Empty refrigerator and empty wallet sent me to the store for dinner materials. Leq quarters are cheap: $0.79 a pound.
So I cooked some Kettle Breaded Chicken last night and wanted to share some of the process with you.
First though, I made a small pan of cornbread, suprisingly something I have never baked in CI on the grill. I warmed the Cast Iron and poured in the batter:
About twenty minutes later this was the result:
Popped right out:
It went so well, I made another since the iron was hot (and since the pantry revealed another box of corn muffin mix) ... Yes, I admit, this was Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix (spiked with creamed corn) so it was a little dry but it looked and tasted fantastic and the creamed corn helped with the authenticity a little.
For the chicken, I split up the leg quarters in to thighs and drums. Darn these quarters have backbones attached to the quarters. No wonder they are 79 cents a pound. And I swore off trimming chicken thighs when I stopped doing competitions. Where did my life go wrong!? Anyway, I then soaked them in Milk and Hot Sauce for a couple hours. Buttermilk would be better, but in keeping with sentance one of this post I was not spending the extra two bucks for it. I think the milk and hot sauce did the trick.
I removed the pieces from the milk mixture and dredged them through some fish fry breading I had on hand. It was a corn meal base and I added soem seasoned flour to it so that I would not run out. Here the pieces are breaded, and ready to go on the grill:
I cooked them indirect, and after about an hour, I nudged the chicken toward the coals to spend just a couple minutes crisping the parts that were not yet crisp. The dome read about 400 for most of the cook (and the grate temp was probably a tad lower) but was falling at the end so I finished them close to the fire. Here they are approaching the flames. You can see that some, but not much, of the breading was sacrificed to the webergods. I have not yet decided if the screen is a good way to move/cook these or if they are just as easy right on the grate.
Threw em on the plate and brought them in:
Served with smoked-mashed potatoes* and gravy, cole slaw, and the corn bread.
* I often grill a couple russets until very soft, chop them up skins and all, add butter, and then add instant potato mix and water as directed on the instant potato package, and mix. It makes for a really quick and simple mashed potato dish with a hint of smoke and authentic potato lumps. Try it.