Recipes of the week: Really Easy Chicken and Planked Pork Loin with Whiskey Apricot Glaze
Aug 31, 2012
With
Labour Day coming up, this is a tribute to the working man, which
means lots of meat, inexpensive but delicious cuts, and, for the
first recipe at least, ease of cooking to give more time for
getting stuff done.
Really Easy Chicken
Makes
6–8 servings
One of
the biggest challenges of championship barbecue is finding a way to
cook chicken so the skin doesn’t turn out rubbery. This recipe is
based on a technique some barbecue competitors use to get chicken
skin that melts in the judges’ mouths. The secret is the acid in
the dressing, which softens the skin while the chicken is
marinating.
2
chickens, cut into pieces, or 12 chicken thighs
kosher
salt and freshly ground pepper
1
bottle store-bought zesty Italian salad dressing
Reserve
½ cup |125 mL of the Italian dressing. Season the chicken pieces
with salt and pepper and place them in an extra large freezer bag.
Add the rest of the dressing, making sure all the pieces are
coated, and marinate the chicken in the refrigerator
overnight.
Prepare your grill for medium indirect cooking. For propane grills,
this means preheating the grill on high, turning off the burner
underneath where you’re going to place your meat, and then turning
the other burner or burners to medium.
Place the chicken pieces on the cooking grate, skin side up,
leaving at least a little space between them to ensure good air
circulation. Cook the chicken, basting it periodically with the
reserved salad dressing, for 25–35 minutes, or until the internal
temperature at the thickest part of the breast reads 160°F | 71°C.
Transfer the chicken from the grill to a serving platter and tent
it with foil to rest for about 5–10 minutes. Serve it with your
favorite
accompaniments.
Planked Pork Loin Roast with Whiskey Apricot
Glaze
Makes
4–6 servings
In this
recipe, the aromatic, spicy, mildly astringent flavor of the cedar
smoke nicely complements the pork’s sweetness and richness. The
trick to plank-cooking a roast this big is to get the plank
smoldering on high or medium-high heat and then turn it down to
medium as soon as you get the meat on. Serve slices of the pork
with grill-roasted vegetables and boiled new potatoes tossed with
butter and chopped fresh dill.
1 cedar
cooking plank, soaked overnight or at least 1 hour
one 14
oz | 398 mL can apricot halves in light syrup
1/4 cup
| 50 mL Dijon mustard
1/4 cup
| 50 mL Jack Daniel’s whiskey
1/4 cup
| 50 mL brown sugar
1/4 cup
| 50 mL apricot jam
pinch
cayenne pepper
one 3
lb | 1.5 kg pork loin roast with a 1/8-inch | 3 mm fat
cap
kosher
salt and freshly ground black pepper
sprigs
of fresh parsley and thyme for garnish
Open
the can of apricots and drain the syrup into a medium-sized
saucepan, reserving the fruit. Add the mustard, Jack Daniel’s,
brown sugar, apricot jam, and cayenne to the syrup. Bring the
mixture to a low boil over medium heat, stirring to melt the sugar
and the jam. When it looks like a smooth, fairly thick sauce (which
takes about 5 minutes), take it off the heat and set the pan in a
bowl of ice cubes to cool.
Lightly score the fat cap of the pork loin in a diamond pattern
with a sharp knife. Season it with salt and pepper, and set the
meat on a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Spoon half of the
mustard-whiskey mixture over the loin and pat it all over to coat
it. Wrap the foil around the meat, sealing it as best you can.
Place the wrapped loin in the meat drawer of your fridge. Let it
sit for a couple of hours at least, overnight if
possible.
Combine the remaining half of the sauce with the reserved apricot
halves, cover it, and refrigerate it.
Preheat the grill on medium-high for 5–10 minutes, or until the
chamber temperature rises above 500°F | 260°C. Rinse the plank and
place it on the cooking grate. Cover the grill and heat the plank
for 4–5 minutes, or until it starts to throw off a bit of smoke and
crackles lightly. Reduce the heat to medium-low.
Place the marinated pork loin on the plank, fat side up. Cover the
grill and cook the meat for 1 hour, checking periodically for
flare-ups.
At the one-hour mark, take the reserved apricots out of the sauce
mixture and place them on the plank next to the roast. Baste the
roast with some of the sauce and cook it for another 10–20 minutes,
until the internal temperature of the pork reaches 140°F | 60°C.
Take the roast off the heat and lightly tent it in foil.
Transfer the apricot halves to a cutting board and coarsely chop
them. Warm the remaining sauce on the stovetop or in the microwave
and add the chopped apricots. Let the roast rest for at least 15
minutes (while it’s resting, roast some vegetables on the grill).
Carve the roast into 1⁄2-inch | 1 cm slices and serve them on
warmed plates with a spoonful of the apricots and sauce. Garnish
the pork with sprigs of parsley and thyme.
__________________
These
recipes are from Barbecue
Secrets DELUXE!, which is
now available as an iBook from the iTunes Store.