Short Story: Boyfriend is from Lima, Peru. I've only been once but man, that Pollo a la Brasa! So now that I'm getting a BBQ I want to try to re-create that and I figure it'd be better on the Barby than the Oven. My biggest problem is that all the recipes seem to call for beer, and from what I've read on AR there's a few things wrong with that.
Side Note; I saw Dewesq55's recipe on here and I think it's the best one I've found yet! But technical questions still remain.
And please feel free to tell me to just cook the dang bird already! I may have overloaded a bit on the information and be fretting over nothing but here it goes...
Most of the recipes I've seen call for what seems like heavy salt, which makes sense now to me because that would be the dry brine to do that magic work on the chicken and the oils work on getting flavours out so when you cook it flavour happens. But the videos and recipes I've seen they rub and rub this gorgeous paste over it and then...pour beer over the bird. Or, just marinate the bird in the whole schebang. But isn't that just pointless because everything's too big to penetrate the bird?
So then I thought well maybe make a paste and do the dry brine and spritz with beer but no, apparently that won't impart much flavour either.
Also there's the mention of raw alcohol being bad for meat and to cook it first. I love making simple "beer chicken" of tossing meat in a pan and browning it up, then simmering with some beer and herbs until it's all cooked through and you have this lovely thick flavorful sauce. So why not thicken the beer (because it's mostly water) so that there is a higher concentration of flavour in the paste? Or would that still not be worth it?
Beer seems to be consistent in every dang recipe for the pollo so I've got to think it's a vital ingredient but after reading all the science now I'm not so sure.
Simpler Brine Question: Should I do the rub and let the bird sit 12-24 hours or should I just straight salt it and let it sit, only adding the paste (minus salt) right before going on the grill?
If it helps I plan to put the bird on a vertical roaster (opening a chimney in the neck....) of course following the 2-zone method. Hopefully this turns out great! The chicken turned out pretty good with a pre-made sauce we brought back from Lima when I cooked it in the oven.
But I've seen spatchcocking and also maybe just quarter the chicken options too and I'm wondering if I'll get the same great crispy skin that way?
I know this is like, my first post but this burning question (after reading 100 some odd AR pages) is part of why I joined.
Also the community seems pretty cool
Side Note; I saw Dewesq55's recipe on here and I think it's the best one I've found yet! But technical questions still remain.
And please feel free to tell me to just cook the dang bird already! I may have overloaded a bit on the information and be fretting over nothing but here it goes...
Most of the recipes I've seen call for what seems like heavy salt, which makes sense now to me because that would be the dry brine to do that magic work on the chicken and the oils work on getting flavours out so when you cook it flavour happens. But the videos and recipes I've seen they rub and rub this gorgeous paste over it and then...pour beer over the bird. Or, just marinate the bird in the whole schebang. But isn't that just pointless because everything's too big to penetrate the bird?
So then I thought well maybe make a paste and do the dry brine and spritz with beer but no, apparently that won't impart much flavour either.
Also there's the mention of raw alcohol being bad for meat and to cook it first. I love making simple "beer chicken" of tossing meat in a pan and browning it up, then simmering with some beer and herbs until it's all cooked through and you have this lovely thick flavorful sauce. So why not thicken the beer (because it's mostly water) so that there is a higher concentration of flavour in the paste? Or would that still not be worth it?
Beer seems to be consistent in every dang recipe for the pollo so I've got to think it's a vital ingredient but after reading all the science now I'm not so sure.
Simpler Brine Question: Should I do the rub and let the bird sit 12-24 hours or should I just straight salt it and let it sit, only adding the paste (minus salt) right before going on the grill?
If it helps I plan to put the bird on a vertical roaster (opening a chimney in the neck....) of course following the 2-zone method. Hopefully this turns out great! The chicken turned out pretty good with a pre-made sauce we brought back from Lima when I cooked it in the oven.
But I've seen spatchcocking and also maybe just quarter the chicken options too and I'm wondering if I'll get the same great crispy skin that way?
I know this is like, my first post but this burning question (after reading 100 some odd AR pages) is part of why I joined.
Also the community seems pretty cool
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