Roadside Chicken Rick Bayless Style


 
James Lake

James Lake

TVWBB Emerald Member
I came across this recipe for Roadside Chicken by Rick Bayless. I purchased two chickens about 4 pounds each and butterflied them, though I probably didn't butterfly them as well as this guy.

The cook called for 1/4 cup of fresh orange juice and since I had two birds I needed to double the recipe, so Sunday morning I prepared the oranges for the juicer, you can't get any fresher then this:

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We had enough juice leftover that we had to go purchase champagne for Mimosa.

I made the marinade early to let the flavors blend for about 4 hours and then it was time to get this cook started, here is the first action shot:

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Getting the birds on the performer with some mesquite wood.

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I basted the birds every 10 minutes:

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Close up...lot's of garlic on this one:

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The performer chugging away, it was about 35 degrees outside but the performer held at 400 and I was lifting the lid a lot to baste:

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I don't have snow, but I do have fog, we haven't seen too much of the sun lately:

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The birds are getting close to temp, so it was time to prepare the knob onions, just EVOO and salt, went on the grill for 10 minutes while the birds rested.

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Birds are done and it's time for carving:

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Served with Roasted Tomatillo Salsa also from Rick Bayless:

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This was a fun cook and tasted good, but not the best roadside chicken that I have prepared. The recipe doesn't call for allowing the chicken to sit in the marinade and therefore the flavors didn't get that deep. Most of the flavor was on the skin which was still rubbery, however the chicken was really moist and when eaten with the salsa and onion it was good.

Thank you all for looking and I hope everyone had a happy and safe weekend.
 
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Beautiful cookin' James!!
I Love Rick Bayless' show, though I do not get to see it often... his laidback feel and love of food is ideal!
He certainly knows how to celebrate great tasting food with many many people!

And your dinner is no exception! Very Nice!!
 
Thanks James; really good looking cook and you did a great job describing the steps and outcome. I'm a big fan of Bayless, but this one didn't seem to hit the mark.
 
Nice James. You reminded me that I have not done onions like that in quite a while. I will do it this week.
Thanks,
Ray
 
Your chicken is lookin' good, James. Let me know when you open up your Roadside Chicken Stand: I'll come on down!

This fog is killin' Cindy - we went to the beach on Sunday to get out of it (for a while).
 
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