Word of Mouth's Crunken Chicken

A college friend shared a link to Word of Mouth's blog, which included this recipe for Crunken Chicken. Mine is currently in the oven, but I can tell you the sauce is out of this world. I can't wait for dinner tonight! I particularly like that it is so versitile--it can be an appetizer, you can bake it, or you can grill it. I made mine on a broiler pan in the oven (10 minutes each side, brushing with sauce on both sides when flipping the chicken). I also think this sauce would be pretty kick-ass on appetizer meatballs (the kind you make in a crock pot) or on pretty much anything. Pour it over a pork tenderloin, use it with flank steak--you really can't go wrong.

Ingredients:

Marinade:

1/4 cup bourbon

1 12oz. bottle dark brown ale

1 tbl. cayenne powder (if making for little geeks, omit this or cut it down a bit)

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 tsp. salt

Sauce:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

1 cup minced onion

1 cup ketchup

1/4 cup molasses

2 tablespoons (packed) brown sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons dry mustard

3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, divided

1/4 teaspoon chili powder (included in original recipe but I left it out accidentally and didn't miss it)

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt

1/4 cup bourbon

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (whole or cut into 1” nuggets)* (I made 6 breasts b/c that's what was in the package)

Marinade: Combine beer, bourbon, ¼ c. molasses, cayenne and salt in a large bowl. Add chicken, cover and marinate for ½ hour or up to 4 hours.

Sauce: Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; sauté until soft, about 6 minutes. Add ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, ¼ c. molasses, dry mustard, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and chili powder (unless you forget like me). Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until sauce thickens, about 15 minutes. Stir in ¼ c. bourbon; cook until heated through, about 3 minutes. Season with salt. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.)

Cook:

In oven--Preheat oven to 425. Drain marinade from chicken. Add chicken to a 9 x 13 baking dish coated with cooking spray or broiler pan. Brush generously on all sides with bbq sauce, reserving some sauce for the table. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, turning and basting after 10 minutes.

To Grill: Grill the boneless breasts or add the nuggets to a skewer. Grill over medium heat, turning to cook all sides, about 20 minutes. Brush with BBQ sauce and cook until glaze is formed – about 3 more minutes. Serve all with reserved sauce.

My kitchen smells amazing. I could eat this sauce with a spoon! Check out Word of Mouth and be prepared to spend some time looking at recipes. YUM!

I think that we may be eating Crunken Chicken Pizza tomorrow night here at Chez Silicon. I bet it's awesome!

Jerk Chicken

For pretty much every special occasion, the Big Geek wants red meat, and this Father's Day was no exception. Except that he also wanted to make jerk chicken from a recipe he found online, but realized on Saturday afternoon that the chicken was supposed to marinate overnight. So we had steak Saturday and jerk chicken for Father's Day instead.

I have to say that it was worth the wait.

1 tablespoon cracked black peppercorns
3/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons salt
1/4 cup muscovado or dark brown sugar (we used dark brown)
3 to 9 Scotch bonnet or habanero peppers, seeded and chopped (we used 5 habanero)
4 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced ginger
2 bunches scallions, finely chopped (green and white parts)
1/2 cup oil
Zest and juice of 4 limes
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup dark rum
1 (4- to 6-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces (We used some thighs I already had in the freezer, but you can use any chicken you like. I suggest bone-in but skinless. We left the skin on and it was kind of soggy, not crispy, so I'd have preferred the chicken without it.)

Combine all ingredients except chicken in a large bowl. Dip each piece of chicken into the mixture before placing it in a large ziplock (depending on how much chicken you are making, you may need more than one bag). Pour marinade into the bag with the chicken, squeeze out air, and seal bag. Marinate overnight (at least).

Remove chicken from marinade and cook on the grill like you would any other chicken (I never do this part, so I really can't be more specific, but if you know how to grill chicken you should be fine).

Enjoy!

Cajun Bourbon Chicken

from Cooks.com

1 cup bourbon
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp paprika
pinch red hot pepper flakes
1 Tbsp molasses
3 cloves garlic smashed (or minced)
2 tbsp freshly grated ginger (or the jarred/tube kind)
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
12 pcs bone-in chicken (skin optional)

Combine all ingredients except chicken for marinade in ziplock bag. Pour out and set aside 1/2 cup of marinade to use later for basting. Add chicken to ziplock and marinate for 6-12 hours in refrigerator, turning occasionally.

Remove chicken from marinade, discard marinade. Grill over medium high heat with the grill open for 5 min., then close grill and reduce heat. Continue cooking over low heat for 15-20 min. or until chicken is done. Baste with reserved marinade every few minutes, turning chicken to cook both sides evenly.

We had this tonight, and it was good. The original recipe had 1 cup of soy sauce, but The Big Geek and I felt that the soy sauce over powered the other flavors, so I've reduced it to 1/2 cup. I don't think you'd need to make up for that 1/2 cup liquid, but if so, you could add 1/2 cup water, chicken broth, or vegetable oil.