GRILLED LEMON CHICKEN
Serves 6 to 8. Published May 1, 1998.
The 1 1/2-hour brining time is highly recommended, but not essential; skip it if you’re in a hurry. It’s fine to use chicken parts, such as eight leg/thighs, separated or not, or eight breast/ wings, separated at the joint connecting wing to breast. Grilling whole chickens is also an option, if you remove the backbones and butterfly each before brining. If flare-ups threaten to char the skin of the chicken, move the pieces temporarily to the cooler side of the grill. If you have it, 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary makes a nice addition to the lemon sauce.
INGREDIENTS
| 3/4 | cup kosher salt or 1/2 cup table salt |
| 2 | whole chickens (about 3 1/2 pounds each), cut into legs, thighs, breasts, and wings; backs reserved for another use |
| Ground black pepper | |
| 1/4 | cup extra-virgin olive oil |
| 4 | large cloves garlic , minced and made into paste (see illustrations below) |
| 1 | cup lemon juice from 5 lemons |
| 1 | tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried |
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Dissolve salt in 2 quarts water in large bowl or two 1-gallon zipper-lock plastic bags. Add chicken parts (seal zipper-lock bags, if using), and refrigerate until fully seasoned, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove chicken from brine, rinse very well, dry thoroughly with paper towels, and season with pepper to taste.
2. Half an hour before cooking, ignite about 5 quarts hardwood charcoal or charcoal briquettes in a chimney and burn until completely covered with thin coating of light gray ash, 20 to 30 minutes. Dump out coals and following illustration 1, below, spread coals over 2/3 of grill bottom, leaving 1/3 with no coals; position grill rack over coals and heat for 10 minutes. Coals should be medium-hot (you can hold your hand 5 inches above the grill surface for 4 seconds).
3. Heat olive oil and garlic in small saucepan over low heat until garlic starts to sizzle but not color, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat; mix with lemon juice in large, shallow, nonreactive 13-by-9-inch baking dish or similar pan; set aside. (Dry herbs may be added at this point; fresh herbs should not be added until just before coating chicken.)
4. Place chicken skin side down on rack directly over hot coals; grill, pulling chicken over to empty side in case of flare-ups or if skin starts to char, and turning and moving pieces to ensure even cooking, until chicken is dark golden brown, 15 to 17 minutes for legs and wings and 18 to 20 minutes for thighs and breasts. When chicken pieces are well colored, place them in lemon sauce and roll to coat completely, following illustration 2, below. Return pieces to side of grill with no coals; heat until lemon sauce flavors meat, about 5 minutes longer, turning each piece and brushing with sauce once or twice more. Return chicken to pan and roll in lemon sauce once more; serve warm or at room temperature.
