Here's the finished product. I'm not much of a cook, but I like to try. I'm getting to the point that I've got my own ways to prepping things that work and this is one dish that I've gotten really good at.
This is a good setup for a date night when youre not trying to serve a woman hamburgers and want her to see you put some time into cooking for her.
I'll show you how I do everything.
Here's what you'll need:
--1 whole chicken (should be enough to serve 4 adults)
--Salt
--Pepper
--Thyme --Olive oil
--1/4 cup WHOLE peppercorn
--1/8 cup WHOLE allspice berries
--5 gallon clean bucket WITH COVER. I mark the bucket "food only" and keep it sealed so I can reuse it (obviously only for food; wash and dry THOROUGHLY after you're done with it!)
To do the veggie medley:
--1 zucchini, 1 yellow squash, and 1/2 bell pepper per 2 people.
-- butter
-- pepper
To do the red potatoes:
--1/2 lb, small red potatoes per person (smaller the better)
-- garlic cloves
-- olive oil
-- salt and pepper
The bucket is to brine your chicken overnight. You want to see if your whole chicken came presalted. If it did, you might want to omit salt in the next step. Cover the chicken about 3/4 to the top of the chicken with COLD water; so just a bit of it is exposed.
Now, add your brine seasoning. I use 1/8 cup WHOLE allspice berries and 1/4 cup WHOLE peppercorn. If your bird isn't presalted, mix in 1/4 cup of salt. I've tried adding 1/4 cup of brown sugar at times. Swirl it all around to mix up the brine.
Now, add enough ice (I just take it from the ice maker in the fridge) to cover the chicken about 1 inch. Put the cover on the bucket. Then, let it sit for about 8 hours (assuming it's thawed). Swirl around the brine occasionally if you're at home to keep it mixed up.
If the chicken is frozen, I'll brine it for 24 hrs and by the time I'm ready to cook it's completely defrosted and brined. If you brine that long, you need to check it every 8 hours to make sure all the ice hasn't melted. Just add more, but don't dump in too much ice or you'll slow down the brine process or dilute the brine. The ice keeps the chicken at a safe temperature.
Now, here's the trick that makes grilling a chicken work so well for me. Cut out the chicken's backbone. Laying it flat allows the chicken to cook more evenly.
Here's the final result before we toss the bird on the bird on the grill.
Now, he's the cooking trick I use for whole chickens. Get your coals going and make sure they're all on ONE side!
Lay the chicken down as far from the coals as you have space for. This sets up a convective flow inside your grill and slows down the cooking. My grill doesn't have a numeric temp gauge; so cook it at a medium grill temp. Let your chicken cook for about 1 hour. After 1 hour, it should just start browning. Then, flip the chicken OVER and right above the coals. Let it cook for another 10-20 minutes until the skin is perfectly browned.
In the meantime, here's how I prep veggies. They're pretty simple. I just cut red potatoes into 1/4s or 1/8s if they're bigger red potatoes. I cut up a couple cloves per pound of potatoes; mince if you have the time. I just slice up the squash and red peppers into bite-size pieces.
Here's how I cover veggies. Take one long sheet of aluminum foil. Curl up the edges to make a kind of tray. For the potatoes, grease the bottom with about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. Spread out the potatoes and garlic evenly, then salt and pepper to taste. For the veggie medley, I just season with pepper and cut up a tablespoon or so of butter per 2 servings.
The last step with the potatoes and veggies is to cover with another long sheet of aluminum foil, then pinch and curl up the edges to seal them in. I try to get the potatoes on the top rack of my grill as soon as I put the chicken on. I put the veggies on the top rack about 20 minutes before I think the chicken will be done.
Here's the final product. The skin comes out great and the meat is juicy. You can use a thermostat to test it as well. Don't be scared of a little pink when you grill poultry since that's sometimes a result of grilling and smoking. I like my chicken a little more on the well done side, so adjust your cooking accordingly.
