Smack my drippy lips and lick my sticky fingers. Skin-on barbecued chicken is one of my favorite things -- the stickier the end result, the better. Oh-my-sigh. There is just something about what happens when crispy chicken skin meets a few slathers of barbecue sauce at the end of the cooking process. When executed correctly, three-four bastes with a copious amount of sauce, each given a few moments to caramelize in between each application, the two become one sticky casing for the tender, juicy meat below. It sends my soul to the moon and back to earth.
Three on-hand ingredients + 50 minutes = dinner:
For the Barbecued-style chicken leg-thigh quarters:
4 chicken leg-thigh quarters, about 4-4 1/2 pounds
freshly-ground sea salt and peppercorn blend, or, your favorite barbecue seasoning blend
2 cups K.C.-style barbecue sauce, your favorite brand or favorite homemade K.C.-style recipe, about 1 cup for basting chicken quarters 3 times while it's under the broiler, plus enough to be served for dipping or drizzling at the table
~ Step 1. Place a scant 1/4" water in the bottom of a large 20" x 12" x 4" disposable aluminum roasting pan. The water in the bottom of the pan will prevent the dripping fat from the broiling chicken quarters from spattering and burning. Insert a rack in the pan, and place a piece of parchment atop the rack.
~Step 2. Arrange chicken quarters atop the parchment. Season generously with a grinding of sea salt and peppercorn blend. Place pan on an oven rack that has been positioned 8 1/2"-9" underneath the preheated broiler (lower third of the oven). Broil chicken quarters for 45 minutes.
~Step 3. Remove the chicken from the oven -- do not turn the broiler off or reposition the oven rack. Using a pastry brush, generously slather each chicken quarter with barbecue sauce. Return the pan to the oven for 2-2 1/2 minutes. Watch carefully as the sugar in the barbecue sauce can and will go from golden brown to burned quickly. Remove chicken from oven. Slather with sauce a second time. Return to oven for another 2-2 1/2 minutes. Remove chicken from oven. Slather with sauce a third, and last, time. Return pan of chicken to the oven for the last time for another 2-2 1/2 minutes. Watch carefully.
Platter 'em up nice 'n purty & call the family to the table:
I serve 'em w/my better than store-bought mac & cheese:
Broiled KC-Style Sticky Barbecued Chicken Quarters: Recipe yields 4 servings.
Special Equipment List: 2-cup measuring container; wire cooling rack; 20" x 12" x 4" disposable aluminum roasting pan disposable aluminum roasting pan, or, 17 1/2" x 12 1/2" baking pan; wire rack; parchment paper; pastry brush
Cook's Note: Chicken quarters can be roasted too. It's a different process (roasting and broiling are very different from each other), and, it takes almost twice as long, but, the results are just as delicious. Try my ~ Easy Oven-Roasted Barbecued Chicken Quarters ~.
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2020)
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