Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Grilled Honey Soy Glazed Chicken


“When my food blog grows up it wants to be just like _______________”

If you are a food blogger, I know you can complete that sentence with 2-3 bloggers that you admire. Not that you want to replicate their voice or style but you would like to be their peer in terms of an entertaining style, food knowledge, creativity, detail, and production quality.

For me, one of those blogs is Steamy Kitchen. Jaden is a food blogging rock star and she is an example of how to engage your audience. Almost everything I know about food photography and styling, I learned either from SteamyKitchen, For The Love of Cooking, or SippitySup. [I hate to disparage their good names by associating them with my photo/styling skills, ha ha.]

Earlier this week, I saw a recipe Jaden posted for Grilled Honey Soy Glazed Chicken and was making it within hours. 


Grilled Honey Soy Glazed Chicken
Servings: serves 4, 2 drumsticks each
Prep Time: 5
Cook Time: 30

Recipe adapted by Steamy Kitchen from Seattle Kitchen, A Food Lover's Cookbook and Guide by Tom Douglas. The chicken can be replaced with fish or even vegetables, such as eggplant depending on your preferences.

Make Ahead: The marinade/glaze can be made up to one week ahead of time and kept, tightly covered, in the refrigerator.

Sub your favorite Gluten-Free tamari sauce for the soy sauce if needed.

Ingredients:
FOR THE GLAZE:
1/4 cup Honey
1/4 cup vegetable or peanut oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

FOR THE CHICKEN:
12 Chicken Drumsticks
lemon wedges for serving

Directions:
1) To make the marinade/glaze, whisk together the honey, oil, lemon juice, soy sauce, garlic and red pepper flakes.
2) In a baking dish, resealable bag or container, marinate the chicken in the glaze for 30 minutes.
3) Grill or broil the chicken, medium heat, on both sides until the skin is crispy and juices run clear or the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit, about 25-30 minutes. Be careful not to burn the the chicken, the honey will char easily. Moving the chicken to a cooler part of the grill, if grilling, or moving the chicken further from the broiler, may be necessary.
4) Serve chicken with a squeeze of lemon.

I added ¼ cup mirin, 1 tsp of minced ginger, 1 chopped green onion, and substituted lime juice because that's what I had. Also, I was using hefty bone in chicken breasts so I did a two stage cook.

The weather had been touch and go but when WBIR's Todd Howell said the last of the storms had pretty much moved through West Knox county, I pulled off the grill covers and lit a half chimney (about 3 quarts) of Kingsford.   Of course that made it start raining again.


I grilled the breasts skin side down over direct heat at 350f for 4-5 minutes just to get some initial browning and grate marks. 

4-5 min is a guide, check them often so you don't burn them.

Then I moved them from over the coals and skin side up. I topped them with the strained bits from the marinade and cooked them indirect until they reached 160f internal. TIP: When I cook breasts indirect, I like to make sure that the skinny, tapered end is facing away from the heat source so it doesn't get all dried up.


Do the “indirect slide”
When grilling on a square grill like this, I like to take out one of the grates so I can easily slide the food closer to the coals as they start to die down near the end of the cooking time. For example:
Grate slid away from the coals when they are fresh and hot.
As the coals die and cool down some, slide the grate closer and closer to them. 

It took just over an hour for these breasts to hit 160f. I could have gotten them done faster by staying direct heat but I was inside stir frying and didn't want to burn the chicken. I then cut the meat off of the bone, sliced into medallions, and drizzled them with some extra sauce.


The sweet slightly smoky chicken was devoured by adults and kids, it's a real crowd pleaser.

NASHVILLE FOOD BLOG FORUM
Speaking of Jaden...the Food Blog Forum is bringing its show on the road to Nashville, TN on Saturday, October 8th!   I am looking forward to being a sponge and absorbing everything I can at this seminar. Some of the biggest names in the business will be sharing information on everything about food blogging. There is still time to register (I should know, I'm just registering tonight, ha ha).

Click HERE to see the event schedule, more about the topics and presenters, and to register.

If you are going, please let me know so we can make sure to meet in person.