Chicken legs in Thai underpants

Here is my trusty Weber grill that I bought for $10 at a yard sale in 1998. I've grown tired of it lately, and so I leave it out in the elements, but it refuses to die. I have a mix of contempt and sneaking admiration for this thing.

One of my favorite things in summer is grill-roasted chicken. I love the bacon-like crisp skin. The meat is nice too, but it is really about the skin. I rarely do a whole chicken, because no one here likes white meat. I like legs about once or twice a month and whole birds about once or twice a season.

To set up for grill-roasting, I fill a chimney starter with charcoal, let them burn down, and then put them on each side of the grill. I have the Weber charcoal holders, but they are not absolutely necessary. You can also add wood chunks for smoke flavor. I don't bother soaking the wood, and I'm not sure why people do that; the water does not penetrate the wood, and burns off quickly anyway, leaving you with...dry wood. I leave all the vents open, partially because the bottom vent covers have all fallen off.

Another great use for all that curry paste we put away: stuff it under the skin of chicken leg quarters, along with salt and whole mint leaves. After trying the infamous Zuni roast chicken, I am a real believer in tucking flavorful things under the skin and letting them perfume the meat for up to three days in the frig. It really does add a lot of flavor, and the salt seasons the meat throughout. In this case, the paste is mostly aromatic vegetables (garlic, shallot, lemongrass, ginger), all of which work beautifully with chicken. But then again, what doesn't work beautifully with chicken?

I put the legs down the center of the grill and cover for about an hour to an hour and twenty minutes. The internal temp is usually around 400 degrees. An hour and twenty minutes is usually about right for very crispy brown skin, but they usually come up to temperature within an hour or less. Dark meat can take being overcooked, and the flavorings and the skin make up for the lack of totally juicy and succulent meat, although I should say that this meat is still really good so the tradeoff is more than fair.

Comments

[Bobby]

You soak the chips so there is more smoke for a longer time. Dry chips smoke just as much (if not more) but burn off quicker. So it's an issue of quantity not quality.

[Meez]

Good point. I think that is true for chips, which are smaller and so have a greater wood to water ratio, but I've not found it to be true for chunks, which is what I prefer.