Barbecued Chicken, Barbecue Sauce; butterflies

One of the leftovers from my first, very brief, marriage was a recipe for home-made barbecue sauce.

If I remember it correctly it was a combination of French Salad Dressing, Open Pit BBQ Sauce and numerous other ingredients.

What I don’t remember at all is why I (or we) decided we needed make it, using rather strange ingredients. I’ll blame it on being young and creative. I do remember it was a collaborative sauce.

The habit of making my own came in handy when we moved to this side of the pond as we couldn’t buy it.

We can now, and I particularly like hoisin barbecue sauce. Still, I admit, I never use it straight from the bottle.

When we make barbecued chicken I still make my own.

Barbecued Chicken; Barbecue Sauce

Always a summertime favorite, we finish this easy grilled chicken with a homemade barbecue sauce. The sauce keeps in the fridge for a week and is great on burgers, chops and more chicken.

Author: Katie Zeller

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 45

Total Time: 50 minutes

Yield: 2 servings 1x

Category: Chicken

Method: Grilling

Cuisine: American

Scale

1x2x3x

Ingredients

Instructions

Wash chicken and pat dry.

Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and paprika.

Put on barbecue grill on indirect heat and close cover.

Check periodically – if any pieces flare up just move around a bit. An instant-read or remote read meat thermometer is a great help.

After about 30 minutes start basting with barbecue sauce (if you do it earlier the sauce may burn).

Chicken will be done at 170F or when it is no longer pink and the juices run clear when pierced with a knife. It should take about 45 minutes over indirect heat but can be up to an hour, depending on heat.

Remove and serve with sauce on the side.

Barbecue Sauce:

Mix all ingredients in small sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat stirring frequently.

Simmer 5 – 10 minutes, remove from heat and allow to cool.

Put 2/3’s of the sauce in a separate small bowl to be used for dipping at the table and use the rest for basting.

Notes

The cut-up chicken I get is ‘dark meat quarters’, or thigh and leg together. We cut them apart and 3 is perfect for the 2 of us. You could use a whole, cut-up chicken or whatever your favorite pieces are.

Keywords: barbecue sauce, barbecued chicken, summer grilling

It’s been hot here. We reached 106F (41C) on Tuesday and today is a summer-like 102F (39). One more day and we should be back to tolerable temps.

We don’t have a watering ban (yet) so I am trying to be kind to the critters in the heat. I keep the birdbath full and over-water the geraniums so there is extra water in the saucers for the bees and lizards.

I’m still able to water all the herbs I have growing along the fence:

They look a bit messy, but I don’t trim them until they’re done blooming. We get hundred of bees and butterflies here every summer for the lavender and marjoram.

Strangely, my watering never seems to disturb them… They just avoid the big drops and go on about their business.

It’s almost impossible to get a photo of them as they are all moving rapidly in every direction.

I did manage to get one of this Scarce Swallowtail:

And one of the Hummingbird Hawk-Moths

It’s magical being by the lavender with all the bees and butterflies flitting and buzzing.

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