Mike Martin
TVWBB Member
This is my parents chicken recipe. I have enjoyed it countless times. They never made it any other way. The wife and I relocated 15 years ago from northern Indiana to be nearer our grown children, who all reside in the southeast. We are 70 now and my parents have both passed. The recipe was never shared and we found it in their house after my mom passed. I finally got around to making it last weekend. This is what we sent our kids that had this many times as young children. Enjoy
Charlie’s Chicken (Dad’s Updated version 5/21/2023)
This is the method, as I remember, that Grandpa Charlie grilled chicken for Sunday family gatherings.
I finally made this again. The first time we had it in probably 20 years. I added a brine. Brining, although popular today never happened in recipes from my childhood and early adult years. I think chicken had more flavor then than it does now.
Brine
1 cup water
½ cup vinegar
½ tablespoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt (this would be Morton’s table salt, a teaspoon if using sea salt)
2 shakes of black pepper (really)
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
This is enough brine for 12 thighs. Add water or double recipe if needed. I brined over night.
Barbecue Sauce (from old cookbook with Grandma Pat’s edits. Grandma basically cut the recipe in half and eliminated a couple of ingredients. I questioned the amount of water, but the sauce really reduces down. No way would you boil this for an hour as the original recipe called for.)
½ cup butter
1 cup water
½ cup vinegar
½ tablespoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt (this would be Morton’s table salt, a teaspoon if using sea salt)
2 shakes of black pepper (really)
1 teaspoon paprika
½ onion, minced
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Saute the minced onion in melted butter. Add water, vinegar and Worcestershire sauce and boil. Combine dry ingredients and add to the boiling liquid. Boil gently for 15 minutes.
Directions (from Mom and Dad’s failing memory)
Charlie always cooked this on a gas grill over direct heat probably set on medium low, because I never remember him burning chicken.
Charlie always used skin on bone in legs and thighs. (breasts and wings were too expensive) There was always plenty. I’m sure there were times where there were forty pieces on the grill.
The Sauce was kept hot on in an old metal pan on the grill and had to be stirred occasionally. I remember Charlie dunking pieces in the sauce rather than mopping it. I wasn’t really into barbecuing at that time, just eating. A can of Hamm’s beer was always present while cooking, replaced later by Miller Lite.
Grandma determined if the chicken was done with a fork, no fancy thermometers were used. Cook time was around an hour as I recall.
I cooked over indirect heat on my kettle. I put the thighs skin side down in batches over direct heat to sear them for a few minutes and moved them, skin side up, to indirect heat, lid closed for the rest of the cook. Basted every 10 minutes. . I used an instant read and cooked to 170 degrees.
Charlie’s Chicken (Dad’s Updated version 5/21/2023)
This is the method, as I remember, that Grandpa Charlie grilled chicken for Sunday family gatherings.
I finally made this again. The first time we had it in probably 20 years. I added a brine. Brining, although popular today never happened in recipes from my childhood and early adult years. I think chicken had more flavor then than it does now.
Brine
1 cup water
½ cup vinegar
½ tablespoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt (this would be Morton’s table salt, a teaspoon if using sea salt)
2 shakes of black pepper (really)
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
This is enough brine for 12 thighs. Add water or double recipe if needed. I brined over night.
Barbecue Sauce (from old cookbook with Grandma Pat’s edits. Grandma basically cut the recipe in half and eliminated a couple of ingredients. I questioned the amount of water, but the sauce really reduces down. No way would you boil this for an hour as the original recipe called for.)
½ cup butter
1 cup water
½ cup vinegar
½ tablespoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt (this would be Morton’s table salt, a teaspoon if using sea salt)
2 shakes of black pepper (really)
1 teaspoon paprika
½ onion, minced
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Saute the minced onion in melted butter. Add water, vinegar and Worcestershire sauce and boil. Combine dry ingredients and add to the boiling liquid. Boil gently for 15 minutes.
Directions (from Mom and Dad’s failing memory)
Charlie always cooked this on a gas grill over direct heat probably set on medium low, because I never remember him burning chicken.
Charlie always used skin on bone in legs and thighs. (breasts and wings were too expensive) There was always plenty. I’m sure there were times where there were forty pieces on the grill.
The Sauce was kept hot on in an old metal pan on the grill and had to be stirred occasionally. I remember Charlie dunking pieces in the sauce rather than mopping it. I wasn’t really into barbecuing at that time, just eating. A can of Hamm’s beer was always present while cooking, replaced later by Miller Lite.
Grandma determined if the chicken was done with a fork, no fancy thermometers were used. Cook time was around an hour as I recall.
I cooked over indirect heat on my kettle. I put the thighs skin side down in batches over direct heat to sear them for a few minutes and moved them, skin side up, to indirect heat, lid closed for the rest of the cook. Basted every 10 minutes. . I used an instant read and cooked to 170 degrees.
