By Clare de Boer, The New York Times
Grilling dogma dictates that you shouldn’t move meat at all when it’s over the coals. While this advice prevents sticking, tearing and juice loss, those in the trade know that blindly adhering to it eliminates the possibility of a layered crust — and the potential for greatness.
You don’t have to be a professional cook to make irresistible grilled chicken, whether bone-in or boneless. At a carnal level, we all have grill intuition: Our eyes, nose and appetite compel us to turn, flip and plate. What follows is a guide to applying those instincts at the right moment and not before (or after), and many of the lessons apply more broadly to all kinds of meat.
Start with the basics. Heat the grill, clean the grates, place the meat and don’t touch it until it has a confident color and releases graciously. Despite best efforts, some meats never come up without fuss, so use an upturned fish spatula to lift rather than tug on any sticky areas for the first move. Then switch to tongs for the fun part: rotating.
Rotate, and rotate again. You’ve probably noticed the crosshatch marks on those juicy sirloins and pieces of chicken in TV ads. Their angles are for vanity, but the extra grill marks are for flavor (more color means more flavor). You want a spectrum of color, from golden to chestnut with some dark dots. With their longer cook time, larger or bone-in cuts give you plenty of opportunity to cultivate this kind of crust, allowing more time to rotate them before they’re cooked. But even one rotation, as you get with smaller, boneless cuts, will do.
Use hot and cool spots to your advantage. If a piece of meat is developing too much color but isn’t yet cooked through, move it to a cooler area of the grill or turn down the temperature. If the crust is looking a little sad but you know the meat is almost cooked, show it intense heat.
Give each chicken breast or thigh exactly what it needs. Follow your instincts. Just because a recipe says place, then flip, your chicken thighs, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t line them up on their sides against one another like dominoes to render fatty pockets. It doesn’t mean you can’t hold a fat-cap to the fire to render and puff.
React to flare-ups rather than avoid rendering fat for fear of flames. If fat flares up when it drips on the coals, remove the meat and spritz the flames with a spray bottle, or just let them dissipate. Then, brush the grates clean, and go back to cooking as usual.
Stay with it. Good grilling is a something you will get better at each time you put something on the grates, and no piece of meat will cook in quite the same way. Make your marinade, then put away the recipe, and follow your appetite to make each chicken thigh or breast off the grill a crusted delight.
Grilled Chicken Thighs With Tomatoes
By Clare de Boer
In this elegant, easy summer meal, grilled chicken is marinated in a vinaigrette, infused with herbes de Provence, that tenderizes and seasons the thighs. Another simple mustard vinaigrette dresses the tomatoes after they come off the grill, as do the flavorful juices from the chicken. Slashing the thighs through to the bone encourages heat to penetrate the meat, so your chicken will be cooked through before the skin burns. Have fun developing a crust: once the chicken releases from the grill, rotate it repeatedly for an even, chestnut char.
Yield: 4 servings
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Total time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
1 tablespoon herbes de Provence
4 garlic cloves, finely grated
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
4 beefsteak tomatoes, sliced in half through the stem end
1 cup arugula
Preparation
1. Begin by slashing the chicken thighs: Hold each thigh down on a cutting board with skin facing up and pierce the skin with a knife, then drag the knife perpendicular to the bone to make a deep cut. Repeat on each thigh to make two slashes through the skin and flesh to the bone.
2. In a large bowl or container, combine the herbes de Provence, garlic, 3 tablespoons vinegar, 1 tablespoon mustard and 1 3/4 teaspoons salt. Add chicken and toss and squelch the marinade into the slashes. Let marinate at room temperature while the grills heats up or, ideally, cover and marinate in the refrigerator overnight.
3. When ready to cook, remove the chicken from the fridge to come to room temperature if needed. Light the grill to medium.
4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix the olive oil with the remaining 1 tablespoon vinegar, 1 tablespoon mustard and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Stir vigorously until the ingredients come together into a thick vinaigrette. Set aside.
5. When the grill is hot, place the chicken on the grill skin side down and close the lid. Grill until the skin has dark brown char lines and releases easily from the grates, about 3 minutes, then uncover. If there are any flare ups, remove the chicken from the grate and let the flames die, then wipe off any fat on the grate with tongs gripping a dish towel. Rotate the chicken 45 degrees without flipping, and allow the chicken skin to color for 3 to 4 more minutes.
6. Flip the chicken and add the tomatoes to the grill, cut sides down. Close the lid again and grill the second side of the chicken and the tomatoes until the chicken is cooked through and the tomatoes are charred and soft, 7 to 9 minutes. To check if the chicken is cooked, poke a knife into a slash. The juices should run clear and the meat should not be pink by the bone. If using a meat thermometer the internal temperature should reach 165 degrees.
7. While the chicken is cooking, prepare the serving platter by spreading about a tablespoon of the mustard vinaigrette on the plate. Place the chicken and tomatoes on top of the mustard vinaigrette. Spoon the remaining vinaigrette onto the tomatoes. Let everything rest for 5 to 10 minutes, then top with arugula and drizzle over some olive oil.
Grilled Chicken Thighs and Corn With Lime-Basil Butter
By Clare de Boer
These summery grilled chicken thighs with sweet corn are scented with basil and lime. Warm your lime-basil butter on the side of the grill while you cook your corn and chicken, so it melts willingly on the charred thighs and corn kernels. Finishing with extra lime wedges and flaky salt isn’t a recommendation, but an essential final kick.
Yield: 4 servings
Total time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
3 garlic cloves, finely grated
1 tablespoon olive oil
Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) and black pepper
Juice and zest of 2 limes
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup basil leaves
4 ears of corn, shucked
Flaky sea salt, to finish
Preparation:
1. Place the chicken thighs in a large bowl and season with the garlic, olive oil, 1 3/4 teaspoons salt and juice of 1 lime. Toss to coat. Let marinate at room temperature while the grills heats up or, ideally, refrigerate, covered, overnight.
2. To make the lime-basil butter, place the butter, lime zest, 3/4 cup basil leaves, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper in a food processor and whizz until basil is chopped and incorporated. Refrigerate overnight or leave out of the fridge if you’re ready to grill.
3. When ready to cook, light the grill to medium-high. If needed, remove the chicken and lime-basil butter from the fridge and place the butter near the grill so it softens. Place the ears of corn on one side of the grill, turning every 3 minutes or so, until cooked through and lightly charred, 10 to 20 minutes total. Pull the corn off the grill and slice off the charred kernels. Place them on a serving platter and top with some of the basil butter.
4. While the corn is cooking and being sliced, place the chicken on the grill flat sides down. Char until it releases from the grates easily, 5 to 7 minutes. Rotate the chicken slightly, without flipping, to get more color on the first side. Pay attention to how the color develops and when areas of the first side become chestnut in color and look delicious, flip the chicken and grill for another 3 to 5 minutes. Continue rotating and flipping every few minutes until the chicken is cooked through. To check if the chicken is cooked, poke a knife into the thickest part of the meat. The juices should run clear and the meat should no longer be translucent.
5. Remove the chicken from the grill, slice each thigh in half across its widest part and place slices on top of the corn. Spoon the remaining basil butter on top of the hot chicken and sprinkle over remaining basil leaves, the remaining lime juice and flaky salt. Grind some extra black pepper over the top.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.