This is the week that we focused on chicken in ANSC 117, Texas Barbecue. We covered butterflied or spatchcocked chicken, ginger ale-can chicken (no beer-can chicken for freshmen!), rotisserie chicken, Orange Marmalade Sriracha Wings, and Ranch Dip Wings.
Starting with whole chickens
One of the first things we did in class is to demonstrate how to take a whole chicken and make a butterflied or spatchcocked chicken out of it. Ray did this for the students, which is a convenient way to prepare chicken for the grill or smoker. Ray finished up by cutting the chicken up into the usual pieces of breasts, thighs, wings, drumsticks, and back.
Brining chicken
We brined all of the whole chickens used for the rotisserie, butterflied, and ginger ale-can cooking demonstrations.
Basic brine:
- One gallon of water
- 1/2 cup Kosher salt
- 1/2 sugar
The chickens were brined overnight (about 18 hours).
Rotisserie chicken
One of the most popular types of chicken these days is rotisserie chicken. Most supermarkets have rotisserie cookers in house and prepare chickens for easy and convenient pick up by shoppers wanting an easy component of a meal. We used the Weber rotisserie set up on the Weber Performer® Gold.
Butterflied chicken
We used the Weber Smokey Mountain Cookers to smoke the butterflied chicken. These are great setups to smoke these chickens.
Ginger Ale-can chicken
Four chickens were cooked using the beverage-can method to suspend/support the whole chickens during the smoking process. As mentioned earlier, we used ginger ale rather than the traditional beer-can-chicken approach since we are teaching freshmen. Any soft drink or other flavored drink that is in a 12-ounce can works for this style of cooking.
Wings
Wings are quite popular appetizers or main courses, especially at sports bars. We prepared two versions: Orange Marmalade Sriracha Wings and Ranch Dip Wings.
Here is the recipe for the Orange Marmalade Sriracha Wings:
Orange Marmalade Sriracha Wings
Ingredients
- About 24 chicken wings, separated into drumettes and flats
- 1 jar (18 oz) Smucker’s Sweet Orange Marmalade
- 1/3 cup – honey
- 1/3 cup – light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup – Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce
Instructions
- For the sauce, combine all ingredients in a sauce pan, bring to boil, stirring constantly, and remove from heat.
- Apply favorite seasonings to chicken wings and grill over indirect heat at 350°F for 20 to 30 minutes, until golden brown and the internal temperature has reached 165°F.
- Dip wings in the sauce, then place back on the grill and continue to cook for about 10 minutes. Repeat one or two more times until the wings have a candy-glazed look to them.
Adapted from: https://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?5949-Orange-Marmalade-Sriracha-Wings
The Ranch Dip Wings are easy to make. Simply apply a coating of mayonnaise over the wings and sprinkle Ranch Dip seasoning over them. Add seasonings such as salt, pepper, lemon pepper, etc., and cook indirectly until they are done.
Alabama White Barbecue Sauce
Jackie loves to use Alabama White Barbecue Sauce on chicken so she showed the students how to prepare it.
There are several recipes for this style of sauce, but Jackie uses this Robb Walsh recipe:
Alabama White Barbecue Sauce
Robb Walsh
Robb’s notes: Here’s a variation on Bib Bob Gibson’s white barbecue sauce. It tastes great on chicken, and it also makes a great chicken salad dressing.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Duke’s Mayonnaise
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup apple juice
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- Dash of cayenne or to taste
Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir well. Use immediately or keep in a covered contained in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Makes about 2 cups.
Baked Corn in Sour Cream
This is a family favorite that is served at most holiday meals or major family gatherings. It is easy to make and is wonderful warmed up the next day as leftovers.
Baked Corn in Sour Cream
Jackie Savell
Ingredients
- 2 cans (15.25 ounces) of Del Monte Fresh Cut® Golden Sweet Whole Kernel Corn, drained
- 1 jar (2.8 ounces) Hormel Real Bacon Pieces Shaker
- 1 container (8 ounce) Daisy Brand Sour Cream
- 2 T. salted butter
- 2 T. chopped onion
- 2 T. flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 T. flat parsley
Directions
Sauté onion in butter. Blend in flour and salt. Gradually add sour cream, stirring until mixture is smooth. Heat just to boiling. Add corn and heat thoroughly. Fold in half of the bacon. Spoon into a 2-quart greased pan. Top with parsley and remaining bacon. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.
Serving the chicken
The students got to sample the different styles of chicken, and from their responses, loved all of them.
Thanks to Brogan Horton and Eric Hamilton for providing the graduate student leadership for the class, and to all of the Super Sophomores, Jazzy Juniors, and Snazzy Seniors for their great help each week.
The chicken week in class always brings some surprises when you have chickens that are brined, seasoned, and cooked correctly monitored by thermometers so that they are not overcooked.