Michael Vrobel
TVWBB Member
This is a marinade/brine I use on chicken a lot. It's based on a recipe by Su-Mei Yu in Fine Cooking about a year or two ago. I never look the recipe up any more, so I'm not sure how much I've deviated from it.
Asian Marinade/Brine
<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI> 6 cloves garlic, minced
<LI> 6 cilantro stems, chopped
<LI> 1 cup Soy Sauce
<LI> 1/3 cup peanut oil (or other vegetable oil)
<LI> Juice of 1 lime
<LI> 1 tbsp Thai garlic chili paste
[/list]
Put all the ingredients in a food processor, and process for 1 minute, or until completely blended into a paste.
Put a broiler/fryer chicken, or two cornish hens, butterflied, in a gallon ziploc bag, and then pour this marinade into the plastic bag. Squeeze all the air out, seal the bag, and keep in the refrigerator for 1 to 4 hours, turning occasionally.
Then, grill (or hot-smoke, at 300*F+) your chicken as you usually would.
I recommend this this recipe for hotter temperatures because you want to crisp up the skin with this recipe - you get a wonderful "lacqured" effect with the skin and the soy sauce. It would probably work OK with a low 'n' slow smoke as well, but I like the skin too much to try it.
I call it a marinade/brine because the soy sauce seems to give it
Also, this tends to be a "refrigerator velcro" marinade for me - I keep a warehouse club size bottle of Soy Sauce on hand, and I'll replace the cilantro, lime, and chili paste (which give it a thai slant) with whatever I have on hand - I've used a little dark sesame oil, five spice powder, honey, ginger, lemon, and even a few tablespoons of frozen orange juice in the marinade. It works out great almost all the time. The only constants are the Soy sauce, oil and garlic. (I like garlic.) Just make sure you process it until it's as smooth as you can get it, to blend the ingredients properly.
Asian Marinade/Brine
<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI> 6 cloves garlic, minced
<LI> 6 cilantro stems, chopped
<LI> 1 cup Soy Sauce
<LI> 1/3 cup peanut oil (or other vegetable oil)
<LI> Juice of 1 lime
<LI> 1 tbsp Thai garlic chili paste
[/list]
Put all the ingredients in a food processor, and process for 1 minute, or until completely blended into a paste.
Put a broiler/fryer chicken, or two cornish hens, butterflied, in a gallon ziploc bag, and then pour this marinade into the plastic bag. Squeeze all the air out, seal the bag, and keep in the refrigerator for 1 to 4 hours, turning occasionally.
Then, grill (or hot-smoke, at 300*F+) your chicken as you usually would.
I recommend this this recipe for hotter temperatures because you want to crisp up the skin with this recipe - you get a wonderful "lacqured" effect with the skin and the soy sauce. It would probably work OK with a low 'n' slow smoke as well, but I like the skin too much to try it.
I call it a marinade/brine because the soy sauce seems to give it
Also, this tends to be a "refrigerator velcro" marinade for me - I keep a warehouse club size bottle of Soy Sauce on hand, and I'll replace the cilantro, lime, and chili paste (which give it a thai slant) with whatever I have on hand - I've used a little dark sesame oil, five spice powder, honey, ginger, lemon, and even a few tablespoons of frozen orange juice in the marinade. It works out great almost all the time. The only constants are the Soy sauce, oil and garlic. (I like garlic.) Just make sure you process it until it's as smooth as you can get it, to blend the ingredients properly.