Two weekends in a row. Not the kind of trend I was looking for.
It was our first BBQ of the year. I was obviously out of practice. I lit the coals with the chimney starter, and once they were ready I spread them evenly in the grill and put some new coals on top. I didn’t want them burning out before the chicken legs were cooked. What happened next was predictable. I put the burgers on first, while the new coals were still warming up. Once they were cooked I started with the drumsticks and wings. By that time the new coals were burning and the grill was about 5,000 degrees. I did my best, but they were still horribly burned on the outside and, you guessed it, raw on the inside.
We finished it up in the microwave, and Karen assures me it’s good once you take the skin off. Whatever.
Mark Ruins Dinner 
on the plus side – a new photo for your header 🙂 burnt chicken captured in greater glory?
You know, I think you need some real trini coal. That fake stuff they sell in the states sucks! Remind me to bring a bag on my next trip! There are those in Trinidad who believe the blacker the chicken the better it is…..you never heard about bun-b-que??? Let Karen translate!
mark, you dont boil the chicken before you barbeque? At least the problem of raw chicken will disappear. the coalfire is just for the flavour and appearance. Hmmm, remind lawrence to do some trini bbq for you when you come down.
Yes, Lawrence, my dad always used to say “They’re brown when they’re cooking and they’re black when they’re done.”
Tammy – sometimes I would steam/pre-cook the chicken before the BBQ, but Mark assured me that it wasn’t necessary.
😉
LOL
I think it is necessary to pre-cook the chicken now. 😛
This is not poor cooking/grilling – this, my friends, is genetic. I never had a hamburger, hot dog, or piece of chicken that was grilled in my ENTIRE LIFE that did not look like this until I went away to college. He gets it very honestly from his father. The fact that he keeps trying to overcome his genome is what is amusing.
While I’ve never done this myself, I’ve been told that this is the way to tackle the blackened chicken problem:
Try piling the hot coals off to one side of the grill and cook the chicken over the ‘coal-free’ area. That way the chicken only gets indirect heat and will cook through on the inside before the outside blackens.
Good luck!
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