Chicken!

Many times I write at least part of my blog posts in advance of actually making the food.  This is especially true when I'm making something big, or that I'm not really familiar with.  I write my recipe, along with any (in theory funny) stories I might have in advance of actually doing the cooking.  Then, when I'm cooking, I don't have to take extensive notes.  I can just make any quick changes to the recipe, type up my reactions, and I'm done!

I'm very nervous to do that with this post.

The last time I did that, I had a glorious post planned and partially written about chicken.  I was just getting home from San Francisco, and I hadn't eaten really anything good the whole time I was there.  I was stressed, I wanted comfort food, and I wanted it now.  Chicken, in it's many forms, is my comfort food, and is an important staple at our house.  I was going to include several different recipes.

That post ended badly.

But, I have a brand new grill and all is well in the world!

I like chicken in all of it's varieties, but fried chicken is one of my favorites.  It's not something I make very often.  I would like to say that I don't make it because it's bad for you, but really I don't make it because it's hard - and it never tastes as good as it does from a restaurant.  There's this place by my house called Gold Rush Chicken, and they have the best fried chicken ever.  If you don't get it home fast enough, the grease will literally melt through the bottom of the bucket.  It's awesome.  I can feel my arteries clogging just thinking about it.  You can't duplicate that effect using any ingredients I'm willing to buy.

Plus I want to use my new grill.  Can fried chicken be grilled?  Can grilled chicken be fried?  Google says it can!  And, if there's one thing writing a blog has taught me, it's that EVERYTHING ON THE INTERNET IS TRUE.  Honest.  You need to be a credible source to post on the internet.  No lies allowed. 

After checking out and combining a few recipes, here is the one I came up with.  This was AMAZING.  Per Jeff, it was the best chicken I have made yet, and I have made a LOT of chicken:

Grilled Fried Chicken

1 4(ish) pound chicken (L)
1 can or bottle beer (L) (Oh the joys of living in Milwaukee!!)

Egg Wash:
1/2 cup milk (L)
1 egg (L)

Breading:

1/2 cup corn meal
1/2 cup Tapioca flour (L)
1 cup stale bread, crushed into fine crumbs (L)
1 1/2 tbsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp paprika 
1 tsp minced thyme (L*)
1 tbsp minced oregano (L*)

Cut chicken into serving sized pieces, and place into a gallon size freezer bag.  Pour in beer, and allow chicken to soak several hours, or overnight.

In two separate bowls, mix together egg wash and breading ingredients.  Dip chicken into egg wash, then into breading, then grill as you would grill normal chicken.

I served it with grilled mushrooms (L) and zucchini (L*), tomatoes (L) and cucumbers (L).

It's zucchini time.  You've been warned.