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Chicken Star has left the building. I went by the other day and someone had taken it over, selling much cheaper birds with no love in them at all. I was saddened until I noticed yet another new roticeria on Constituyentes near 40th Avenue. Clean, and really tasty birds with excellent flavor. I no longer miss Chicken Star.
OK, now on to BBQ chicken at home....
I go gas when available. less pollution and I only grill the chicken for about 12 minutes anyway.
Either roast the chicken in a very slow oven or boil it if you are in a hurry and want soup later. The roasting is far superior, but I normally boil cuz running an oven here is suicide most of the year. If you roast, keep the chicken covered and seal in the juices. Use a good oven thermometer and keep it around 180F. It should take several hours to get the meat up to serving temp. Remember, we are cooking the chicken 100% before we grill it.
Place your chicken in a ZipLoc, and cover the meat with your marinade. Let it hang out as long as possible. I switch between different sauces like the following:
Modified BBQ: commercial BBQ sauce heated with lots of honey, some chipotle sauce, soy sauce, and a splash of liquid smoke or whatever feels right...
Terriyaki: simmer equal parts soy sauce and sugar (like a cup and a half each) with shreadded ginger (a good chunk of it) and pulverized garlic (optional, as much as you like) on low heat for at least a half hour. Cool.
Kansas City Thai: mix a thick and smoky commercial BBQ sauce equal parts with sweet Thai chili sauce (we can get it here, so you must be able to find it most places) and a few splashes of soy. Easy and good.
Grill the chicken until the outside is crispy. It's OK to use the marinade on the meat because the meat was cooked already, so keep them a bit on the moist side.
This method combines a nice, tender, fall off the bone meat with a nice grilled outside texture. I only use thighs/leg pieces.
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