Authentic PERUVIAN CHICKEN. Hands down, best I've ever made. Second best I've ever had...

KiterTodd

I know you BGE OGs are thinking "HCNAFSCP!"
(Holy Crap Not Another F*ck*ing Spatchcock Chicken Post), but TRUST ME, this one is worth repeating.  You don't even have to Spatchcock it if you don't want to.  Make it on your Joetisserie, over a beer can, quartered, in the oven if you must...it's that good!



Two points of history -

1. Post influenced from @BigWings post over here which got me looking at recipes and thinking that it's time I attempted Peruvian chicken again.

2. As I mentioned in other posts, I have some fantastic rotisserie chicken restaurants around me and have been trying to recreate their birds.  Barring one of them (Sardi's) this is better than any peruvian style chicken I've had out.  And Sardi's is only better because somehow they get it juicier.  Maybe they take it off earlier, maybe they inject it, maybe their chickens get drunk on tequila before slaughter, I don't know.   That said, this was damn good...

Okay, I looked at several recipes online that all sounded good (1, 2, 3) and created my own egg specific recipe, with a spice combo that I liked from looking at them all.  The recipe is based most heavily on this El Pollo Restaurant Peruvian Roasted Chicken recipe.

Here's "my" recipe, I'll post cook details in follow-up replies...


PERUVIAN SPATCHCOCK CHICKEN
Todd’s version of the above three recipes -

1 3-4 lbs. chicken
2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

2 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons white wine
2 tablespoons white vinegar
3 cloves garlic, minced

Mix dry ingredients above.  Add to wet ingredients.
Reserve 1/2 Tbsp of the dry rub to season the chicken before cooking.

Spatchcock the chicken!
Wash chicken thoroughly with lemon water (juice of one lemon mixed with qt. of cold water) and remove excess fat from inside chicken.
With a large carving fork, poke deep holes all over chicken, including under wings.
Rub the marinade thoroughly inside and outside the chicken. (From both edges of cavity, loosen skin from breasts and thighs, being careful not to tear skin. Using your fingers, gently spread 2 heaping Tbsp. spice mixture under skin.)
Season chicken all over with additional 1 tsp. salt
Seal chicken in a large plastic bag and marinate for at least 2 hours (but preferably up to 24 hours) in refrigerator.

Light the egg, allow plenty of time to stabilize to 375.

Dilute marinade left behind in bag with a Tablespoon of water.  Place marinade in a small saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer 2-3 minutes. Set aside. You'll use this for basting.

Season bird with remaining dry rub.  (the 1/2 Tbsp set aside yesterday)
Place spatchcocked bird on grill, raised direct.

Roast chicken 20 minutes, then brush with marinade. Baste quickly to avoid flair ups that will burn chicken.
Continue roasting, basting every 20 minutes,
(I only did this once because after the 20 minute baste, it took over 5-10 minutes to get my stabilized 375 egg back on track.)

After an hour, my two birds were at 155 in the breast and 170 in the thighs.   So I did something I don’t normally do, which was flip them over.  Skin looked good but it seemed like a good opportunity to brown it further.  And since I had her open anyway, I did one last baste to both sides.

Cooked for additional 10 minutes, checked temp, removed birds.  
Cook until juices run clear when thigh is pierced with a fork or an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 165ºF
Rest and quarter!

Serve with the killer verde dipping sauce from this recipe;
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/08/peruvian-style-grilled-chicken-with-green-sauce-recipe.html

bgebrent

Gorgeous chicken brother!  Great job on Peruvian version!

KiterTodd

PREPPING THE CHICKENS...

I was making two 3.5 lbs. birds, so I doubled the recipe above.

The dry rub ingredients...

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Dumped into the wet...

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Look at all that marinade/rub goodness!!!  (I'd like to point out that Flying Dog Mango Habanero IPA behind it is also excellent) 

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Here's the two fancy 3.5 lbs. chickens my wife bought.  I don't think these need to be $10 chickens, but they were and they were excellent.
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The basting mess almost complete (yeah, I could have done this in alarge container...)

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Bagged up and ready for the 24 hour soak!  (these were probably in the fridge for 20 hours)

KiterTodd

THE VERDE SAUCE!!!

I made this after I lit the egg. (while it was coming up to temp)

This verde sauce is EXCELLENT!  It is better than anything I've had out or tried to make at home before.  I posted some earlier verde sauces that were 90% there...but this one is 110%. It has the right combo of heat, freshness, and herbal flavor.

I used the recipe from THIS page.  I didn't use their chicken recipe (although the marinade is pretty close).  It is cut and pasted below;

• For the Sauce:
• 3 whole jalapeño chilies, roughly chopped (see note above)
• 1 tablespoon aji amarillo pepper paste (see note above)
• 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
• 2 medium cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 2 teaspoons fresh juice from 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

I used it exactly as above except I doubled the lime, added more cilantro, and a little less mayo.

For the Sauce: Combine jalapeños, aji amarillo (if using), cilantro, garlic, mayonnaise, sour cream, lime juice, and vinegar in the jar of a blender. Blend on high speed, scraping down as necessary, until smooth. With blender running, slowly drizzle in olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sauce will be quite loose at this point but will thicken as it sits. Transfer to a sealed container and refrigerate until ready to use.

This Aji Amarillo sauce may have been the key!  I didn't try it by itself to see if it was spicy.  BUT, now I have an entire jar of it that I have to figure out a use for.  Any suggestions?

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Let it chill in the fridge until the chicken was done.

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I can't stress enough how great that sauce is!
 
Earlier recipes I tried were too creamy.  A lot of times when I have it out it is not balanced.  I'm not sure how long this will last in the fridge, but it's going on my eggs, sandwiches, leftovers, you name it.  I may try it in my coffee tomorrow morning. 

KiterTodd

THE COOK!

Okay, the recipe is above so I'll skip a lot of details. But it was excellent overall.  SWMBO'd said it's the best chicken I've ever made and that the breast was the most tender.
Good flavor throughout.  Kids loved it.
The skin was perfect.  It had what (a reviewer of the original recipe) described as "Your recipe tastes exactly like it, even down to the "sticky" chicken skin." 

Something happens in that overnight soak that changes skin from something that I usually only enjoy when crispy, to a melt in your mouth flavor patch.  You just have to try it.

Apologies that the rest of the pictures are not as good.  At this point I had 3 hungry people staring over my shoulders and I didn't have time to take nice shots.  I reluctantly didn't get a shot of the entire chicken cut up.  Trust me, there was juice all over the plate/cutting board.   I drank what was left on the plate...it was a clear, flavorful, broth.  Mmmmm.   Anyway, on to the cook...

Here are the birds on the grill.  We are going with a blue agave margarita in the RTIC tumbler for this cook.

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I dusted them top and bottom with that reserved dry rub I mentioned above.

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Here is the reserved marinade from the overnight soak.  I added a little water and simmered as directed.

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Here they are after an hour.  I had just basted them and then flipped them over for 10 minutes...

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...the flip.

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And then I screwed the pooch and did not take a good serving platter or plated shot.  Here's a poorly lit shot.  Served it with rice and beans (and that killer verde sauce on the side).  This shot does not do the meal justice...

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I ate my usual 1/2 a bird, the wife and the kids took care of the other half.  And I have a whole bird left.  (Since I was making smaller birds than usual I thought I might need two).

So, what do I do with the second bird?  Don't get me wrong, I have no issues heating it up, but I was wondering if I can freeze it whole (vacuum seal it) with a side of that green sauce, and serve it a month from now?  Wasn't sure how I'd go about heating and entire frozen bird.

Ahh well, maybe I'll just sleep with this one under my pillow...

(oh man, the juice on the plate when I removed this guy to wrap it.  Wow!)

Well, hope you enjoyed the write-up, and please let me know if you try the recipe.  It was a diversion for me to go away from the "crispy skin" goal of a traditional spatch, but well worth it for the results.

Sardonicus

Excelente.
That likely qualifies you for dual citizenship!

Eggaroo

Wow! Fantastic post and documentation. Bookmarked!

KiterTodd

I have to say, that cooked picture doesn't do it justice.  It looks like the original one I saw in the recipe, and I was like, "meh, looks like a bird with goop on it."  But the flavor and texture that the photos don't capture.  Outstanding.  I'm headed up to the fridge for another sniff... 

HeavyG

Good job!

I think I'll try this with my next chicken. 

caliking

Ok. You sold me on this. Great cook!

And thanks for the detailed recipe(s). 

bgebrent

Damn, I chimed in too soon.  Great post!

YukonRon

Excellent presentation and post, beautiful cook. THANK YOU for sharing. I will try this on the next bird. Awesome job.

Griffin

Looks great. One question about the jalapeno in the sauce. It says see not above...what note? Is it the whole jalapeno...seeds and veins and all? Think I'm gonna have to try this one. Thanks for sharing.

KiterTodd

Griffin said:

Looks great. One question about the jalapeno in the sauce. It says see not above...what note? Is it the whole jalapeno...seeds and veins and all? Think I'm gonna have to try this one. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the feedback, @Griffin !

Apologies, for the confusion...  That sauce recipe was a cut-and-paste from the original recipe which I linked to.   The note they referred to was;

Note: For a less spicy sauce, remove the ribs and seeds of the jalapeños before puréeing. Aji amarillo is a Peruvian yellow pepper paste that can be found in most Latin markets. It can be omitted.

I like it spicy, thus I coarsely chopped the whole jalapeno and threw them in the blender, seeds/veins and all.  It was a very manageable spice level for me.  I realize that heat level can vary pepper to pepper, though.  I thought it was hot by itself, but when I dipped chicken in it, it just added a little zing. 

I found the Aji Amarillo paste in the Latin aisle of an international foodstore.  They had three different brands so it must be a common item. (imported from Peru)

THEBuckeye

Drooling

Stormbringer

@THEBuckeye I see your #drooling and raise you with planning.

KiterTodd

Had some leftovers for lunch.  Heated up just fine and the green sauce is still solid, if not better...

eggnewtoy

Looks great!  

andersa

wow, thanks for posting Sunday dinner at my house!

Ivanhoe

Nice! saved for the next spatchcock!

Dredger

Fantastic cook! Hope you don't mind if I stea.. er borrow this for my next chicken cook. Thanks for the detailed, step by step recipe for this incredible looking dish.

NorthPilot06

Wow, I'll surely be trying this soon.  Thanks for the detailed instructions!

KiterTodd

Thanks for the feedback.   I've had it leftover twice now and the flavor definitely permeates through the meat, in contrast to other chickens I've made.

As I'm now out of chicken, I have begun using the verde sauce as a topical solution.   I just spread it all over like suntan lotion. It doesn't help with the sunburn, but I smell great. 

tksmoke

Great post!!  Thanks - will give this a try manana.

Stormbringer

Made this tonight, it was really good, although a little too much cumin for our tastes, next time I would halve the amount and use light soy sauce instead of olive oil.

Speaking (typing?) of next time ... going to try it with pork chops tomorrow.

Ivanhoe

We made it last night. It was very good! Unfortunately my local grocery store was out of jalepenos, so I subbed 2 Serranos. Definitely brought the heat up! I ended up doubling the sour cream to cut the heat a little. Also could not find the chili paste so I subbed it with some Asian style. Even without the exact ingredients, the sauce was excellent. I ended up cooking at 350-375 indirect on my Adjustable rig with the bird on the rig extender. Cook time was approx 1.5 hrs.

NDG

great post . .  cant wait to do it.

bg_easy

This is in progress. Been planning all week after seeing post. Made sauce two days ago and used some already on a wrap today. Excellent.  yard smells awesome.  I'll share some pics later. 

bg_easy

vey tasty!  Thanks @KiterTodd your post provided a lot of insight and made me look like I knew what I was dong. This will be in the rotation. 

Phatchris

Looks amazing... I can smell it from here 

KiterTodd

bg_easy said:

vey tasty!  Thanks @KiterTodd your post provided a lot of insight and made me look like I knew what I was dong. This will be in the rotation. 

That looks awesome!  Thanks for sharing the cook.  I can't say what I liked more, the chicken or the sauce.

Interesting to see how everybody's looked a little different. @Ivanhoe and @bg_easy I think the color/skin of yours looks even closer to what I get in restaurants.

@Ivanhoe , so you didn't even spatch it, but it came out looking great in about the same cooking time. ?  Nice.

@Stormbringer , I hear what you're saying.  I wonder if the strength varies jar to jar or based on the type of cumin.  I had it at a restaurant a couple weeks ago, and however that place made it, it tasted more like curry/Indian than Peruvian.  But when I made this recipe, it seemed on point.  I could see how it could go too strong, though.  I'd agree, cut it in half for your taste and maybe kick up the oregano and paprika.

In any case, really nice to see it inspired some people to try it.  Thanks for sharing your results.