Paris Chicken

In David Lebovitz’s book My Paris Kitchen,  he describes eating the ultimate crispy and delicious rotisserie chicken bought from a vendor in the Bastille Market. Hot, perfectly spiced, with a crackling skin, this recipe was calling out my name from the first time I read it.

Paris Chicken

Ever on the lookout for the perfect chicken recipe, I knew that I was on to a good thing when I came across this recipe for “Chicken lady chicken” or Poulet crapaudine façon Catherine (doesn’t that sound better?) David recommends marinating the chicken for one to two days before cooking. This seemed unnecessary to me, Chef Know-it-all, based on an article that I read in Cook’s Illustrated on marinating myths. Cook’s Illustrated claims that “contrary to popular belief, marinades do most of their work on the surface of meat or just below. Some ingredients in a marinade do penetrate the meat—but only by a few millimetres (and oil-soluble herbs and spices in the mix merely add flavor to the exterior)…Because marinades don’t penetrate deeply, a lengthy soak is pointless. ” I’ve marinated this chicken anywhere from 24 hours to a scant 45 minutes and I can tell you that the chicken that marinated for the longer period of time was definitely more flavorful in my humble opinion. Make this chicken and make it soon! I grill it on my barbecue and unlike the recipe as published in My Paris Kitchen, I make it with chicken thighs instead of a spatchcocked whole chicken. It’s really delicious every time.

As directed in the recipe, I put the minced garlic and salt in a large resealable plastic bag. I massaged the salt and garlic with the heel of my hand to make a paste.

I added the remaining ingredients into the bag to make the marinade. I supported the ziploc bag in a measuring cup while I added the ingredients to keep it from collapsing on itself and spilling it’s contents all over the counter.

If you opt for a longer marinade time, the chicken will be more flavorful.

I grilled the chicken starting it off on high,  skin side down for a few minutes until the skin started to crisp up. I flipped the chicken so it was now skin side up and lowered the grill setting to medium. After the underside of the chicken started to brown, I turned off the middle grill bar, shut the lid of the barbecue and allowed it to cook for about 30 minutes. (The temperature of the grill should read about 400 F.).

When the chicken was brown and crispy, I checked the internal temperature with a instant read thermometer and when it said 165 F., I removed the chicken from the grill.

Best chicken ever!!!

Print Recipe

Paris Chicken

Meat and Poultry

By David Lebovitz, Paris Kitchen – Serves: 6

Prep Time: 20 minutes + marinade time – Cooking Time: 40 minutes – Total Time: 60 minutes

Fabulous grilled chicken every time!!

Ingredients

• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt or kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 2 tablespoons white wine
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 1/2 teaspoons harissa, Sriracha, or Asian chile paste ( I use harissa)
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 8-10 skin on, bone in chicken thighs

Instructions

1

Put the minced garlic and salt in a ziploc bag and massage it with the heel of your hand to make a paste. Set the open bag inside a measuring cup for support (see picture above) and add the rest of the marinade ingredients. Combine ingredients well.

2

Add the chicken to the bag. Seal and refrigerate for 24 hours or less. (It's your chicken. It's going to taste better if you marinate it as long as you can up to 24 hours.) Flip the bag a few times as it marinates to redistribute the marinade evenly.

3

Heat up your barbecue on high for 15 minutes. Clean the grill grates with a brush and spray the grill with cooking spray. Add chicken to the grill and cook on high skin side down for a few minutes. When the chicken releases easily from the grill after a few minutes, turn the chicken skin side up and lower the temperature of the barbecue to medium. After 5 minutes, turn the middle heating element off and the leave the remaining two elements on medium to obtain a cooking temperature of about 400 F. (If your barbecue only has 2 elements, make sure that your cooking temperature is a consistent 400 F.) Shut the grill and cook the chicken for about 30 minutes, checking on the chicken periodically; to make sure that it's not burning and coloring nicely. When the chicken appears to be a beautiful shade of golden brown and the juices from the chicken are running clear, take the temperature of a piece of chicken at it's thickest part with an instant read thermometer. It should read 165 F.

4

Remove the chicken from the grill and serve.

Notes

David Lebovitz browns a spatchcocked chicken in a grill pan on top of the stove for about 15 minutes, 10 minutes on the skin side and 5 minutes on the other side. He then puts it in the oven for 25 minutes at 400 F. I've never made it this way but it sounds like a great option if you don't have a barbecue or you can't hack the ice off the barbecue cover. (This rarely stops your intrepid grill chef)