Our personal chef presents the world's greatest grilled chicken recipe
Look, I’m not going to tell you how to live your life. How you eat your grilled chicken is a personal choice that you make in prayerful consultation with your family and a chicken-loving God.
No one can understand the complex matrix of unreasonable expectations and palates numbed by Walmart rotisserie chickens that you have to navigate when you grill chicken at home.
But I have been to the mountaintop and I bring good news for all who yearn for the one true grilled chicken recipe. At Nattapong Kitjakarn’s roadside restaurant in Thailand’s Chiang Mai province, the holy grail of grilled chicken, gai yang, is being served to any and all who enter.
Nattapong (who asks to be called “Gun” for unknown reasons) told me that while there are as many recipes for gai yang as there are cooks in Thailand. His recipe was, of course, special.
After thorough research involving five whole chickens, a pint of naam jim kai dipping sauce, and several bottles of Thai whiskey, I can confidently say that I am bringing you the recipe for the world’s greatest grilled chicken.
Sweet, smoky, tender, and juicy with crispy skin and a dipping sauce that will make you speak in tongues.
Yes, it’s long.
Yes, you need a mortar and pestle.
No, you can’t substitute anything.
Ingredients
- 2 4–5 lb chickens
Brine
- 8 cups water
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup kosher salt
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 8 garlic cloves, crushed
- 3” piece of galangal, sliced
- 2 stalks lemongrass, cut into 1” lengths
- 3 whole green onions, roughly chopped
- Handful of cilantro stems and roots, roughly chopped
Seasoning
- 4 stalks lemongrass (outer layer, bottom root stem, and dry, top section removed)
- 1 cup garlic, roughly chopped
- 1 Tbsp kosher salt
- 1 t black pepper
- 1/2 cup cilantro stems, chopped into ¼” lengths
Marinade
- 2 Tbsp Thai fish sauce
- 3 Tbsp Thai soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp palm sugar
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 2 Tbsp water
Preparation
Dissolve the salt, sugar and 8 cups of water in a container that’s large enough to brine both chickens. Coarsely pound the garlic, peppercorns, ginger, and lemongrass in a mortar and pestle, then add to the brine along with the cilantro and green onions.
Add the chickens breast side down. If they float, weigh them down with a plate. Cover and refrigerate 6-8 hours.
Remove the chickens from the brine, drain, and pat both sides dry.
Cut the lemongrass into 1/8" slices and pound it with your mortar and pestle for about 15 seconds. Add the garlic and pound for another 20 seconds. Add the salt, pepper, cilantro stems and pound about 15 seconds more.
Divide the mixture, put one half into each chicken’s chest cavity and put the chickens in the fridge uncovered, breast side up on a baking sheet fitted with a cooling rack. Air should freely circulate around them for 6-10 hours.
Mix the fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar, pepper, and water together in a small bowl until the sugar is dissolved.
Spatchcock the birds (Google it if you’re unsure), brush both sides with the marinade and put them back into the fridge for two more hours. Refrigerate the remaining marinade.
After the chickens have marinated, set up your grill for indirect cooking by heaping charcoal on one side of the grill. (Start another chimney of charcoal; you’re going to need more coals later.) You want the grill temperature to only be about 325°F—not too hot.
Oil the grates, secure the chickens with skewers or bamboo (see photo) and place the chickens, breast up, on the grill opposite the charcoal. Close the grill and position the vents directly over the birds to pull charcoal smoke over them as they cook.
After 30 minutes, carefully flip the chickens over for 5–10 minutes to give the breasts some color, then flip them back over. Add additional coals as necessary, but don’t get the grill too hot (still 325° F)
Baste the chickens with the remainder of the marinade for about 5 to 10 minutes more, turning and rotating so they don’t burn. The skin should turn glossy, golden brown and the thigh juices will run clear when pierced.
Transfer to a cutting board, carve and serve with sticky rice and naam jim kai dipping sauce.
Naam Jim Kai dipping sauce
Pound 8 seeded and chopped Thai red chilies in a mortar and pestle. Mix the pounded chilis with ¾ cup white vinegar, ½ cup palm sugar and ½ tsp salt.
Mike McJunkin is a native Chattanoogan currently living abroad who has trained chefs, owned and operated restaurants. Join him on Facebook at facebook.com/SushiAndBiscuits