I’ve been a slacker! It’s not that I haven’t been cooking, but I have been cooking a lot of standard sides to go with meat Sales Guy has been cooking, so nothing noteworthy.
We did have a great weekend at the lake recently with the boat races right off our deck. We made some great ribs (no pictures) and a brisket (it was better than we have been making, but still only okay in my opinion-also no pictures) and one day we did a big chicken grill. Sales Guy has wanted to do this for years and he finally got his wish! It was delicious and he got to reenact a fun childhood memory.
This story starts with Sales Guy’s dad. I’ve debated what to call his dad on the blog. Sales Guy says Bi-Vocational Man since he has long been a Baptist Preacher as well as an Insurance/Real Estate Agent but I’m the typist and I say that is too long. Preacher Man is not quite respectful enough and Sales Guy Sr. isn’t broad enough, so I guess we’ll go with Bi-Vo Man unless someone comes up with a name I like better! Anyway, over the years, Bi-Vo Man and friends have grilled a lot of chicken. They set up concrete block rectangles and filled them with charcoal and grilled chicken halves for the masses. They cooked for Farm Bureau Insurance meetings, Church groups, Lions Club feeds and their own family reunions. They had two grates, placing the chicken on one, topping it with the other and flipping them as needed while the chicken cooked. They sometimes fed over 100 people! This project was fascinating to little Sales Guy and he has often talked about doing it. And now he has!
We didn’t have quite 100 people, more like 25 and Sales Guy did NOT want to haul concrete blocks down 20 step to the BBQ site 4 weeks after his carpal tunnel surgery, so he and his friend Cookbook Guy went to our local steel processor (I know, overkill, but it was an important project) and had them make a grate on legs (1 foot tall, which they later decided was too tall, so Cookbook Guy and his handsome son had to dig in the rock that is our lake soil. Ouch.). It is fancy. Let’s just say we could have bought a LOT of chicken at KFC!
Bi-Vo Man brought the chickens and came to pass the baton. It was a beautiful cool-ish June day, the chicken cooked perfectly, with lots of TLC by all of the supervising chefs. We cooked 25 chicken halves (I didn’t ask what happened to the extra half-well I did, but I didn’t get a straight answer-I think the catfish or carp might be feeding on it) for 25 people! Lots of leftovers-but that’s for another post.
And Sale Guy got to have his big grilled chicken feed….he is already planning the next one!
Grilled Chicken Halves
Print recipe
Ingredients
- 10 Medium Chickens (Halved)
BBQ Sauce
- 1 cup Ketchup
- 3/4 cups Brown Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
- 1 tablespoon Mustard
- 1 teaspoon Seasoned Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon Onion Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Liquid Smoke
Dip
- 1 quart Vegetable Oil
- 1 quart Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1/2 cup Lemon Juice
- 1 tablespoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Pepper
Directions
| Step 1 | |
| Prepare charcoal per package instructions. | |
| Dip | |
| Step 2 | |
| Mix Dip ingredients, stirring well and place in a deep stockpot. | |
| Step 3 | |
| Dip washed chicken halves in Dip mixture and place on grate over hot coals. Grill 1 to 2 hours, turning occasionally. | |
| BBQ Sauce | |
| Step 4 | |
|
Prepare BBQ sauce. Mix all ingredients; heat in microwave for one minute, stir and heat another minute. Add a dash of hot sauce or cayenne pepper, for a little spice. We used 4 recipes of this sauce for 25 chicken halves. |  |
| Step 5 | |
| Spread sauce on chickens and cook for another 45 minutes to 1 hour until done, turning occasionally. Continue to add sauce until last 15 minutes of cooking. | |
Daughter #1 is sorry we missed this – looking forward to the next one!
Cool post! We’ll be there for the next one!
Funny name!
yes, i like the hopeful son in law name, too.
Can’t wait to see what you did with all the leftovers!
We ate some last weekend. Post to follow. I’m still trying out to figure out what to do with the rest!!
Well, we have been eagerly awaiting your next post, POSTER GIRL!, since you have been missing in action for a while. Thanks for reminding me of a nice childhood memory as well with the big chicken bake. I have attended many of those grilled chicken “events” as a kid. I do like the name Bi-Vo dad! Hoping the name sticks. Hopefully, we can make it for the next family lake event. Sorry we missed the boat races. The big difference I remember though, is the concrete blocks made it more of a standing height, rather than having to bend over to the chickens. The leftover cement blocks one time became our new sandbox, as i recall…..
We missed you #504!! See you next time!
yes, texas was calling….