Outgoing Board President, Kevin Bartley with Incoming Board ...

Food & Drink
Culinary
Corner
By Tim Alfrey
One of the best things about living in West Texas is that our
BBQ season starts much earlier than the most of the country
and some of you would argue that it never really ends. Being
originally from Kansas City (my personal choice for BBQ
capitol of the world, sorry Texas!), I’ve been steeped in the
rich culinary culture and history that exists in the area from
an early age. Today, I’m going to show you my recipe for KC
Style BBQ Chicken. Not all of us are blessed with a smoker of
our own, so we’ll be using a regular covered charcoal grill (gas
will also be fine).
To get the best flavor, we will brine the chicken. It’s best to
let it sit overnight in the brine, but a good hours soak will be
fine if you’re in a hurry! If you’re using a charcoal grill, you’ll
need to keep your coals all the way on one side. For most of
the time, we’ll be cooking the chicken with indirect heat, we’ll
only give the chicken a good marking above the fire at first.
Gas grill users simply turn on only half your burners. For our
smoke, we need a couple handfuls of presoaked wood chips
in a small packet made of aluminum foil, with a few holes
poked in the top. The choice of wood is up to you, traditionally
they used hickory or pecan in Kansas City, but some local mesquite
would be great as well. Let’s get started :
Ingredients
For your brine you will need:
2 qts water
3 tbl salt
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
4 sprigs of thyme or rosemary
6 pieces of leg&thigh pieces, bone in and still connected
Combine everything in a bowl, making sure the salt dissolves
completely. Pour mixture into 2 gallon zip-lock bag and add the
chicken. Let sit in the fridge for at least an hour, up to overnight.
Now for the sauce:
1 piece of bacon, chopped
1 sprig of either the thyme or rosemary,
whichever you used on the chicken
2 tbl olive oil
½ onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika or smoked paprika
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Heat the oil in a sauce pan on medium heat. Add the bacon
and thyme and cook slowly, until the bacon fat is rendered out.
Add the onion and garlic and cook till the onion starts to turn
light brown, about five minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients
and reduce the heat to low, cooking for about 20 minutes and
stilling frequently. Once the sauce is done, reserve about 1 cup of
it to serve with the chicken, the rest is for basting.
Start your coals, or preheat your gas grill to about 357 deg. Oil
your grill surface with an oiled paper towel. Remove the chicken
from the brine, drain it and pat it dry with a towel. Put the chicken
directly above the fire, cook for 5 mins, flip, and cook for 5 mins
more. Move your chicken to the side opposite the heat. Toss
your foil packet of wood chips directly on the coals and lower
the lid, cooking for about 15-20 mins. Open the lid, slowly, and
liberally baste the chicken with the BBQ sauce, making sure to
coat every surface. Replace the lid, cook for another 25-30 mins
(basting once more halfway through), until the internal temp of
the chicken reaches 165 degrees. Serve with some coleslaw, BBQ
beans and more sauce!
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