Basic BBQ Chicken

Truly an American-grill classic if ever there was one, barbecue chicken is an all-time-American, out-doors favorite!

Ingredients:

½ to 1 lb. (252 to 504 g) chicken (quartered/parts) per serving
a few ounces / milliliters of any barbecue sauce you like, a little salt, ground, black pepper & garlic powder

~ cooking oil ~

Preparation:

Make sure your grill is clean before starting. Grease the grill rack or coat it with cooking spray, and place the grill on medium setting to pre-heat it. A medium heat should be used when grilling chicken - using too high of a heat will cause some parts to cook too quickly and dry out while other parts will not be done all the way through. The thicker the cut, the farther away from the heat source it should be or the heat source should be at a lower temperature to prevent the outside of the cut from burning before the inside is properly cooked. You will also have to decide whether you will use direct or indirect heat during the grilling time. Depending on the type of chicken, you may use both. A whole chicken or a thick piece, such as a full breast, may require direct heat to seal the outside and indirect to allow the cut to cook thoroughly to the center.

Rinse chicken well under cold, running water (it's always a very good idea to wash off raw cuts of meat before cooking) and let it warm to room temperature (never put cold/chilled meat on a hot grill or it will shrink the meat when it contacts the hot grill and cause the meat to tear on the outside). It's a good idea to cut any larger pieces to match the smaller sizes so all the pieces will cook more evenly. It's also a good idea to flatten large chicken breasts so that they are more uniform in thickness. If cooking a whole chicken, it should be butterflied for more even cooking.

Always make sure you wash your hands well with hot, soapy water after handling raw chicken! Also, insure that all utensils and the preparation surfaces are cleaned thoroughly, preferably with a water-bleach solution. Raw chicken can be loaded with pathogens that can make you really sick if ingested, so play it safe and don't be sorry afterwards!

Brush oil on the surface of the chicken to help prevent sticking, and season it with a good sprinkling of salt, ground, black pepper and garlic powder.

Place on grill over medium heat. Place the dark meat pieces of chicken on the grill first because they require more cooking time than the white meat. Place the pieces skin side down to begin with.

Place cover on the grill and let pieces cook for 4 or 5 minutes. After the dark meat has cooked for 4 or 5 minutes, add the white pieces to the grill, (also skin side down). The wing pieces should be kept to the outer edges of the grill where there will be less heat. Do not overcrowd the pieces. Be sure to allow an area that the chicken can be moved to if a flare up occurs. Place cover on the grill, cook for 5 minutes, then give each piece a quarter-turn. This will create nice, darkly-cooked, criss-cross grill marks on the food! Grill another 5 minutes with the lid closed, then flip the pieces over and cook on the other side, with lid closed, for 10 to 15 minutes.

After the initial 20 - 25 minutes, generously brush chicken with barbecue sauce; cook 20 minutes longer (lid closed), turning pieces often and brushing with sauce frequently until juices run clear when chicken is pierced with tip of knife.

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You can't beat this on hot summer days served with corn on the cob and potato salad on the side!

OVEN SHORT-CUT METHOD: Preheat the oven to 350° F. (176.67° C). Place the chicken in a 9" (22.5 cm) x 13" (32.5 cm) baking dish that has been greased or coated with nonstick cooking spray, and bake for 25 minutes. Preheat the grill to medium heat. Coat the chicken with BBQ sauce and place on the grill. Grill for 15 to 20 minutes (giving them the quarter-turns described above to create the traditional grill marks), or until the juices run clear and no pink remains, turning halfway through the grilling.

Notes:

You can bet that I load my chicken pieces up with lots of hot sauce, too!