Firehouse BBQ Chicken

Spicy but not overly so.. This chicken was sold as dinners for fund raising by the local VFD for decades until their funding was set via a property tax assessment. My dad was a founding member and “burned” many a chicken half over the years. A lot of work but oh so good. Typically served with coleslaw, baked potato, baked beans, a cheap white bread bun and dessert.

Difficulty: Intermediate

Servings: enough sauce for 50 or so

Prep Time: several hours   Cook Time: approximately 2.5 hours  

Ingredients

2 – 2 1/4 pound chicken split shells

Sauce:
Vinegar (cider or distilled is ok) 2 gallons
Lemon juice 2 quarts
Tomato juice 46 oz
Tomato catsup 24 oz
Worchester sauce 10 oz
salt 1 1/2 cups
sugar 1 cup
Black pepper (ground) 4 oz
Red pepper (ground) 3 oz
Margarine 3 sticks

Directions

Prepare the sauce by mixing all the sauce ingredients in a large non-reactive pot and warming slowly until all the items are melted, dissolved and mixed together (can be done the day before – sauce keeps weeks when chilled).

Place the chicken skin side up on a grill.
Mop liberally with the above sauce.
Turn every 5 minutes.
Mop with sauce.
Turn again.
Mop again.

Check for doneness by pulling the drumstick (if it moves easily it’s done), if not done repeat.
Usually takes about 2.5 hours.

Sauce courtesy of Gwen Shermer (God rest his soul).

When the FD did this they also cooked the livers and gizzards in a cast iron fp with the sauce (too much for me).

A rayon mop with the handle shortened works well as the sauce mop.

Categories: Crowd-Size, Main Dish, Poultry, Sauces

Submitted by: tractor57 on May 16, 2010