A lot went on last weekend.
A lot of driving. A lot of eating. A lot of people. A celebration of a lot of years.
The Crabby family went "Up North" this last weekend. (Author's Note: Up North is a euphemism especially popular in states like Minnesota and Michigan. It refers to a watery-woodsy area at least 3 hours drive away that is plagued by mosquitoes, lousy TV reception and no wi-fi.). We were there to celebrate SSSal's father's 84th birthday, that's a lot of years.
Twelve members of the family came in for the event. Unless the name of your home includes the word "-Dome", 14 people and 2 dogs is a lot under one roof. But, thanks to the weather gods, we had a beautiful lakeside Saturday. There was swimming, boat rides and even a few sea plane trips. Better yet, with all the great outdoors to work with there was plenty of room to keep from getting on each others nerves.
Crabby cooked of course, but not for the birthday party itself. JeanneBean asked for some rotisserie chickens to feed the hordes on Friday night. So Wednesday and Thursday became cooking days at Crabby Central. I prepped and grilled 4 chickens. That's right, roughly 18 pounds of pullets, Rhode Island Reds and Frank Perdues. Normally if I'm roasting that much poultry I'm wearing a Pilgrim hat and walking around with a blunderbuss, but not this time.
Everyone seemed to love the birds, so I decided to publish the rub mix I used. Now I've tried to downsize the proportions to work with 1 chicken but I may be a little off. Anyway, it's a good start, so let's all enjoy...
by Crabby
1 Roasting Chicken (about 4 pounds)
1 TBSP kosher salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 TBSP dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 TBSP herbs de provence
Rind of 1 lemon, grated
Juice of 1 lemon, (save the flesh)
1 TBSP cooking oil
In a large bowl combine the salt, pepper, brown sugar, chili powder, paprika and Herbs de Provence. Mix the dry ingredients well.
Add the lemon juice and oil to the dry ingredients and mix to form a paste.
Loosen the breast skin of the chicken and insert a small amount of the paste. Take the remaining paste and massage into the chicken. This is a messy process, so you may want to do it in your kitchen sink.
Insert the lemon pieces into the chicken cavity and place the bird into a large zipper top bag.
Refrigerate overnight.
Remove the chicken 30 minutes prior to the start of grilling.
Preheat your rotisserie burner on high, and place a drip pan beneath where the bird will be spinning.
Truss the chicken using kitchen twine and then insert the spit rod through the bird, using the rotisserie forks to firmly secure the chicken.
Roast the bird until done; depending on the size total roasting time will vary from 1 hour 15 minutes to 2 hours.
When done (thigh temperature of 180 degrees), transfer the chicken to a cutting board and allow it to rest at least 15 minutes before carving.
Carve and serve.
OK crablings, this is a slow meal, but you can prepare multiple chickens to feed a big crowd or to have plenty of leftovers. Also the drippings trapped in the pan can be used as part of the thickener for a quick gravy.
I'm out for now, until next time remember, you can do it, you can cook.
4 comments:
This looks delicious! Since I don't have a rotisserie, would it still be delish in the oven as a regular roast chicken?
Molly Jean,
It will work in the oven but probably won't look as pretty. Alternatively you could turn the chicken every 15 minutes or so on the grill and try and even out the browning that way. Good Luck, tell us how it goes.
Molly Jean,
It will work in the oven but probably won't look as pretty. Alternatively you could turn the chicken every 15 minutes or so on the grill and try and even out the browning that way. Good Luck, tell us how it goes.
It was great .. thanks, Crabby.
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