Not everyone has two and half hours available to prep/cook dinner. Seriously, if I followed Alton’s recipe verbatum I’d have to start at it LONG before I got home from work OR we’d be eating at 10pm. Neither of those are acceptable so I’m running through my short-cut options.
Option 1 – Skip the brine.
I hate to miss out on the brine.. especially since that was the primary reason for the shot.. the rub being mostly secondary. So this isn’t really an acceptable solution.
Option 2 – Oh the chicken will come out.. Tomorrow!
Prep the chicken one night, cook the next.
I’m wary that leaving the chicken in the rub overnight will give it -too- much flavor. So I’m favoring a third option.
Option 3 – I’d gladly brine you on Tuesday.
Brine the chicken one night. Rub and cook the next.
Brine chicken for 1.5 hours. Remove from brine store “dry” in resealable plastic baggie. Rub it the next night, rest for 30 minutes, then grill.
We’ll see how it turns out.
Additionally, I found AB’s recipe to be too salty. We cut it down from 3.5 oz of salt to 3 oz. Honestly I still think it’s too salty.. but F says I’m smoking crack and it’s fine. So I’ll leave it at 3 oz for now.
Ring of FIRE grilled chicken
Originally from Alton Brown on the Food Network.
~8 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
Brine Ingredients
1 quart water
1/2 cup honey
3 ounces kosher saltRub Ingredients
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon adobo powder, without pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon hot smoked paprikaShort recipe:
Combine brine ingredients and chicken in 1 gal baggie. Brine in the fridge for 1.5 hrs. Pat dry.
Combine rub ingredients and chicken in 1 gal baggie shake to coat. Let chicken rest on cooling rack set inside a half sheet pan. Rest for 30 minutes.
Grill chicken until the pieces should reach 155 degrees F (~4 mins on high, flip and then ~5 mins on low).
Remove to covered bowl and let rest 5 minutes.
