exceptional grilled chicken

I’m sorry to disappoint you if you ever believed otherwise, but only a fraction of the recipes on this site come from a place of adoration — i.e. I’ve always loved this dish, thus we all need to make it at home. A far greater amount come from befuddlement that people are so into something I find so unspecial. Maybe it’s not as bad as it sounds. I mean, would you rather get a recipe for a dish from someone who loved it to the moon and back and may not see its flaws or from a deep skeptic that had to be convinced by an exceptional version? Or so I tell us as a long windup to the fact that there are probably few summer dishes I like less than grilled chicken. Let’s take something that already leans dry and cook it for what is usually way too long and make it more dry! Here’s a thick sweet sauce that almost guarantees there will be little texture or color on the outside. I’m not saying that good grilled chicken doesn’t exist (I like this and that one, for example, and yours, yours is fantastic), it’s just far less common than bad grilled chicken.

I guess you could call this my Unpopular Opinions week. It’s okay, though, I still love the Aperol spritz.

This recipe is for all three of you who have not left the room after reading the above. Like last week’s raspberry crumble tart bar recipe, it was inspired by Ruth Reichl’s list of favorite recipes from her Gourmet years, however, it’s less an adaptation of the 2003 recipe from John Willoughby and John Schlesigner’s recipe and more a “Yay! That’s my favorite way to grill chicken too!” What we all agree on is that perfect grilled chicken — I mean, exceptional grilled chicken, grilled chicken that’s forgiving of human (whoops I left it on a couple minutes too long), grill (my grill suggests heat more than it blasts it), and chicken (look, I got what the grocery store had in stock that day) imperfections — has three distinct steps: brining the chicken, grilling it, and then tossing it in a brightening vinaigrette or sauce to finish. It makes the kind of grilled chicken I want a second piece of, which is unprecedented enough that my husband dropped his jaw when I reached for it. It makes the kind of grilled chicken I want to make twice a month for the rest of the summer. It makes the kind of chicken I think would make all of our weekends more delicious.

See also: My slow-and-low dry-rub oven chicken also begins with a brine.

Previously

One year ago: Garlic-Lime Steak and Noodle Salad
Two years ago: The Red and Black
Three years ago: Cucumber Yogurt Raita Salad and Chicken Gyro Salad
Four years ago: Pasta Salad with Roasted Tomatoes and Picnic Pink Lemonade
Five years ago: Nancy’s Chopped Salad
Six years ago: Lobster and Potato Salad
Seven years ago: Rhubarb Snacking Cake
Eight years ago: Strawberry Summer Cake and Spring Salad with New Potatoes
Nine years ago: Creamed Chard and Spring Onions, Avocado Salad with Carrot-Ginger Dressing and Homemade Pop Tarts
Ten years ago: Slaw Tartare and Strawberry Shortcakes
Eleven years ago: Cherry Cornmeal Upside-Down Cake and Molly’s Dry-Rubbed Ribs
Twelve years ago: Coconut Pinkcherry Yogurt and Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble

And for the other side of the world:
Six Months Ago: Chocolate Caramel Tart, Falafel and Baklava Babka
1.5 Years Ago: Salted Butter Chocolate Chunk Shortbread
2.5 Years Ago: Spinach Sheet Pan Quiche and Chocolate Caramel Crunch Almonds
3.5 Years Ago: Roasted Leek and White Bean Galettes, and Date Breakfast Squares
4.5 Years Ago: Cranberry Pie with Thick Pecan Crumble and Twice-Baked Potatoes with Kale