Deaf Pagan Crossroads

Cooking a whole chicken on the grill can be a great way of celebrating the Summer Solstice, especially if you incorporate those ingredients considered sacred to this Sabbat.

Grilling a whole chicken isn’t that difficult. You can of course use the famous “beer can chicken” method, or you can use an indirect grilling method that roasts your chicken and gives it a delicious smoky flavor. Indirect cooking means that rather than cooking the chicken directly over the fire, you pile the coals up on both sides of the grill, leaving the center of it bare – I like to put a pan of water in the middle which catches all the drippings off the chicken and helps keep my grill cleaner and prevents grease fires; it can also help to keep your chicken nice and moist (you may need to refill the pan, as the water can boil itself out). Bear in mind that I use a charcoal barbecue grill, but I’ve also done this on a gas grill that uses lava rocks and it works fine – just pile up your rocks on either side of the grill. Dunno about other types of grills. Personally I think the charcoal grill gives the best flavor.

Here’s your basic rules for cooking a whole chicken on the grill:

First, place about about 3 handfuls of woodchips into a large bowl of water and let soak for at least an hour. Dissolve 1/2 cup of salt into about 2 quarts of cold water in a large soup pot. After removing any parts from the cavity, submerge one whole fryer/broiler chicken in the brine, cover, and refrigerate for about an hour.

When chicken has been brining for an hour, ignite 60 (yes, I counted!) coals in a barbecue chimney.

When the coals are all covered in grey ash (flames will most likely be rising from the top of the chimney–about 15 minutes after lighting), dump coals into the grill. Using tongs, split the coals into two equal groups, and stack them on two sides of the grill, leaving the center of the grill without any coals on the bottom. Sprinkle the wood chips onto the two different piles of coals, and place the grill rack back onto the barbecue.

Note: this is easier to do with a barbecue chimney, but if you don’t have one, you can pile up the charcoal in two piles on either side of your grill, light them up, and let them burn down that way.

After cleaning the grill rack with a wire brush, place the chicken, breast side down, on the center of the grill between the two piles of coals. Be sure all bottom vents are open. Place lid on grill, with top vent(s) about halfway open. After 30 minutes, use wads of paper towels to flip the chicken. Allow the chicken to cook another 25 – 35 minutes, depending on size. A meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh should register about 175 degrees.

Note: The times I’ve prepared chicken, I cooked the bird 30 minutes on the breast side, and exactly 35 on the back side. Both times the chicken was perfect–juicy, fully done, and definitely not dried out at all. However, you may need to experiment a bit with this – some folks say it took them a bit longer.

Remove chicken from grill and cover with a foil tent for about 15 minutes before carving and serving.

Here’s a great recipe for a spicy chicken, which takes advantage of some of those spices said to be sacred to the Sun and/or the element of Fire. It’s relatively fast and simple:

Spicy Smoked Whole Chicken

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/2 tablespoon ground allspice

1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper

Mix all of the spices together well in a small bowl. After lighting your coals and while they are starting to burn, remove your chicken from the salt water pot, rinse it, and pat dry with paper towels. Rub the spice mixture all over the chicken and inside the cavity as well. Grill the chicken as directed above.

Here’s a great recipe that combines the flavor of lemon and herbs, which is wonderful teamed up with chicken. The herbs give the chicken a great flavor, while the lemon makes it nice and tangy:

Lemon-Herb Chicken

sprigs of fresh herbs – such as thyme, sage, rosemary, tarragon

one lemon

1/2 stick of butter, melted

With your fingers, carefully work your way under the skin of the chicken, especially around the breast area and the thigh area, loosening it so it separates from the meat, but still remains on the chicken. Then take the herb sprigs and gently insert them under the chicken skin, so that they lay against the meat, all around the breast of the chicken and the thigh area. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze out all the juice from both halves, then put the remaining lemon halves in the chicken cavity, along with any additional sprigs of herbs. You may want to use toothpicks to help close up the cavity opening and keep the lemons from falling out. Combine the lemon juice with the melted butter. Place the chicken on the grill, and brush the lemon butter over it, and then cook it as directed above.

For all you garlic lovers out there…here’s a recipe that pays homage to the “stinking rose.” The nice thing about this one is that the garlic roasts along with the chicken and becomes soft, so you can spread it on bread or bruschetta and enjoy it as part of your meal.

Grilled Garlic Chicken

one head of garlic, separated into cloves

1/2 stick of butter, melted

Peel the garlic cloves. Cut one clove into halves, and rub the skin of the chicken with the cut side of the garlic halves. Mince one clove of garlic. Loosen the skin of the chicken much like you do for the lemon-herb chicken above, and rub the minced garlic on the meat. Mince another clove of garlic and add that to your melted butter. Put all the remaining garlic gloves (including the two cut halves) inside the cavity of the chicken, fasten with toothpicks if desired, and place it on the grill. Brush the chicken with the garlic butter, and cook as directed. Scoop the garlic out of the chicken after cooking and serve it as desired.

Finally, for those of you who like barbecued chicken, check out my post about barbecue for two recipes for creating your own homemade barbecue sauce:

http://deafpagan.com/2007/05/17/its-barbecue-time/

If you do use these sauces, brush it on during the last 10 – 15 minutes of cooking, otherwise the sugars in the sauce will burn, which leaves a burnt taste to your chicken.