Lemon Barbecued Chicken
It is amazing how slow farmers are to change their ways—I can say that, because I am a farmer. When we first started processing chickens we sold them whole and there were no questions asked. Then after a while people started to ask for just breast meat, or just thighs and legs. We apologized, but said we only sell whole chickens. A little over ten years later we partnered with a broth making business—and they just needed the backs! That opened the way for us to sell breasts, legs, thighs, backs, and wings—all packaged separately (as in only legs, only thighs, only wings, and only breasts). Then people started to ask if we offered a cut up chicken—or if we would cut a chicken up for them because they didn’t have a knife or didn’t know how. Once again we were not willing to make that change, but a few weeks ago I decided that it was time to offer cut up chicken—all packaged together. We call it the 8-pack. You get 2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 legs, and 2 wings all packaged together and ready to cook. Forget about asking Google how to cut up a chicken—I did it for you! I will admit that having a chicken already cut up saves a good 20 minutes of dinner prep.
One of my favorite ways to cook a cut up chicken—when I am not frying it, is to broil it (or grill if you prefer) and top it with a Lemon Barbeque sauce. Talk about finger licking, lip smacking good—I challenge you to give it a try and tell me what you think.
Lemon Barbequed Chicken
Preheat your broiler for 10 minutes. To make the clean up easy, I remove the rack out of my broiler pan and line the pan with foil.
Season the chicken with salt , and place skin side down in the pan. Brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with paprika.
Place the pan in the broiler so that the chicken is 7” to 9” from the heat allowing the chicken to broil slowly.
Broil for 30 minutes, then turn over (skin side up) and coat with the lemon sauce. Broil for another 15 minutes.
Lemon Barbeque Sauce
1 cup butter
2 cloves, minced garlic
4 teaspoons flour (I use Cassava)
2/3 cup water
1 tablespoon maple syrup
4 teaspoons salt (I use Himalayan salt)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
6 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon dried thyme
In a saucepan melt the butter over medium heat, and sauté the garlic a few minutes. Stir in the flour until smooth, and then add the rest of the ingredients. Stir constantly until the sauce thickens. Remove from the stove and use.