Serves: 5
Trim The Fat.
Chicken fat tends to render out very quickly, so when you're cooking chicken pieces over Direct heat, trim any excess fat or skin to minimize flare-ups. (Flare-ups, while rare on a well-designed grill, are more likely over charcoal than gas.) If you have a flare-up, it takes just a moment to move the chicken pieces to Indirect heat until the flames die, then move the chicken back over Direct heat.
To Flip Or Not To Flip?
That is the question many grillers struggle with, so here's the scoop: The only time it's really necessary is when you're cooking boneless chicken pieces, kabobs, or burgers over Direct heat. That's because your cooking time is so short (less than 25 minutes) that you need to expose both sides to the heat for even browning, grill marks, and thorough cooking. One flip halfway through grilling time will do it. Bone-in pieces, on the other hand, should generally be grilled bone side down (skin side up) over Indirect heat and do not need to be turned. The exceptions are recipes that have you sear the chicken first, to achieve a desired texture. You don't need to turn bone-in pieces or whole chickens cooked only over Indirect heat because they brown evenly over a longer grilling time (more than 25 minutes). Depending on their size, individual bone-in thighs and legs grilled over Indirect Medium heat will take 40 to 50 minutes each. Wings and bone-in breasts take 30 to 40 minutes. If you want crispier skin, however, do feel free to finish bone-in pieces, skin side down, over Direct heat during the last 5 minutes of grilling time.
Parts Is Parts--Or Are They?
Many of our chicken recipes call for a whole chicken cut into eight pieces (see REFERANCE & APPENDIX, _Cutting Chicken Into Serving Pieces). This seems like an extra step when you can buy chicken parts in assortment packs, but it's an important one. If you cut up one chicken, the parts will be proportionate. Those handy assortment packs include parts from lots of different chickens, so you may get tiny drumsticks and oversized breast halves or vice versa. Cooking times between these different-sized pieces may vary greatly. When the parts come from one chicken, however, they're more likely to cook up evenly and within about 10 minutes of each other. Which brings us to timing: If you want all the pieces to be done at the same time, place the thighs and legs on the grill first, then the breast halves and wings about 10 minutes later.
From Weber’s Big Book of Grilling. Copyright © 2001 Weber-Stephen Products Co. All rights reserved. First published by Chronicle Books LLC, San Francisco, California.
This _Chicken On The Grill: Something For Everyone recipe is from the Weber's Big Book of Grilling Cookbook. Download this Cookbook today.
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