Whole Chicken with Alabama White Sauce
Excerpt from Life of Fire, Pat Martin
Makes 4 servings
1 whole chicken (31/2 to 4 pounds), brined or dry-brined
1 tablespoon Big Hoss Rub
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup apple juice
Pat's Alabama White Sauce
To help the chicken cook evenly and expose more of it to the smoky fire, I butterfly (aka spatchcock) it first. But my method is unconventional. Frankly, it’s backward: instead of removing the chicken’s backbone (as is the established method), I split the bird through the breastbone. This technique was born years ago out of a screw up: I accidentally cut down the wrong side of a chicken, but I cooked it anyway, and I actually preferred the results. The breast and leg meat cooked more evenly, and to me it just looks right: When you lay the bird out flat, the legs fold neatly around the breast to create a tight square of meat. If you think I’m full of it, try my “reverse spatchcock” method once, and see for yourself. To keep your bird from drying out over the dry heat of the fire, I highly recommend using a brined chicken. Many of the chickens you buy at the grocery store have already been injected with brine, or “plumped.” The label will tell you if it’s been brined, and how much of its total weight is brine (look for something that has been plumped by at least 9 percent brine or broth). Organic chickens have probably not been plumped, and the same goes for anything you buy from a local farmer. In those cases, you can dry-brine the chicken: Season it all over, inside and out, with kosher salt (about 1 teaspoon of Diamond Crystal per pound), then place it on a wire rack set over a sheet pan and refrigerate it, uncovered, for at least 6 and up to 24 hours.
Using kitchen shears, split the chicken by cutting up from the cavity, through the breast side. Cut close to the breastbone and through the wishbone. Season the chicken with the dry rub (see How to Apply Rub, page 97).
In a bowl, whisk together the vinegar and apple juice; this will be your mop.
Prepare a bed of coals (see Getting Ready to Cook, page 85) below the grill grate and let them burn down until they’re medium to medium-low (you should be able to hold your hand just above the grill grate for 7 to 10 seconds).
Open up the chicken so that it lies flat and place it skin-side down on the grill grates. Cook, undisturbed, for 5 to 10 minutes. Flip the chicken over and let it cook for 5 minutes longer.
Using a shovel, pull the coals below the grill grate toward the perimeter of the grill to make a four-sided bed of coals around the grate. Lay a few logs or wood slats around the perimeter of the grill on top of your coals. At this point, there should be nothing but smoldering ash below the chicken; the ring of coals will do the cooking from here on out.
Flip the chicken over and wait 15 minutes, then rotate it 180 degrees (without flipping). Wait 15 minutes, baste the chicken with some mop, and flip over. Continue alternating between flipping and rotating the bird every 15 minutes, basting it with the mop every time you move it.
As your wood burns down, push or shovel some coals from the perimeter of the grill inward (about a half shovelful per side) and add new wood to the top of the coal bed. You’ll probably need to do this about every 30 minutes, more often on windy days.
Check the ambient temperature around the chicken with your hand every so often; you’re aiming for 250° to 275°F, or 7 to 10 seconds with the hand test.
Continue this process until the chicken is almost cooked through (the thickest part of the leg should be around 160°F), about 2 hours.
Pour the Alabama white sauce into a large bowl or baking pan and add the chicken, turning it until it’s well coated in the sauce. Return the chicken to the grill grates, skin-side down, and cook until the sauce is clearly reducing on the skin, about 10 more minutes. Coat the chicken in the sauce once again, then transfer to a cutting board and let rest for about 10 minutes; the heat of the cooked chicken will turn the sauce into a shiny glaze. Carve the bird into pieces and serve.
Makes about 4 cups
21/2 cups mayonnaise
11/4 cups apple cider vinegar
11/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons honey
1 garlic clove, finely grated
1 tablespoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
11/2 teaspoons chile powder
11/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
11/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
In a medium bowl, whisk together all the ingredients. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
Makes about 5 cups
11/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1 cup Diamond Crystal kosher salt
1 cup garlic salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup sweet paprika
3 tablespoons lemon pepper
2 tablespoons chile powder
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
In a medium bowl, whisk together all the ingredients. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to 1 month.
