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No. 19PeruvianChickenKamado Joe

Pollo a la Brasa

however I've never really made an amazing bqb chicken

John Drummond

A whole mahogany-skinned chicken turning on a rotisserie spit inside an open red ceramic kamado, a black rotisserie ring and motor at the side, lump charcoal glowing at the back and a drip pan beneath
Prep50min
Cook1hr 10min
All up

2hr+ 18–24 hours

Serves4
LevelMedium

Mise en place

What you need

Tick each one off as it goes in.

The bird, the night before

The paste

The panca fat

Ají verde

Salsa criolla

Chips and the plate

Makes 4 serves

We buy rotisserie ones from Woolworths and they are always pretty good, we buy from chicken hub in Aberfoyle park and they are great -- however I've never really made an amazing bqb chicken. I've tried all sorts of recipes and none of them have really been amazing. Anything with smoke in the kamodo just comes out not that nice -- smoke and chicken don't really go hand in hand. Charcoal, yes.

So this is Peru's: pollo a la brasa, the bird the pollerías of Lima turn over charcoal all day. Garlic, cumin, ají panca, dark beer and soy, with a green sauce and chips.

What it came down to: - The skin is the bite you remember, so it's kept dry. The bird is salted bare the night before and left uncovered. The paste goes under the skin, never on it, and the skin goes into the oven bare. Wet skin makes leather. - The paste is cooked. Garlic bloomed blonde with the cumin, then dark ale and soy reduced into it. Sweet garlic and malt, and no water to steam the skin from underneath. Brown garlic is bitter: start again. - A small bird. At 1.5 kg the breast is thin enough to reach a proper 75°C without drying out while the thighs catch up. - One lacquer, late. When the skin is dry and taut, it gets a single brush of panca fat, strained so there's nothing in it to burn, and then the heat goes up. - No smoke, ever. No wood chunks and no fat flare-ups. The charcoal flavour on the Big Joe comes from radiant heat off clean lump.

The plate matters as much as the bird. The ají verde gets its Peruvian flavour from huacatay (black mint) and ají amarillo. The salsa criolla is cold and sharp, to cut through the fat. And the chips are fried twice.

Ají panca, ají amarillo and huacatay pastes come in jars from Latin grocers and online. Chile Mojo in SA stocks them.

The oven is the base. The Big Joe on the JoeTisserie is the Next Level. Same bird, same paste, same sauces: only the fire changes.

It hasn't been made in this exact form yet.

AI reviewed by Grok, Codex & Claude

The method

Twelve moves.

  1. Chicken, Salt

    The night before. Don't wash it. Cut out the backbone with kitchen shears and press the bird flat. Keep the backbone for stock. Pat it dry. Loosen the skin over the breasts and thighs with your fingers. Mix the salt and MSG. Rub 7 g of the mix under the skin onto the meat, 4 g over the skin and 3 g on the underside. Skin up, on a rack, uncovered, bottom shelf of the fridge. 18–24 hours.

  2. Paste, Cook

    Wide pan, low heat, the oil. Garlic in, 2 minutes, stirring, until pale blonde. Never brown. If it browns, bin it and start again. Cumin, pepper, oregano and rosemary in for 30 seconds. Then the ale and soy. Reduce 8–12 minutes, until a spatula dragged through leaves a path. Off the heat and cool below 30°C. Stir in the ají panca, ají amarillo and vinegar. Taste it. Garlicky, malty, savoury. Not sour, not bitter.

  3. Chicken, Paste

    4–8 hours before you cook. Work all the paste under the skin, over the breasts and thighs, and smear what's left on the underside. Wipe the skin completely clean. Paste on the skin burns. Back on the rack in the fridge, uncovered.

  4. Ají Verde, Blend

    Blend everything smooth, with a splash of cold water if it needs it to pour. Fridge 30 minutes, then taste. Add huacatay to 8 g only if it still tastes of plain coriander mayo. Any more is perfume.

  5. Panca Fat, Make

    In a clean pan that has never touched the raw bird. Fat, ají panca, garlic and cumin together, very low heat, 8–10 minutes, until the sputtering settles and it's brick-red. The garlic stays blonde. Strain it through a fine sieve. Bin the solids: solids burn. Never store garlic in fat. Bin what's left after dinner.

  6. Oven, Render

    Oven to 165°C fan. Bird skin up on a rack over a dry tray. No water, no butter, no basting. Legs to the back of the oven. Door shut. Start probing both breasts and both inner thighs at 40 minutes.

  7. Chips, First Fry

    While it renders. Cut the potatoes into 12 mm batons. Rinse, soak 20 minutes, dry them hard. Fry at 150°C for 6–8 minutes in batches, until soft and still pale. Out onto a rack.

  8. Skin, Lacquer

    When the skin is dry and taut and the coolest breast reads 66–70°C. Brush on 6–8 g of the panca fat, thin. Oven up to 220°C fan. 5–10 minutes, until the coolest breast reads 75°C and both thighs 79–82°C next to the bone. Pull it the moment it hits 75°C. If a thigh lags, put a small piece of foil on the breast only. If a spot is going black, it's done.

  9. Chicken, Rest

    10 minutes on the rack, uncovered. No foil: foil steams the skin soft.

  10. Chips, Second Fry

    During the rest. 190°C, 2–4 minutes, until deep gold and crisp. Salt straight away. No fryer: the Ninja Crispi, 5.7 L glass with the crisper plate, Air Fry at 200°C, one layer at a time with a spoon of oil, shaken twice. Lesser chips, but still good.

  11. Criolla, Dress

    15 minutes before eating. Slice the onion paper-thin. 10 minutes in iced water, drain and squeeze dry. Toss with everything else. Any earlier and the onion goes limp.

  12. Chicken, Carve

    Legs off and split at the joint, breasts off the bone and halved, so everyone gets white and dark meat. Skin up. Never pour juices over the skin. The ají verde and criolla go in bowls, with the tomato, a pinch of salt and lime wedges. Chips on the side. Soy and beer contain gluten. A gluten-free version needs tamari and a gluten-free beer. The mayo has egg and the evaporated milk is dairy. Nothing that touched the raw bird goes on the table.

Next level

On the Big Joe JoeTisserie

Optional · no new ingredients · +30 min

The Big Joe on the Kamado Joe JoeTisserie. The same bird, paste, panca fat and sauces. The only changes are that you leave the bird whole and cook it on the spit over lump charcoal.

Don't spatchcock it. Salt it whole the night before, the same way, with some in the cavity. Truss it tight: wings and legs tied in, because a loose leg flops into the fire. Put it on the spit and balance it.

Lump charcoal only. No wood, no chips, no deflector plates. Bank the coals at the back, parallel to the spit, a little deeper behind the legs and shallower behind the breast. Put a dry drip pan under the bird and leave it there the whole cook: fat on the coals means soot on the skin. Wait for the start-up smoke to clear, then settle the dome at 160–170°C. The ring leaks air, so run the vents more closed than usual. Lid down, spit turning, no basting. The turning is the baste.

Probe from 50 minutes, with the motor stopped for each reading. When the coolest breast reads 67–70°C and the skin is dry, stop the spit, brush on the panca fat, and start it again. Lift the lid, open the vents and stand there. The rear bank roars, and the turning skin blisters in the open radiant heat. A few minutes: pull it when the coolest breast reads 75°C and the thighs 79–82°C. Walk away and it goes black in patches. About 65–90 minutes all up. Rest it 10 minutes uncovered, then carve as above.

Keep wandering

From the same volume.

No. 14Asiago Chicken PastaItalian · 40 minNo. 15Filipino Pork SkewersFilipino · 55 minNo. 16Gochujang-Lime Flat Iron SteakAsian · 25 minNo. 17Mojo Beef SkewersCuban · 55 min

Pollo a la Brasaserves 4 · 2 hr + 18–24 hours