Grilled Chicken with Barbeque Sauce

Ingredients

I cut up chicken a little differently from most. I cut the breasts through the ribs, not down the back, just before the line of fat on the ribs. There isn't a significant amount of meat on the discarded part anyway. I also cut the breast pieces in half the short way so that they are comparable in size with other parts. That makes ten pieces per chicken. I can fit two chickens on my (two burner) grill.

Hunt's barbeque sauce isn't the greatest, but it's 79 cents around here. It'll do.

Preheat the grill to very hot. Turn down the grill to somewhere between low and medium-low heat. Put chicken on grill. Wait about five minutes and flip. Wait half an hour, checking every once in awhile to avoid burning. Flip. Wait 30 more minutes. Always cover the grill while cooking the chicken.

While the chicken is cooking, finely dice the habaneros. Stir them into the sauce. This does not produce an extremely hot sauce (puree the peppers if you want that) but does produce one with a terrific smokey flavor.

Paint top of chicken with sauce using a pastry brush; paint moderately thick. Wait 5-10 minutes until the sauce is very thick and won't run. Flip. Repeat. Serve.

Slow cooking chicken over low heat will produce much more moist chicken than some expect. As a result, you can trim off some of the extra fat without causing the meat to dry out.

Jeff Goldsmith, jeff@tintin.jpl.nasa.gov, May 29, 1996