Daddy's Grilled Chicken

Hang on a second. This grilled chicken looks very familiar doesn't it?. It has an uncanny resemblance to Pinoy Chicken Barbecue. But this is different. This is Bobby Flay's recipe or rather Bobby Flay's mother-in-law, Laura's recipe :)

The homemade steak sauce. Delicious!

According to Bobby Flay, when Laura cooked this chicken for her daughters when they were young, she was channelling a recipe she remembered her father making for her when she was a little girl. That is really sweet isn't it? I too have a fried chicken recipe that my father made when I was a little girl. But it looks like I am not channelling that yet hah..hah...

The only change that Bobby Flay made to this recipe was to upgrade the bottled steak sauce in the marinade to a homemade version.

I love the raisins!

Now, who is this Bobby Flay? To be honest, I had no idea until he was featured in this month's Cook Like a Star. Now I know that Mr Flay is an American celebrity chef who owns several restaurants and is also a popular TV personality. 

I also learnt from Zoe that Bobby Flay recipes typically come with a long list of ingredients. In fact I also found out that there are also instances of a recipe within a recipe. Just like this one. To make the marinade, you have to make the steak sauce that goes into the marinade. But luckily, this recipe is not too long winded. Maybe because it was the mother-in-law's hee..hee...

Let's talk about the steak sauce first. I have never made any sauce before and I was quite eager to make this one. The best part was that I had all the ingredients on hand. Nothing extraordinary or exotic except perhaps for the Dijon mustard which I bought not too long ago for something else (what it was I forget).

Good luck cleaning the rack.

What goes into this steak sauce are onions, garlic, raisins, ketchup, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, soya sauce and Dijon mustard. I thought the addition of raisins was interesting. After making and tasting the sauce, I realised that they were a wonderful addition. I followed the recipe to a tee except that I added 1 tablespoon of brown sugar as I found the sauce a bit too sour for my taste.

The sauce was then set aside to cool. The marinade for the chicken is pretty simple. Just lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and of course the homemade steak sauce. The recipe calls for 2 chickens but I used chicken parts instead - 3 big chicken legs and 4 wings. The chicken is seasoned with salt and pepper and rubbed with butter before being marinated. It would have been ideal to marinate the chicken overnight but I only had 2 hours to spare. 

To grill the chicken, I placed a metal rack (yup, my cake cooling rack) on top of a lined baking tray. It works very well but I think in future I will just place the chicken direct on the baking tray. It was hell washing the metal rack hah..hah...hah...

The result? A very happy ending with very tasty and succulent grilled chicken. I really love the raisins in the steak sauce. It is sweet and plump and so yummy when bitten into together with the chicken. I was happily picking up raisins from the roasting tray hah..hah... This recipe is a keeper. I am really glad that I got to know Bobby Flay!

Daddy's Grilled Chicken

Recipe source : Adapted from Parade's Community Table.com

(My notes and adaptations in red)

Ingredients : 

- Juice of 2 lemons

• - 1 cup Steak Sauce (Recipe below)
• - 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• - 2 (3-lb) chickens, butterflied (I used 3 chicken legs and 4 wings)
• - 8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature (I used less, just enough to coat the chicken pieces)
• - Kosher salt (I omitted as the marinade is salty enough for me)
• - Freshly ground pepper

Method :

1. Whisk lemon juice, Steak Sauce, and Worcestershire in a bowl. Put chickens in a baking dish; rub with butter. Pour lemon mixture over. Refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to 4 hours. (I rubbed the chicken pieces with butter and placed them in a big mixing bowl. Then I poured the marinade in and mixed with the chicken. I left it in the fridge for 1 hour and took it out to stand to room temperature for 1 hour)
2. Heat grill to medium-high for indirect grilling. (Gas grill: Turn 1 burner on medium-high and leave 1 burner off. Charcoal grill: Bank all coals to 1 side.) Remove chickens from refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking. (I grilled the chicken at 180C).
3. Season chickens with salt and pepper. Put chickens, skin side down, on cooler side of grill (indirect heat) and close cover; grill until skin is light golden with faint grill marks, about 25 minutes. Turn chickens skin side up, move to hot side of grill (direct heat), and continue grilling until skin is golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Flip chickens once more and grill over direct heat until skin is dark golden brown and crisp and an instant-read thermometer inserted into thighs registers 165°F, about 8 minutes. (I placed the chicken skin side down on a wire rack which is placed on a lined baking tray. My cooking time was 45 minutes and I basted the chicken every 10 minutes with the excess marinade in the bowl. I flipped the chicken pieces over after 25 minutes).
4. Remove chickens to a cutting board, tent loosely with foil, and let rest 10 minutes before carving.

Steak Sauce

Recipe source : Parade's Community Table,com

(My notes and adaptations in red)

Ingredients :

- 2 Tbsp canola oil (I used grapeseed oil)

- ½ small grated onion (I used a small onion, chopped)

• - 1 chopped garlic clove (2 cloves)
• - ½ cup raisins
• - ½ cup water
• - 1 cup ketchup
• - ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
• - ¼ cup white wine vinegar
• - 3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• - 2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
• - 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• - 1 tbsp brown sugar (my addition)

Method :

1. Warm canola oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Add garlic clove and cook 30 seconds. Add raisins and water; boil until water has evaporated, about 5 minutes.
2. Add ketchup, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and Dijon mustard and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 20 minutes. Let cool.

Note : This recipe makes about 2 cups of sauce. You will have 1 cup leftover after using as part of the marinade. I suggest that you serve the extra sauce with the chicken. It's delicious!

I'm linking this post to Cook Like a Star, an event co-hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Yen of Eat Your Heart Out and Grace of Life Can Be Simple. The featured chef for the month is Bobby Flay.