Sunday Gravy with yeah right: A Show Stopper: Charcoal Chicken!

Good morning folks! Welcome back.

We’ve made it to August! We’re almost there. Training camps are in full swing, the inevitable training camp injuries are starting to mount and you just pray that you don’t see a “Breaking News” alert where your favorite team is involved. We do the same dance every season but it also means we’re really damn close to real live NFL action.

AND THAT’S WHY WE’RE HERE!

Holy shit, it’s hot outside. Really hot. Even for the harbor. Granted we do get that marine moisture that comes creeping in in the early morning hours but once our “Cool grey blanket” lifts and the sun comes out it’s fucked. Been like 3 plus weeks straight now.

That’s just goddamn uncivilized and it absolutely changes how I approach recipes for Sunday Gravy. That’s why I’ve decided we’re going to bring you back to back episodes (maybe more?) that require almost no oven time. 

You don’t want the oven on right now do you?

Today I want to bring you a recipe that I’ve been fucking around with for the last couple of months. I wanted to perfect it before bringing it to your attention because, dammit, you deserve perfection. And this bad boy gets cooked outside on a charcoal grill. How fucking convenient is that?

This produces some of the best grilled chicken that ever graced a dinner table anywhere. Not just that it’s one of my favorite things that ever came out of the Sunday Gravy test kitchen, I shit you negative.

I just realized this is three weeks in a row where we’ve cooked chicken. 

This heat fucks with my creative thinking skills! DAMMIT!

The base recipe for today comes, yes once again from Recipetineats.com and the amazing chef Nagy. I’ll denote where I’ve adapted it. She called her recipe “Charcoal Chicken Shop Chicken” because I guess there are charcoal chicken shops all over Australia where she is from.

Something I’ve noticed on my European travels is you can find kebab shops and shawarma restaurants in EVERY European city. Who doesn’t love exotically seasoned meats grilled over an open flame? Serve with pita, naan or some type of warm bread, add some hummus and a sauce or two, maybe some pickled things? It’s foolproof and fucking delicious!

I’ll let the Wikis explain the Australian chicken shop phenomena better than I personally can: “Charcoal chicken shops are a suburban staple in Australia with deep roots in immigrant culinary traditions. Key chains and cultural staples include El Jannah, Chargrill Charlie’s, and Oporto.”

You’ll be able to see the various immigrant influences just reading the following recipe list. Most accreditation goes to Lebanese cuisine but there are other influences as well. Not sure which cuisine gets full credit for this amazing thing because it’s more of an amalgam of various cuisines. I don’t care. This fucking shit is stupid delicious and everyone needs to give this a try.

 Charcoal Grilled Chicken

1 1/2 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp paprika *I use 1/2 smoked Spanish and half hot Hungarian.

1 tsp mustard powder

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp curry powder *secret ingredient*

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt – *I increased the original amount by 1/2 teaspoon

*1/8 teaspoon cayenne – for just the needed heat. My addition

1/2 tsp black pepper

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or maybe a bit more

2 tbsp lemon juice or white wine/red wine vinegar, or similar – *use fresh squeezed lemon juice here it just works

Let’s do this thing.

We’ve talked about chicken thighs before. No reason to use anything else for this recipe. We did end up grilling chicken breast too but it was seasoned entirely differently. Hate to waste a good batch of smoking hot coals by not having enough protein to toss on the fire.

We will need the juice from one half lemon.

I used the leftover lemon in one of the sauces I made as a side. You’ll see in a moment.

The sheer volume of the spice blend we’re making will get your attention. It seems like a lot because it IS a lot but trust me on this fucker.

For the paprika I like to use 1/2 tablespoon of smoked Spanish paprika.

And 1/2 tablespoon of hot Hungarian paprika.

And for the record I have 2 additional types of paprika other than these in my spice cabinet. That’s perfectly normal.

Isn’t it?

Add all of the recipe ingredients except the chicken into a bowl and combine. I always find I need to add a bit more olive oil to incorporate all of the dried spices.

We’re not really making a marinade here. We’re making something closer to a sludge.

Get the chicken into a one gallon zip-top bag and add the sludge. You’re going to want to squish repeatedly to be sure all of the chicken pieces are fully coated.

Refrigerate overnight. This is a must. During the course of its overnight rest feel free to squeeze and squish around the bag whenever you get the chance. We want to make sure each piece of chicken is thoroughly coated in the spice blend.

Next day you will want to build a charcoal fire. Not gas. We want the smoke and the char that comes from a charcoal grill.

Additional proteins were grilled too. You can clearly see which of those are the marinated chicken thighs.

Another reason that you need to make this is just for the smell alone. Holy God it smells ridiculous.

Cook until done. You’re the grill master. You know when shit is done, alright?

You want to serve this with pita or naan. Be sure to grill the flatbread for additional flavor.

That is such a critical step that lots of folks miss but it’s key to the finished product.

Let me show you how I devour this meal.

That would be clockwise from upper left: pickled red onion that was pickled in white vinegar with a small splash of balsamic; lemon caper dill sauce just like we made previously; roasted red pepper hummus – if you can find Haig’s brand it is goddamn magical; our chicken and the grilled naan.

Build yourself a little naan sandwich.

Get busy! Just fold and shove into your gob repeatedly.

Look at how sexy this plates up.

This is as delicious as anything I’ve ever eaten anywhere at anytime. No bullshit. It’s perfect.

It’s got such an incredible balance of the spices. The two surprise ingredient in the spice blend, the dry mustard and curry powder, don’t really jump up and grab your attention but they have these low subtle earthy notes in there that are balanced and just fucking excellent. 

Seriously, I’ve made this 4 times now – and there will be MANY more – and this last one right here? This is perfect. This recipe is dialed the fuck in.

Please make this one folks. You trust me after 11 years right? This is quite possibly the reason why Sunday Gravy exists. Because it led me to this recipe.

This weeks FUN holidays courtesy of A Bit Of Good News: “August 2 is International Beer Day*, National Coloring Book Day, National Friendship Day, National Ice Cream Sandwich Day, National Sisters Day and Psychic Day.”

*I think you know what needs to be done. And you’re just the folks to do it.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday folks. Stay cool and we’ll meet here again next Sunday, yeah?

Until then…