Corinne Trang

First BBQ Chicken with my Original Asian White Sauce!

As soon as it gets warm outside, the grills get fired up, and aromas waft through the air, from one neighbor’s backyard to the next. On this July 4^th weekend, I’m going to enjoy the fireworks, the company of friends, and parties with lots of food and wine. Indeed, on my side of the fence, I’m experimenting with barbecue flavored with Asian spices and condiments.

My goal this weekend is to cook low-and-slow over indirect heat and create a new kind of barbecue, one incorporating Asian ingredients, omitting the traditional ones, and all the while staying with the basic principle of balancing spices and herbs over a canvas of salt and sugar.

My Weber Performer definitely performed!

Last night I created my very own white sauce based on Big Bob Gibson’s Bar-B-Q Original White Sauce in Decatur, Alabama, where it was invented and made popular.  While the original uses mayonnaise as its base, mine uses coconut milk, and the rest of the ingredients are just as different. The one basic rule still remains, however. It’s tangy, sweet, and salty and ever so slightly bitter and spicy. Otherwise said, it’s balanced!

CT’S ORIGINAL ASIAN WHITE SAUCE

coconut milk, fish sauce, ginger, garlic, shallot, curry, rice vinegar, oh my...

(about 2-1/4 cups and good for a 4-pound roaster!)

2 cups coconut milk
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon curry powder (or garam masala)
1 ounce ginger, freshly grated
1 large garlic clove, freshly grated
1 large shallot, freshly grated
1 teaspoon chili paste (optional)

Marinate the chicken in the white sauce for 12 hours, refrigerated.

Preparing the Weber Performer for indirect heat cooking, I’m preheating the grill to 325°F for 20 minutes, the charcoal baskets filled halfway up with Kingsford briquettes.

Once you see white ash, push the charcoal baskets off to one side of the grill, leaving the other side void.

soak apple wood chunks in the water-juice concoction...why not?!

For extra flavor, soak some apple wood chunks for a couple of hours and throw them on the hot charcoal. Place an aluminum pan filled with equal parts water and 100% fruit juice (apple, white grape, or pineapple, for example) underneath the grill grate, with the chicken skin side up on the grate and directly above the pan. Cook, with lid down for about 1 hour. Baste with marinade and return bird, turning it 180° (so the legs are now closer to the heat source) to the pit covered with lid for another 45 minutes to 1 hour until done, which means when the joints are loose and you can twist them easily. If you prefer, stick a thermometer in the bird and when the temperature reaches 160°F in the breasts and 175°F in the thighs, pull it out, let it rest for 15 minutes, and enjoy this succulent bird with a big salad on the side.

partying and barbecuing for the next few days...tongs in one hand, wine in the other!

Now my friend, well-known pitmaster and best-selling author Chris Lilly, always says “if you’re opening the lid, you’re not cookin’.” Well that’s true, but considering how tactile and curious I am, barbecuing “the right way” is challenging for me. Patience is definitely a virtue and I’ve been put to the test.

…and now off to buy more meat and charcoal! Pork shoulder is in my (and your) near future. Firing up Smokey tonight around midnight for some pulled pork sandwich tomorrow for lunch. It comes with a little of this and that, and a bit of hoisin BBQ sauce on the side, please!

Happy 4^th of July, y’all y’all…

CT