Philly Weekend: Grilled Split Sesame Chicken

So, another weekend out of town and another feast prepared in a spacious regular-people kitchen. This weekend I was in the suburbs of Philadelphia, where my cousin Carly and her husband Rob and their seven month old daughter Lily live. I made what I’d call a feast, and I’m going to break it up into a few different posts.

The good news: Carly and Rob have a grill! It’s a gas grill, something I’ve never cooked on before, but I could get into. So convenient! Anyway, I decided that for the main course I’d make grilled split chicken, something I’ve done before in the broiler but never on the grill. I used the Sesame Grilled Chicken variation from the chart on page 642 (“11 More Ways to Vary Grilled or Broiled Boneless Chicken,” which I assumed work for bone-in chicken as well).

The hardest part of this is taking out the chicken’s backbone so you can flatten it on the grill. Splitting it, in so many words. After splitting, I threw it in a ziplock bag with the marinade (ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, vegetable oil, salt pepper) and stuck it in the fridge ’til it was time to grill.

When the grill was hot, I put it on the cool side, skin side up, and let it cook for about 20 minutes. Then it was time to flip, skin side down, and let the skin crisp up and the chicken finish cooking on the inside. Then it was just a matter of carving it up and getting it on the table.

Splitting chicken is great because you decrease the cooking time of a whole chicken, while still keeping it really moist and juicy. It’s almost impossible to overcook this way. Just the best of both worlds: the juiciness of a whole chicken with the cooking time of chicken parts. It’s probably going to be my new go-to chicken method, since I’d rather broil than roast at home.