Peking Chicken

I followed Warren R. Anderson's recipe found in his book for cooking "Peking Chicken."  His recipe is similar to his for Peking Duck.

The chicken is cured for 2 whole days before cooking.

The cooking process involves three steps.  First, you dry the bird for a couple of hours at 140 degrees F without smoke.  Then, you cold smoke or low temperature smoke the bird for three hours.  Finally, you roast it at 350 degrees F until fully cooked (180 degrees F)  Note: this time I made sure the temperature reached 180 (usually I stop at 160 for fowl) because of the prolonged low temperature exposure.

What surprised me was the skin.  After curing for two days before cooking on the third, the skin out of the refriderator was taut and dried.  After the two hours at 140, the skin had a yellowish tinge and after the smoking, the skin had turned more orange (but not as much as Peking Duck).

I did the roasting on my gas grill with indirect heat and covered the bird with tin foil.

It turned out perfectly, the breast was moist and the dark meat superb and the skin taste was fantastic.  I served it with Anderson's Hoisin sauce blend.

A lotta work though.

Turkey Version of the "Bacon Explosion"

An article appeared in the January 28 NYT Dining section about a new recipe sensation using lots of bacon and pork sausage called the "Bacon Explosion." The recipe appears on the BBQAddicts.com website.

I'll not repeat the recipe here but you make a loaf of three layers - bacon, sausage, and cooked-crumbled bacon.  The bacon layer is a crisscross of 5 X 5 bacon slices.  After adding rubs and sauces at appropriate layers, you roll this up into a loaf and smoke or bake adding a glaze at the end.

I tried the recipe using turkey bacon and chicken sausage.  It turned out fantastic and is great as a breakfast meat with your eggs.

If you're interested read the recipe and procedure on BBQAddicts.com.  I only did one thing differently.  Because turkey bacon is not as "strong" as pork bacon, I created the sausage and crumbled bacon layers on a greased cutting board (I found a grill press is great for creating a smooth uniform layer), instead of on top of the bacon layer.  I then rolled up the sausage/crumbled bacon layers before placing it on the 5x5 matrix of turkey bacon.  It was then easier to roll the bacon layer over the sausage layer.

I smoked the loaf at 231 degrees (internal temperature reading) in a Cookshack Smokette and it took 3 hours to reach 165 degrees.  At about an internal temperature of 155 I glazed the loaf with my BBQ sauce.  After smoking, I wrapped the loaf in aluminium foil and placed in the refrigerator until needed.  I suggest you use a fruit based BBQ sauce to add some sweetness and to reduce the richness of the food.

Jamaican Jerked Chicken Wings

Bill's Grille favorite customer (Bill's wife) loves these jerked chicken wings for lunch or a midday snack.  They are very good chilled or microwave heated.  This low-carb recipe was adapted from a New York Times 7/2/08 article about a Jamaican grill called McKenzie's on Utica Avenue in Brooklyn.

Ingredients:

• About 5 pounds of chicken wings, (yes, they do store well in the refrigerator after grilling)
• 1 bunch of scallions coarsely chopped, include white and green parts
• 2 shallots peeled and halved.
• 4 Serrano chilies chopped, include seeds (standard recipes for jerk call for scotch bonnet chilies, but I find these scotch bonnet (or habaneros) chilies way too hot for my taste, even though I am not a stranger to hot, spicy food)
• 1 2-inch piece of fresh ginger peeled and coarsely chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
• 1/4 cup fresh thyme leaves or 1 tablespoon dried
• 2 tablespoons of ground allspice
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of Splenda (or brown sugar if you don't care about bad carbs)
• 1 tablespoon sugar-free maple syrup (or 1 more tablespoon of brown sugar)
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of black pepper
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup canola or grape seed oil
• juice of two limes

At least one day before cooking, pat chicken wings dry with paper towels, clip off ends, and place in an aluminium pan. Combine the remaining ingredients in a blender and grind to a coarse paste. Slather the paste over the chicken wings, covering all sides.  Either cover the pan with plastic wrap or place wings in a two gallon plastic bag and refrigerate overnight.

Prepare grill for low-heat direct or indirect grilling and smoking with your favorite wood (pimento is the standard for jerk, but hard to get).  When the grill is heated and the smoke is billowing, place wings on grill and cover.  Keep the grill temperature adjusted to between 300 to 350 degrees.

After about 20 minutes, turn the wings over and grill covered for another 15 minutes.  Add wood if needed to maintain the smoke.

Check the wings for doneness.  The wings should have brownish bark. Continue to grill as needed to cook thoroughly.

When cooked, the wings can be served hot off the grill or refrigerated for cold or reheated servings.

Bill's Grille Mulligatawny Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of yellow or red lentils ( I prefer yellow lentils but red lentils are easier to find in local food stores)
• 2 cups of chopped tomatoes ( or 1 can of chopped tomatoes if you're lazy)
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 2 Granny Smith apples cored and chopped
• 4 garlic cloves crushed and minced
• 1 tsp of fresh ginger peeled and chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp coriander spice
• 1 tbl cumin
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
  
• 2 Serrano chilies chopped (seeds included)
• 1 qt chicken or turkey broth (I use homemade turkey broth)

Directions:

Heat some olive oil in a soup pot. Add onion, ginger, garlic, and chilies and saute for a few minutes until onion is clear. Add lentils and spices and heat for a minute or so stirring constantly. Then add tomatoes, apples, and stock to pot. Bring to boil and simmer until lentils are cooked completely.

In several stages using a blender, thoroughly blend mixture and place each stage in bowl big enough to hold all the soup. When completed, pour the soup back into the soup pot (or slow cooker pot)and stir to mix well. At this point you may want to add more stock to thin the soup if you prefer. Sample the soup and salt to taste - you won't need much. You can add also cooked diced chicken.

Let the soup cool and refrigerate overnight.

Re-heat and serve.

Bill's Grille Sugar-Free Pumpkin Pie

I made two of these pies for Thanksgiving and four for Christmas. I challenge anybody to make a better tasting Pumpkin Pie using any ingredients!!

Per 9-inch pie:

• 1 frozen whole wheat 9-inch pie crust defrosted.
• 1 15-ounce can of pumpkin
• 2 cups of low-fat (not non-fat) sour cream
• 1/3 cup of splenda
• 1 tbl of sugar-free maple syrup substitute
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 2 slighly beaten eggs

In a large bowl, combine and mix thoroughly pumpkin, sour cream, syrup, eggs, and spices.

Pour mixture into the pie shell. Place pie in an oven pre-heated to 425 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool before serving ( I prefer to refrigerate pumpkin pies and serve chilled).