What Tha Fuuuuu?!
What Tha Fuuuuu?
Everytime i try to BBQ chicken on my grill (gas) it catches on fire! i've tried cleaning it, using foil, can someone tell me how to cook chicken instead of burning it to a crisp?
Answers:
Invite the fire department over to help you cook.
You probably have the heat up to high, you should be able to put boneless or bone-in chicken right on the grill without it burning. Try a low-med to medium heat and just cook it for longer...I always like to check out foodnetwork.com just to be sure. Bobby Flay has a million grill recipes with step by step instruction.. He is the grill master so check it out
If you have a gas grill, it most likely has a lid. Use it.
Anything with fat in/on it, like chicken, will drip down into the fire and cause flare-ups. If you keep the lid closed on the grill for most of the cooking time, the fire will be deprived of oxygen. Keep the heat medium to medium-low for most of the cooking, then turn the heat up to get grill marks on the chicken. You could START with high heat, get your marks, then turn the heat down, but the grill will take a while to cool down.
Another idea is to de-fat your chicken by removing the skin. Personally, I don't like this idea. The fat layer just beneath the skin drains away, for the most part, leaving a delicious, crispy skin (one of my favorite things!). But if you can do without the skin, then go ahead and remove it. That will take care of your fire problem.
Finally: you said that your grill is clean, but what about your lava rocks ("hot rocks") that are above the heating element? Those things absorb everything, including grease, and they hold onto it really well. Over time, they become so full that they can't hold (absorb) any more, and any grease or fat that falls on them immediately burns. If they're fairly old, you might consider replacing them.
(NOTE: when you replace lava rocks, BREAK THEM IN FIRST! Place them into the cool grill, turn the heat on high, close the lid, and leave them alone for 30 minutes. It's NOT a waste of fuel...the rocks contain small deposits of minerals, which literally pop like popcorn when they get heated. If the rocks are not exposed to heat before cooking, small meteors of rock can fly off at high speed, which can land on the food---or even worse, on YOU).
JUST BAKE IT
Turn down the heat, add a little more oil on the chicken (to add more oil use a brush), make sure that the distance from the chicken to the fire is at least 4 inches.
Are you putting on your BBQ sauce as you add it? BBQ sauce will burn every time, if thats what your doing, try next time adding the sauce the last 5 minutes of cooking
Try this: pre cook the chicken in the oven at about 325-350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Make sure you add some BBQ sauce to it first, and then cover the dish with foil, this way it doesn't have to cook on the grill for too long. Then heat up the grill to a medium temp, put the burner setting(s) to 5-6 on a scale of 1-10. I use the part of my grill where the heat isn't as vicious (we all know what parts of our grill get hotter, and what parts are cooler), and let it cook for a little while with the lid down. Once you think it's almost cooked, slap some more BBQ sauce on, turn the chicken, slap some on the other side, and close the lid again. As long as you keep an eye on it, it shouldn't burn. Good luck.