Church Chicken


 
R

Russ in CFL

TVWBB Fan
I was watching Smoke Ring on Discovery+ and they were cooking what they called "church chicken". Sad to say up to this point I've never heard of it but what I can figure out it is chicken grilled direct over the coals that is regularly basted with a very thin sauce, almost like a NC Vinegar sauce. Did I get that right? Both cooks used vinegar, lots of lemons and various other ingredients for their sauces plus a light rub on the chicken itself. I thought the lemons were an interesting touch. Chicken has never been one of my strong cooks but I would like to give it a shot so does anyone know of a good recipe I could give a run?
 
I had a old Brinkman pamphlet from when I got my ECB and it had a recipe for church chicken.
Very similar to Roadside, but it used red wine vin and lemon juice.
 
timothy said:
I had a old Brinkman pamphlet from when I got my ECB and it had a recipe for church chicken.
Very similar to Roadside, but it used red wine vin and lemon juice.
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One of the guys on the show used red wine and lemon juice in his basting sauce. I'll check it out.
 
Found the roadside chicken recipe and it sure looks a lot like it but no lemons which seemed to be pretty important. Thanks for the heads up. This is the one I found from Bryan S that I'm going to try:

ROADSIDE CHICKEN

1 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup veg oil
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
1 TBS Sea or Kosher salt
1 TBS white sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp celery salt

Mix/shake till well dissolved. I put mine in a old worcestershire bottle with the shaker top. You can marrinate the chicken in the sauce for up to 2-8 hrs before cooking. If so discard marinade and make fresh for the cooking sauce. I apply the sauce every 5 min to both sides and turn every 5-10 min. Apply one final coating 5 min before removing from the grill. You can't put too much sauce on while grilling. It will build up a nice layer of flavors. I use the kettle but i think it would do well on the WSM (Larry used it) with no water pan and a high heat cook. I usally add one small piece of apple wood while grilling also. Hope you like it. Enjoy

EDIT: If you are going to marinate the chicken first, then leave the oil out for the marinade proccess. Make up a fresh batch for basting the chicken with the oil in the sauce.
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What I got from that episode, it was called " church chicken " because in churches in that part of the south, it was common to serve a chicken dinner on Sunday, maybe not every Sunday but often. I gather that it was something like a pot luck dinner. Some members of the church would barbecue the chicken and they became known for their chicken.

The church I grew up in would have dinners after Sunday night services and all the ladies would bring a dish.

IMO, " church chicken " was not one recipe or style.

BTW, I found that series on Discovery + very interesting. It explored barbecue in the Carolinas and whet my appetite. It starts off really hillbilly but then busts out into some very serious southern barbecue. It is a made for TV competition, but its really about barbecue.
 
My church does the pot luck style as well. It was a great episode with some nice history and I like the show so far. In general I think the Discovery+ subscription is my favorite.

I took away that it was the specific cook style that was eventually nicknamed "church chicken". It was used because it was easily scaled up for big events like the after church pot luck. Yes the sauces and rubs would differ from cook to cook but the style of constant basting with a thin vinegar based sauce remained the same. Regardless all the chicken on that episode looked amazing.
 
Russ in CFL said:
My church does the pot luck style as well. It was a great episode with some nice history and I like the show so far. In general I think the Discovery+ subscription is my favorite.

I took away that it was the specific cook style that was eventually nicknamed "church chicken". It was used because it was easily scaled up for big events like the after church pot luck. Yes the sauces and rubs would differ from cook to cook but the style of constant basting with a thin vinegar based sauce remained the same. Regardless all the chicken on that episode looked amazing.
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The constant basting is just Carolina barbecue. Thin vinegar sauce is what the Carolinas are known for, mostly on pulled or chopped pork. I buy a thin vinegar based sauce from Plowboys in KC called " Tarheel Tang " .
 
I've had a chance to go back and re-watch that episode, and there is a special mop sauce they're making. There's different variations of the same sauce.
 
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Picked up a cut whole chicken from Publix today and gave the Roadside chicken recipe a go on the kettle. Really good, I would say the best chicken I've cooked to date. Pretty much what I imagined the chicken from the show tasted like, of course nowhere as good I'm sure though. I rubbed the chicken with Dizzy Pig Wonderbird which has citrus so it paired really well with the sauce. Next time I'll add a lemon to see if it makes a difference and buy a whole uncut bird so I can butterfly it though.

Thanks again for the recipe.
 
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