Peruvian Chicken Recipie: Ferocious dancing chicken on the grill

Chicken breasts can be tricky things. Whether Road Island Red, Sussex or Wyandotte, a myriad of pitfalls await your little fowl on the way to the serving platter. Many home chefs experience a dry, rubbery, flavorless or forgettable chicken. All your problems basically arise from a rather sensible fear of counting the tiles on your bathroom floor 10 times undercooked chicken.

In order to get a nice, crisp, self basting in its own deliciousness skin, the fat layer under the skin must be at around 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Today's chicken breasts are just ridiculously thick; if you cook them at that temp for the amount of time its gonna take for the center of the chicken to reach 165 degrees, well, you've seen Christmas Vacation, right?


Dry...

Avoiding dry chicken
Yes, you can brine your chicken for hours, it's great. You can marinade for a day (same thing basically), tent with foil, vary temperature in the midst of cooking, but really, all that's a ton of work. Lets make a meal that you can crank out after hitting the store on your way home from work, with kids bouncing around and/or your friends (and the the limited amount of time you actually have with them) being the top priority.

The problem with your modern, bred for maximum breast thickness chicken, is the thickness. This is surprisingly easy to overcome. Just flatten it. Yes, skin and bones attached, as these lovely items give you the best tasting chicken possible.

Ummm, no

It's easy, place the breast, bone side down, between some parchment or waxed paper (plastic wrap will do in a pinch), and pound it with a butcher's mallet, rolling pin, or better yet, the empty wine bottle you and your friends made empty while munching some grilled snow peas. Get it to a nice even thickness of about 1".

Now you're ready. Lets get cooking and you too can make a chicken so good your adult guests will be talking about it for weeks, and inspired a 5 year old to dub it "ferocious dancing chicken". Really.

Crisp, not burnt skin; juicy, fully cooked chicken. Your friends will love you.

Gastroliaison's Peruvian Chicken Recipie
The lovely thing about South American food is that you will find a tremendous historical influence from the myriad of European and Asian expats who live there. Just like Argentina's milanesa (thank you Italy), Peruvian chicken was fusion way before Sushi Samba decided to charge you an arm and a leg for it. Soy sauce? Why yes, there's loads of Japanese in Peru.

Serves 4 big eaters (one breast each) or more (you can slice it, serve with a starch and salad, it will go further). It keeps well for picnics or sandwiches later, so if cooking for 2 do the whole batch and have leftovers.

Shopping

• 4 skin on, bone in, split chicken breasts (or 2 whole ones, then split them yourself)
• Soy Sauce
• Cumin (the ground kind, not whole seeds)
• 2 Limes
• 1 head of garlic
• Paprika
• Oregano
• Black pepper

Preparation
Flatten your chicken
In a blender or food processor put-

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• Juice of one lime
• 5 peeled cloves of garlic (nice big ones)
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Liquefy it.
(if you don't have a blender/processor handy mince or press the garlic and really mix it all well).

Spread all over your chicken, lifting the skin in a corner with your fingers and pushing the sauce under it. Let that sit for at least 15 minutes, an hour is best.

Cooking
Gas grill- preheat it on high, then turn to medium when you put the chicken on.
Charcoal grill- build a 2 zone fire, wait for nice red coals, cover to heat the entire grill surface.

Put the chicken on the grill, skin side down (if using charcoal do this on the part away from the coals). Close the lid. Cook for 6 minutes.

The preheated grill rack will give you the nice sear marks, but the lower or indirect heat will keep your chicken skin from becoming a charcoal blanket. Get it?

Flip to bone side (charcoal folks, again not above the coals). Close the lid. Cook for 7 minutes. Check your chicken by slicing into the thickest part and look. You should get a run of nice, clear juice from it. If not, give it a minute more. When ready, remove and serve with a wedge of your extra lime (you bought two for a reason).

In the oven, use a roasting pan and cook skin side up for about 12 minutes, check the chicken as above.

Delicious with a nice Sancerre.