Perfectly barbecued butter chicken, with a type of vinegar and spices marinade made popular by decades of firehouse fundraisers, uses butter for extra richness. In this video you will learn how to cut a whole chicken in half, how to prepare chicken for marinating, and how to partially bake chicken before grilling, and many more techniques to refine your barbecuing.
Ingredients
- water: 0.5 cup
- apple cider vinegar: 0.5 cup
- Worcestershire sauce: 2 Tbsp
- kosher salt, or about 1 teaspoon per pound of chicken: 2 tsp
- black pepper: 2 tsp (freshly ground)
- paprika: 1 tsp
- garlic powder: 1 tsp
- poultry seasoning: 1 tsp
- onion powder: 0.5 tsp
- cayenne pepper: 0.25 tsp
- unsalted butter: 0.25 cup
- whole chicken, halved or quartered: 1 piece
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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Add water, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, poultry seasoning, onion powder, cayenne pepper, and butter to a saucepan. Place over medium heat until butter is halfway melted; turn off heat, and whisk until butter disappears. Let marinade cool to room temperature, about 10 minutes.
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Cut chicken into halves or quarters and place in a resealable plastic bag. Whisk cooled marinade thoroughly and pour into the bag. Squeeze out air and seal tightly.
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Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours and up to overnight, turning the bag occasionally. (At this point, chicken is ready to be roasted or grilled. What follows are instructions for partially baking chicken, then finishing on the grill.)
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Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Place chicken pieces, skin side up, in a baking dish; pour in all of the marinade.
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Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes. (At this point, the partially baked chicken can be transferred to a plate and refrigerated until ready to finish cooking on a grill, or you can proceed immediately with grilling.)
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Prepare an outdoor grill with charcoal. Coals should be hot and white, without active flame. Alternately, preheat a gas grill for medium heat.
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Pour marinade into a saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Set aside to use as a basting sauce and finishing sauce.
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Place the chicken on the grill, skin side down. Cook over hot coals with the cover on, adjusting the vents to keep the heat down, until skin has a little color, about 4 minutes. Turn and continue to cook, turning occasionally, basting with sauce each time, 10 to 20 minutes more. The majority of the cooking takes place with the chicken skin side up.
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For perfectly cooked breasts, pull breasts off the grill when the internal temperature, measured with an instant-read thermometer, reaches at least 150 degrees F (66 degrees C). For perfectly cooked leg sections, pull off the grill at 175 degrees F (80 degrees C). Tent chicken with foil; rest for 5 to 10 minutes. The internal temperature will continue to rise. Chef John Cook's Notes: For chicken halves, it will be difficult if not impossible to attain the perfect cooking temperature for breast and leg portions at the same time. You will likely have to pull the chicken off the grill when the breast meat is slightly overcooked, and the leg meat is slightly undercooked. For all the meat to be perfectly cooked, you will need to separate the pieces. You can use the same basic vinegar and butter marinade, but change the spices to create different flavor profiles.
