Chicken legs on the grill

Huzzah!  I get 8$ and a tip for cleavage!

Anyone who has been to a fair (county, state, Renaissance--whatever) has seen the succulent turkey legs.  This year I resolved to make them at home because, well, 8$ a turkey leg!

Thank you, Mr Hill.

I found several suggestions how to mimic the flavor, but they all required woodsmoke and we grill with propane (and propane accessories).

A gas grill is a treasure beyond price for we meat eaters.  In the summer in particular, it is no trick to light it and have a cooking surface in under 5 minutes--without heating up the house.
But gas grills have a downside--no flavor from the fire.  Though the charred surface may cause cancer (what doesn't?), the flavor woodsmoke imparts to meat can't be beat.  This year I resolved to find a way to add smoke to the meat that didn't include a new wood burning grill.

Here's the trick:  wood chips, aluminum foil and water.   I use commercial mesquite chips you can buy at the grocery store but you can get all fancified and use home dried fruit wood chips.  Place a double handful in the middle of a square of aluminum foil, place some ice chips on top, and fold the aluminum into a squarish packet.  Poke a few holes in the packet and place on the grill.  With the grill on the lowest heat, the chips will start to smoke in about 20 minutes and will continue for a few hours, plenty of time for cooking your poultry.

Being lazy at the farm.

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Now I first did these with turkey legs, and they are easy enough to do, but chicken legs only take about 90 minutes, and turkey legs take at least 3 hours.  And as has been established, I'm lazy and sustained effort tires me.


You will need:

Chicken (I like legs or hindquarters for grilling--much juicier than white meat)
Salt, brown sugar, spices to taste for brining (I use garlic powder and red pepper flakes)
Olive oil
Soy sauce
Apple cider vinegar
Spice rub (I use kosher salt, turmeric, garlic powder, paprika, and ground pepper)
Sweet jelly or honey for glaze (I use my homemade rosemary-jalapeño jelly *)

Incredibly creepy brining chicken.

First, brine the meat.  I take gallon plastic storage bags and add a generous amount of salt, brown sugar, garlic and pepper flakes, then I put about 8 chicken legs in the bag and fill with cold water.  Mix well by squishing the chicken brine balloon and refrigerate overnight.

Legs, spice rub and baste.

Drain the chicken and pat dry.  Place on a clean grill after the woodsmoke has been going for a while.  I recommend placing the chip packet(s) over to one side of the grill over a low flame, and turning off any other burners--in other words, the chicken will be smoking, not grilling.

Note the wood chip packets.

You will need to rotate the legs though the cooking process to ensure good browning of the skin and appropriate cooking to eliminate risk of bacterial contamination.

After placing the chicken on the grill, brush copiously with the olive oil, soy sauce and vinegar mixture.  Sprinkle lightly with the spice rub.  Close the grill cover.

This has never happened to me.

Check back in 30 minutes or so (but be mindful of the cry "Honey, there's a LOT of smoke coming from the grill"--the Lord of the Manor is very helpful).

Halfway done.

At 30 minutes, turn over and rotate the chicken (from low heat areas to higher heat).  Brush with the olive oil mixture and sprinkle again with the rub.  Repeat every 15-30 minutes.  The more loaded up your grill, the longer this will take.  The batch in the photos was 24 chicken legs and took about 2 hours all told.
When the legs are cooked through (the meat should be165 F with a meat thermometer, but a more telling sign is when you pick up the leg, the meat stays behind--falling easily from the bone) it is time to add a glaze--if you want.

Glazing.

Brush the glaze over the meat, close the grill.  Wait 5 minutes.  Turn the meat and repeat.

Remove, cool and enjoy! 

Too good to be believed.

These can be frozen and reheated for future enjoyment.  I made the double batch for a party next week when the grill will be otherwise occupied by pulled pork in the morning and roasted veggies and veggie burgers at the time of the party.

Hi there!

A side note on poultry vs pork.



My sister quit eating pork--she says she feels pigs are very close to humans.

They took ma legs!

Poultry, however, is just fine.

*If you're lucky, I share the recipe sometime