. Texas has brisket, Carolina has hog and cali even has tri tip. These regions even have different pits that the locals prefer be it a brick pit, offset or santa maria.
The Midwest has its signature dish and even a cooker to fix it on. It gets little love as most bbq purist dismiss it as grilling.im talking about bbq chicken cooked on a charcoal kettle. Laugh all you want but this is Q to the average joe round here and i say its time we own it :becky:
I often work late in the summer and it always kills me when around dinner time one of the neighbors fires up the kettle followed by that distinct but intoxicating smell of chicken fat sizzling off of kingsford. Last night i paid homage to our local classic.
Now the heartland isn't known for its Q and for this dish its best to follow some of our "techniques".
Load up the kettle with kingsford and douse with lighter fluid. Don't laugh, its the way its done here. Light the coals and then after 15 minutes come back and relight them. Did i mention chimneys are foreboden?
Now that you have that taken care of go and marinade the chicken. Cheap dark meat parts work best. The chicken is traditionally still partially frozen and the soak is only about 30 minutes because you didn't really plan this cook. Across the region the marinade varies between Italian dressing or something with Franks in it. Oh i forgot to mention our strict trimming policy. If any of the parts are trimmed or altered in any way you will be disqualified from having authenic midwestern bbq.
Now that half your coals are lit stir them around a bit and be sure to get that chicken on before all that beautiful raw coal smell burns up. When placing the parts on the grill be sure to leave the lid off just long enough to create a raging grease fire from the drippings, how else you gonna get those coals to all light? :noidea:
Sauce is an important part. It should be ketchup based, sweet smokey and spice. The cheaper the better. Sweet baby ray is king but i went with these because i saw a commercial for it with real pitmasters and......well im a sucker for marketing.
Saucing strategies vary but sauce is required. Its usually applied early enough to caramelize to a nice black on the edges but i suppose you could just let it bubble for a bit.
There you have it, Detroit bbq'd chicken. Now just hold it until cold while you wait for the wife to heat up the bushes beans and veggie and dinner is served mmmm
The Midwest has its signature dish and even a cooker to fix it on. It gets little love as most bbq purist dismiss it as grilling.im talking about bbq chicken cooked on a charcoal kettle. Laugh all you want but this is Q to the average joe round here and i say its time we own it :becky:
I often work late in the summer and it always kills me when around dinner time one of the neighbors fires up the kettle followed by that distinct but intoxicating smell of chicken fat sizzling off of kingsford. Last night i paid homage to our local classic.
Now the heartland isn't known for its Q and for this dish its best to follow some of our "techniques".
Load up the kettle with kingsford and douse with lighter fluid. Don't laugh, its the way its done here. Light the coals and then after 15 minutes come back and relight them. Did i mention chimneys are foreboden?
Now that you have that taken care of go and marinade the chicken. Cheap dark meat parts work best. The chicken is traditionally still partially frozen and the soak is only about 30 minutes because you didn't really plan this cook. Across the region the marinade varies between Italian dressing or something with Franks in it. Oh i forgot to mention our strict trimming policy. If any of the parts are trimmed or altered in any way you will be disqualified from having authenic midwestern bbq.
Now that half your coals are lit stir them around a bit and be sure to get that chicken on before all that beautiful raw coal smell burns up. When placing the parts on the grill be sure to leave the lid off just long enough to create a raging grease fire from the drippings, how else you gonna get those coals to all light? :noidea:
Sauce is an important part. It should be ketchup based, sweet smokey and spice. The cheaper the better. Sweet baby ray is king but i went with these because i saw a commercial for it with real pitmasters and......well im a sucker for marketing.
Saucing strategies vary but sauce is required. Its usually applied early enough to caramelize to a nice black on the edges but i suppose you could just let it bubble for a bit.
There you have it, Detroit bbq'd chicken. Now just hold it until cold while you wait for the wife to heat up the bushes beans and veggie and dinner is served mmmm
