Chicken is an extremely versatile, delicious meat that just gets better when warmer weather lets you fire up the grill. Almost all of us are ready for a change from the meals we have been making all winter, so the ability to grill is usually pretty welcome. No matter whether you like charcoal or prefer gas, some things about good grilled chicken always hold true.
When it has been grilled well it has a crisp skin that is burnished but not burnt, with moist and flavorful meat tinged with a little smoke flavor. When cooking it on the grill to perfection, it is never dry or undercooked in the middle. However, many people have trouble getting their grilled chicken just right. If that is you, let us take a look at a few things that could help.
There are a number of ways to cook recipes for grilled chicken, using different cuts, different spices, and various marinades and brines. No matter what kind of recipes you use, you can be creative and adapt them for fantastic results. All you really need to do is pay attention to a few basic rules to get the best grilled results every time.
Depending on what part of the bird you are cooking, you will need the right grill temperature and cooking time to make sure that it turns out well. That is because poultry is much less forgiving and offers less leeway when cooking with too much heat than beef or pork. Both of those meats have a lot more fat, and their fattiness helps preserve moisture, even when the heat gets too high.
You must be aware of the internal temperature of the bird, since it dries out fast when it reaches temperatures higher than a hundred and sixty five degrees. That is the minimum allowance from the US Dept. of Agriculture for safe eating. Keep an instant read meat thermometer on hand, particularly if you have chosen to cook with large bone-in cuts of chicken instead of boneless pieces. Those bones can make temperature hard to predict.
You might have to take a few tries to figure out the timing of the grilling process, but there are lots of simple grilled chicken recipes out there that you can use and work with, so you will probably eat fairly well while you are working it out. This learning process is one you are going to look forward to and is easier than you think to achieve.
Chefs grilling whole birds will want to butterfly it, flattening it to make sure it grills evenly. This works best on a bird between three and four pounds, and involves removing the backbone with sharp shears. After that is done, a firm press on the breastbone will flatten it for even grilling.
Of course, if you do not feel like dealing with butterflying or bone-in verities, there are some other options. Boneless breasts and thighs among them do very well on the grill, cooking quickly and evenly without much fuss. Just remember that their thinness and consistent texture means they could be overdone very quickly, so you will need to watch them carefully. A little attention will help you get fantastic grilled chicken every time.
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