I love grilled chicken (and our faithful firedog)

I’ve always loved grilling, but this summer I have been honing my grilling skills declaring to my family (jokingly) that I’m working on becoming a “Grill Master”.  They are definitely doing more than humoring me in my efforts.

When it comes to grilled chicken, I went through a phase where I would do only chicken breasts. They are quick and easy and can be quite juicy with proper marinades.  Once my family got really tired of different versions of Lemon Chicken, (which is one of my favorite ways) Richard asked for a more traditional BBQ chicken.   The problem I have with traditional bbq sauce is that they are too sugary and the sugar just burns if put on too early.  I also find if you wait to the end to put on the sauce, the meat lacks flavor.

Here enters my foray into dry rubs.  The recipe I’ve latched onto is an variation of a dry rub I make for a crock-pot whole chicken.  The rub is applied or sprinkled on the night before and then dumped into a crock-pot the next day.  In the summer, the idea of the crock-pot cooking all day didn’t appeal to me. So when Richard requested this dish for dinner earlier in the summer, (I’m constantly looking for feedback on the age old question, “What do you want for dinner tomorrow night?”) I considered if this basic recipe would work for grilled chicken.

I modified the rub recipe ingredients to have more of a BBQ flair and gave it a try.  I had initially thought he and the children would apply BBQ sauce onto the chicken at the table, but it turned out it was so unbelievably tasty and juicy they didn’t need it.

Here’s a link to the full recipe. Leslie’s BBQ Chicken Rub

The longer you can have the rub on the juicier the meat will become, overnight is ideal.  (Scientifically, it’s the brining process that really does the trick.)  That being said, I have applied the rub just a couple hours before cooking and it’s been very tasty.

As you can see from the photo, I grill corn at the same time too.  I usually rub butter, sprinkle salt and pepper on fresh corn and wrap it in foil. The corn still has the lovely grill marks (If you use a higher heat at first.) and is a hundred times tastier than boiling corn.  I especially like it a little under-done.  I like the corn to have a little crunch to it. 🙂

And lastly, I can not write a grilling post without bringing up Tucker.  He is a firedog in every since of the word.  If left to his on devices, he would bark at the smoke rising from the grill almost non-stop.  He is trying very hard to not bark because I fuss at him and snap the bbq tongs at him now.  I also make him move away from the pit and sit and that helps.  He was being especially good once we jokingly put on his “Pooch Patrol” bandana.  It was like he knew he was officially “on the job” so he didn’t have to bark.  🙂