Southern BBQ Chicken

We bought a Southern Home

Some years back Mr. Tom and I purchased a Southern get away home in Pawleys Island South Carolina. Pawleys Island is reputed to be the oldest resort in America, at least that's what the locals claim. In as much as it is a beautiful place and we loved it there, the main reason for choosing Pawleys Island was my brother and his family had been living there since 1990. We wanted to be able to vacation close to them and make sure the cousins grew up close, as we did with ours.

Over the years my brother opened numerous restaurants of all kinds. He had a consulting company and provided start-up and culinary expertise to clients hoping to open their own restaurants. It was great for us as we got to sample many different cuisines of the South. It seemed that every visit brought with it a different location and a new culinary experience. They ranged from the most expensive you could imagine right on down to a Hooters knock off called ...HIGHBEAMS, get it! As it happened Highbeams was a sports bar and in Raleigh North Carolina. As we were on holiday and heading to our Pawleys Island home we made a detour to see my brother in Raleigh and the new place he had just opened.

The timing was great. It was smack dab in the middle of March Madness and as we found out there is no place like Raleigh NC during March Madness. The location was brand new opened only two weeks. There was a TV every 6 inches and a plethora of scantily clad beautiful young ladies. The place was lined with the colors of the day, Duke, North Carolina and NC State. The threee owners of the bar were NC State grads, the sign on the mens room door read " NC State Fans only, all others use the ladies room". My son Josh was about 14 and thought he had gone to heaven, Mr Tom although a bit more reserve about the surroundings seemed pleased as well. As it would happen there was one other attraction that particular week that fueled our visit to this remote out of the way stop. The University of Vermont had made the NCAA tournament for the first time since Calvin Coolidge was president or something like that. Low and behold they had actually won the first game and were scheduled to play Saracuse the night we arrived.

It wasn't easy to get those North Carolina fans to give a hoot about a Vermont basketball team and give up valuable TV space, but my brother had clout! We dined on the best bar food you could imagine. My brother was buying the wing sauce from the Anchor Bar in Buffalo where it all started. He bought it by the palate and had shipped down. It was a sports bar where everything was made from scratch. It would be a great place for Guy Fiori and Diners, Drive-ins and Dives to visit.

In as much as I will always have my heart in Vermont, here is a salute to the cuisine that surrounds my southern home. There are certain things that come to mind when I think of the Southern Culinary landscape other than Emeril and Paula Dean. Watermelon, Peaches and the treasured Vadaila onions. Each year when the onions are in season local civic groups make them available in 50 pound bags, The Rotary, VFW, school kids and alike hit the streets selling them and my neighbors all have a pantry full.

Southern BBQ Chicken,

Apple Smoked and Served with a Vidalia Peach Chutney

and a Quarter of a Watermelon for Dessert

For the Rub

1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon fine chopped rosemary
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon fine chopped sage
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Mix together and reserve

The Peach Chutney

You may substitute mango or apple and use fresh or fresh frozen

Two large or three small fresh peaches peal the skins off

1/2 cup of a peach nectar
2 tablespoons of a good peach preserve
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/2 cup ketchup
3 table spoons fine chopped Vidalia onion( do not substitute, if not available just omit)
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Place all the ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer and let it cook for about 15 minutes. If necessary add a touch more liquid. Let it cool.

1 whole 5lb chicken split into two halves. Remove the backbone and rub the birds with olive oil.

Start the grill one zone on high and the other on medium if two zones. If you have three zones the two outside zones on high and the middle on low, let it heat for 10 minutes.

2 two large handfuls of  apple wood chips or whatever style you desire. Soak the wood in water for 1 hour. Wrap them in foil and poke holes in the top of the foil with a pencil, about 8 holes. Place the package on the indirect heat on the back of the grill. Turn off the indirect heat burner and lower the other two or 1 zone to medium.

3 Coat the chicken halves generously with the rub. Make sure the chicken is at room temperature for 15 minutes. About the time your grill is heating up.

4 place the chicken on the grill breast side up. Place the chicken on the indirect medium heat and close the lid on the grill. Keep the lid closed as much as possible, the chicken should take about 1 hour or a little longer. Check the internal temperature, it should be 180 degrees in the thick part of the thigh. Rotate the chicken a couple of times for even roasting.

5 Remove the bird and let it rest for at least 10 minutes, serve the chutney with it.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce & English Cucumber Salsa

Where were the men?

I grew up surrounded by strong, opinionated, activist aunts. There was a plethora of them. In most cases the men just did as they were told or else. My Aunt Teresa who lived with us, known inside the family as Senorita Teresa Bove' "the countess of Grove Street". Aunt Teresa was a spinster she never married. She dedicated her life to her family especially me!

As the story went she fell in love with a count in Italy while studying music there for many years. She was educated at the college of Saint Rose before it was fashionable for women to do so. If the countess was still with us she would be 108. That would put her at St Rose somewhere around 1922. She came home from Italy and taught music at the New York Conservatory of Music for a few years, never getting over the heartbreak she experienced in Italy and never dated again.

She was a relentless disciplinarian. Over the years she attained two additional masters degrees, spoke three languages and drove my brother and I about crazy, making us play classical music on the piano, never a Beatles tune oh no!. She was her brother Peter's right hand and became the state chairman of the Vt Fresh Air Fund something Uncle Peter started.

Mother was just about as opposite as you could design from Aunt Teresa. The Casa Bianca was where mother held court for many of  other aunts who would assemble and play scrabble all night long. It was a group of strong women, career and business women all of them. Aunt Elmer owned and managed the 7up bottling plant in Rutland. Aunt Vee along with her husband Jack owned and operated the Schlitz Beer distributorship, my mother a restaurant aunt Janet a charge nurse at the hospital and Ameilia an antique dealer.

Aunt Elmer's plant became the rite of passage for all the male cousins. It was the first job all my male cousins had summers once they were old enough to work. Elmer ran the plant with an iron fist. She had a vocabulary akin to the railroad employees. When she was upset you knew it. My brother Peter was no exception and he tells me this story.

Aunt Elmer left cousin Harmon and Peter at the plant one Saturday morning to receive a truck load of sugar. The bags of sugar were 100 pounds each and there were 100 bags to arrive. Peter and Harmon were to bring the bags to the second floor via a escalator. However while waiting for the truck my brother and Harmon decided to make the escalator into a skate board and ride it up and down the stairs. The escalator came to a stop.

Scared to death of of Aunt Elmer the boys carried the 100 bags of sugar up the stairs one at a time. They were afraid to tell her about the escalator and didn't want her to see the unfinished job as well. So the story was that the escalator stopped working with just a couple of bags to go. Elmer walked to the breaker box and flipped the switch and off it went! Fear is a funny thing.

Fathers day is here and we hope you bought dad a new Propane Gas Grill from the propane people at Proctor Gas. In case you didn't we are still here waiting for you! Happy Fathers Day to all the dads especially the grilling dads.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce & English Cucumber Salsa

Marinade

1/4 cup of peanut oil

grated zest and juice of one lime

1 teaspoon of fish sauce

1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic

1 teaspoon  hot sauce

1 teaspoon coriander

1 teaspoon cumin

You can use chicken breast 4 halves or boneless skinless thighs, the thighs are more difficult to skewer but have a wonderful moist finish.

Cucumber Salsa

 1 English cucumber/ they have no seeds

1/2 sweet red onion chopped small

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

juice of 1 lime

1/2 chopped jalapeño
 

Peanut butter Sauce

 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 fresh lime juiced

2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce

2 teaspoons fish sauce

Mix the marinade together

16 wooden skewers soaked in water for 30 minutes

Prepare the chicken, slice in 1/2 inch slices and place in marinate for 2 hours in the refrigerator. Make sure they are covered with the marinade.

Cut the cucumber into pieces about the size of a dime place into a bowl and mix with all the ingredients, let it stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

On a very low heat put the ingredients for the peanut butter sauce in a sauce pan and warm stirring slowly with a whisk. Do not let it simmer. If it gets too thick add a bit of water. Take it from the heat.

Take the chicken from the marinade and place on the skewers. Fill the skewers best you can.

Heat the grill with one side on high heat and the other on medium. Place the chicken on the hot grill with the open part of the skewer hanging over the lower heat so it doesn't burn. Cook about 3 minutes on each side testing for the pink to be gone in the chicken. Cook with the top closed on your PROPANE GAS Grill. Serve with the warm sauce and salsa.

Veal or Chicken Maria

Cooking with Propane

"There is something about Mary"

The Casa Bianca where I grew up was a wonderful place if you liked great food, lots of aunts, uncles and cousins and plenty of drama! It was reality TV without the TV. It was truly extended family living in-house, as a result, there was always somebody in crisis. Growing up in our house there was Uncle Peter, Uncle Gigi, Aunt Esther, Aunt Teresa, Mama Lee, my brother and me. Then there was the staff at the restaurant; Anna and Pauline two polish sisters  who worked in the kitchen for twenty plus years with my mother. They were like family but then there was Mary.

Well that group was truly old school; they saw the world different, they ate different, they didn't value their time, it was their gift to everyone. We were the first group of children to really protest the old ways. I was relieved when we broke from the tradition of waking the recently passed in the living room of our home.  The Italian women were professional mourners it was epic when we said goodbye.

Mother was a tough cookie with a mind of her own, it is well documented her distrust for almost everybody; doctors, lawyers, bankers even the catholic priests that frequently dined with her. She was translucent about her feelings.. I find myself from time to time invoking the same skepticism, distrust fostered by our mother. Is it inherited? I catch myself and think that's Mom talking. The very same response from her used to make my skin crawl.

That being said Lee had a heart of gold, if you were hungry she would feed you, her true passion in life, if you needed a room because you may have had one too many she put many guests to bed in our 10 upstairs bedrooms over the years. Her life was built from the sacrifice she made for her children, her brother and her sister. She was what is all good in people.

Mother was stubborn, I hear the story that the night I was born mother was on the stove cooking when her water broke. Her cousin and OBGYN Dr. Bove was just finishing dinner in the dining room and he was alerted of the situation. He got up and went to the kitchen. Lets go Lee, "Doc you just sit yourself down until I put out the rest of these dinners"! He had no choice. My mother only left the building under duress or to go to the hair dresser. My brother would have to take her and pick her up she hardly ever drove but claimed she was an accomplished wheel woman. My brother was late picking her up one day and she hated to spend any more time than necessary listening to the women at the parlor. Angry with Peter the next day she bought a car, maybe she drove it twice.

Lee was kind, and loving but mean as a junk yard dog when she was riled. She was plum impossible to reason with if she had made up her mind. Thankfully there was Mary she subscribed to a whole different perspective about most everything. She would say Lee "let them be" Lee was a control freak. Mary somehow could see into the future, she was like having our own palm reader. For instance she would always maintain that she could tell when a girl who my brother brought to dinner was crazy about him. Oh yah I can tell she would say "she's crazy about him". Generally she was wrong on this account!

Mary was always there to be the voice of reason and was about the only person who could tell my mother to chill! Mary worked at the restaurant full time from her late twenties and on into her sixties. She spent a lifetime with us. I think her 5 children gave her a better view into the real world and she at least left her house!

Mary had a way with the guests at the restaurant all those years, many people thought she owned the place. We didn't advertise so all of our business was word of mouth, Mary was social media old school style, she communicated with our guests face to face. If you were sent to the Casa via word of mouth, it was normal for people to show up at the front door on their first visit and ask for Mary. They would say 'so and so sent me' and Mary in one smooth movement would acknowledge the sender and give them a hug at the door and sit them on the stairs to wait for a table. She owned them right out of the gate even if she had no idea who the people might have been who sent them.  

It was rare that we didn't sit at the round table in the back room at some point each night and discuss the overall problems of the group. (The table now in my kitchen) Mary had five children and they are, each of them extremely diverse. It seems like she had one of each, kind of her own Gilligan's Island. The oldest was somewhat like Thurston a business man, then a jet setting movie star type, beautiful, sultry and a hand full like Ginger, there is the professor, ethereal, musical, clever and quietly a real ladies man, the little sister like Maryann beautiful but more reserve and a bit less precocious no flying about, a bit more grounded than her older sister. Then came the restaurant guy who would if allowed have been the "Skipper" he inherited his mothers engaging personality.

There was always an issue with one of them, or the favorite topic, my brother. Somehow the madness of it all gave Mary a sense of decorum and just made her stronger. Mary could shift through the BS of most situations and leave you with an answer that would satisfy the group. As a result her children are all fiercely dedicated to her, she is still the glue that holds them all together.

People still like to talk about the Casa Bianca, fond memories for most. I always hear "I loved your mother" and then they ask me about Mary. We talk once in a while... not enough, she is still putting out the fires alongside her children, still the rock she always was. I just answer "There is something about Mary"

This is a dish my brother named after Mary at the Casa in 1982. It became our best seller and was on the menu until the end. Use the stove or your new Saber Grill from Proctor Gas.

Veal or Chicken Maria

Serves 4

4 chicken breast

4 paper thin slices prosciutto
4 slices  eggplant cut lengthwise/ brush with olive oil and S&P grill on both sides
8 thin slices of fresh mozzarella
flour for dusting the chicken
4 tablespoons good basil pesto
1 cup marinara sauce
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 stick cold butter cut in small pieces
olive oil to pan sear the chicken

 Dredge the chicken lightly in the flour shake off any excess. Pour olive oil in a saute pan and heat. Place the chicken into the hot oil and brown on both sides lower the heat. Deglaze the pan with the wine and let the wine cook out. Add the chicken stock and marinara sauce let it simmer covered until the chicken is tender and cooked through about 15 minutes depending on the thickness of the breast.

Take the cover off and build the chicken breast:

spread a spoon full of pesto sauce over the top of the chicken
place a slice of prosciutto over that
place the grilled eggplant on top of the breast
place the two pieces of cheese on top

Place the lid back on the pan and let it simmer just to get hot and melt the cheese. Remove the chicken from the pan, dish it up...turn the heat to medium and add the cold butter to the sauce and simmer together, pour over the chicken

Mrs. Tom's Secret

I like to use my gas grill to cook this. It does take a pan on the grill but you use the grill same as a stove and the grill lid acts as a cover, just close it. Also be aware for your guests, that there are no nut allergies in the group. The little spoon of pesto to the wrong person can be a real bummer for all. Serve with a nice wild mushroom risotto.

Rosemary & Garlic Corona "Beer Can" Chicken

The Tent Sale on Cinco De Mayo

It's here today the Proctor Gas Tent Sale and guess what campers... it's Cinco De Mayo.  Don't expect to find a cold tray of Margarita's , what you will find is the Proctor Gas senorita's ready to help with your summer entertaining dream grills, fireplace inserts and outdoor kitchens.

Mrs. Tom spent  a week South of the Border spring break while in college a few short years ago. After passing on the worm in the tequila bottle she was treated to the most unusual sight and taste. It was in fact Cinco De Mayo and some of her new friends were making the most unusual whole roast chicken.

At first it seemed as though the chicken might have drunk the tequila as it sat perched up on the grill on a can of Corona Beer surrounded by fresh limes. This has become a favorite with Mrs. Tom's southern friends.

Rosemary and Garlic Corona "Beer Can" Chicken

Ingredients

1 4lb chicken

1 small metal surface for under the beer can for stability on the grill
   meat thermometer

serves 2 Mr.Toms or 4 Mrs. Toms

5 cloves chopped fine fresh garlic

2 tablespoons chopped rosemary
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 teaspoons John Henry's cilantro lime seasoning available at the tent sale
2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 tablespoon course cracked black pepper
   juice of two fresh limes...1 slice for the beer
1 12 oz can of Corona Beer

Step one pull the beer from refrigerator insert a slice of lime and drink about half of it. Set aside and let it come to room temperature.

Place garlic, rosemary salt, John Henry's seasoning, pepper, olive oil and lime juice in a food processor and pulse to a paste don't  overdo it.

Prepare the bird discard any inners and rinse the chicken well. Pat the bird dry. Now rub the chicken with the seasoning mixture all over and then refrigerate for at least a couple of hours. Take it out and let it come to room temperature.

Turn the grill on high for 10 minutes. Then turn the middle grate to medium on a three burner or two grates if you have a four burner. If you have a two burners then turn both back to medium.  Poke a few extra holes in the top of the beer can and place the chicken cavity on the beer can and find a balance.

Take your small metal surface and place the beer can and chicken standing up on the grill. Tuck the wings behind the back of the chicken and balance using the legs to help. Close the lid on the grill and tend the chicken every 15 minutes for about 1 hour and a half. After an hour start checking the internal temperature with your thermometer, 180% internal temp at the thick part of the thigh. Let the chicken rest for 20 minutes.

 Mrs. Tom Secret

Trim any excess fat from the chicken to keep the fire flare-ups down. Keep rotating the chicken. Wrap the chicken in plastic wrap when you put it in the refrigerator to seal the seasonings in, remove before cooking. Beware of the beer when you take it off the grill, hot.

Mrs. Tom Grills Italian Chicken

Gas or Charcoal Mrs. Tom works with a Rasta on the Island of Jamaica

In the spirit of the summer that is upon us Mrs. Tom decided to go shopping for a new grill. So off to Atlanta  to find the best new grills available. Mrs. Tom thinks there a might fancy and real shinny. She intends to bring a bunch of these new grills back to the show room at Proctor Gas (known around this area as the propane people).

However just a few days prior to Mrs. Tom and her staff traveling to Atlanta She decided to sneak off  for a few days of holiday and was sunning herself on the Island of Jamaica where she encountered a happy Rasta, a grilling purest trying to build a fire. The following debate ensued.

Mrs. Tom became entertained watching the Rasta struggle with the coal fire in the heat of the day she then suggested he might try a gas grill proclaiming the flavor profile difference was so little that he would never detect the slight change. OH NO MON claimed the Rasta and the debate was on.

It was agreed by both that the uniquely satisfying flavors of a smoldering grill was simply impossible to attain with any other type of heat transfer. So is it gas or charcoal? It is well know that the gas grill is much more convenient, the fire is ready in 10 minutes where a 1/2 hour is needed for charcoals to become ready. Today in the US gas grills out sell the charcoal grills almost two to one. The gas grill fire will burn continuingly while it will be necessary for you to add coals as you go along in a primitive way embraced by our Rasta. Mrs. Tom could see that the hot sun and the tending of the coals was causing the Rasta to consume additional adult beverages to combat the sun. The gas grill is more economical in the long run and clean up is much easier. In the winter in Vermont Mrs. Tom likes to keep grilling and tending fires during the Vermont winters is out of the question so along with everything else you are more inclined to use your gas grill year round.

Well Mrs. Tom felt as though the Rasta might think she was just jerking around with him and he was a difficult sell. In a gesture of friendship Mrs. Tom left the Rasta with a favorite recipe from her mother's Italian Kitchen.

Mrs. Tom Grills Italian Chicken

Mrs. Tom has always preferred the boneless chicken thighs for the grill as they stay moist and tender. This is a quick and very inexpensive meal to prepare for friends.

Serves six

8 crushed garlic cloves

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

4 anchovy filets packed in oil and patted dry

1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

2 cups fresh bread crumbs

12 boneless chicken thighs

3 shallots chopped course

hot oil for drizzle (optional)

Combine the garlic, 1/2 cup of oil, anchovies, and parsley in a food processor and give it a zap until smooth dredge the chicken and set aside

Place the chicken in a bowl and cover both sides with the bread crumbs coating them evenly and place on a flat platter and refrigerate for about 1/2 hour. Prepare your grill on a medium heat. Place the chicken on the grill and cook slowly for about 15 minutes on each side turning only once.

Mrs. Tom's Secret

Mrs. Tom was not sure if she had reached the Rasta man as he appeared to be engulfed in smoke at the time. However in the spirit of detente she left him with a secret used by gas grillers who still were purist at heart as was our Rasta. She told the Rasta that he could obtain his favorite flavor profile by taking his favorite wood chips, soak them in water for about a half hour, wrap them in aluminum foil and poke holes in the foil then place them right on top of the grill and close the top creating an additional smoky flavor.

Good Grilling Mrs. Tom