Poultry

I love a chicken salad sandwich, but I like the chicken salad itself to be full of flavor and not plain and boring. So when I make chicken salad, I start with a whole chicken because I like both white and dark meat, and because I want to have a lot of chicken salad to go around. Then I put pickles, apples, grapes, eggs, and pecans in it, so that it’s a rich, filling salad that’s great on its own with Ritz or saltine crackers, or on a toasted English muffin, or on other bread as a sandwich. Should you have any leftover barbecue chicken (see page 31) or smoked chicken (see page 40), you can scale down this recipe based on what you have and make a smaller amount of the chicken salad with the leftovers.

If you ever find yourself wondering what to do with that last pound of barbecue, I’ve got a solution for you: nachos. This is the best damn appetizer in the world, especially good for things like Super Bowl parties and poker games. You can make your own salsa, of course, but I usually just use whichever brand I happen to have in the fridge.

Deviled eggs remind me of church picnics and Fourth of July parties and just about every occasion I grew up going to where there was food involved. Of course I make my own deviled eggs, but you know I’m not going to make them like everybody else’s; I put my own stamp on them. And that means barbecue. Deviled eggs stuffed with a little of it makes them better than you’ve ever had them, I promise you that.

Fried chicken is a Southern staple, and to be a good Southern cook you better know how to make it. I do. I like to use small fresh chickens for frying because the flavor of the meat is better. And speaking of flavor, I like to fry my chicken in pure pork lard, which gives it a richness and down-home essence that vegetable oil just can’t replicate. You can buy good high-quality lard—and I’m not talking about the soapy-looking white blocks sold in some supermarkets—from any reputable butcher. What makes my fried chicken special is the mixture of spices I use—note that both chili powder and sugar are involved—and the tangy richness that buttermilk lends.

Cooking a whole chicken in the smoker is probably the easiest thing you can master. I say that a whole hog (see page 53) isn’t for beginners, but a whole chicken sure is. Whenever you cook anything in a smoker, you risk drying it out. My chickens are never dry because the pan of apple juice underneath keeps the meat tender and circulates moisture and sweetness throughout the smoker. So the chicken is smoky in flavor and melt-in-your-mouth in texture. If you are a real “skin person,” meaning the skin is your favorite part of the bird, you should know that the skin on this chicken becomes soft enough to bite through and is delicious (that said, if you prefer crunchy skin, see my fried chicken recipe on page 45). If you like to make pulled chicken sandwiches, this is the recipe you need to start with. Simply cook this chicken and then, wearing food-handling gloves, pull the chicken meat from the bones and place it on a platter. Let your guests assemble their own sandwiches with buns and your favorite garnishes, such as Basic Hickory Sauce (page 22), Mama’s Slaw (page 119), and pickles.

Nowadays chicken is cut into eight pieces: two legs, two thighs, two breasts, and two wings. Traditionally, though, when I was growing up, butchers used an eleven-piece cut: two legs, two thighs, two breasts, two wings, the neck, the back, and the wishbone. I created this recipe with the old-style cuts in mind because I like the way it gives you more pieces to enjoy and because it’s an homage to an old-fashioned way of doing things. It’s a recipe that relies on the flavors of smoke, of course, mingled with brown sugar, which caramelizes the skin. It’s a wonderful take on classic saucy-style so-called barbecue chicken. The easiest way to do this is to ask your butcher to cut up a whole chicken into eleven pieces. Then you’re done. However, if you’d like to try it yourself, I’ve included instructions opposite.

Coca-Cola was born in Atlanta in 1886, when pharmacist Dr. John Stith Pemberton took his new creation to Jacobs’ Pharmacy—where minutes after it was first sampled, it became a sensation. I love the stuff, in no small part because it’s a fantastic global brand from Georgia . . . just like me. What a lot of people outside of the South don’t realize is that Coke can be more than a “delicious and refreshing” drink; it’s a great ingredient to use in a marinade because it’s sweet and because the carbonation can be useful in tenderizing meat. It needs some balance, though, which is what the bacon does here: it adds a salty flavor and a crisp texture to the chicken. This dish is great for afternoon barbecues when you’re chilling by the pool. Serve it with your favorite potato salad (see page 116).

To me, chicken wings are a delicacy. That’s not because they’re rare—believe me when I tell you that I eat them often—but because they’re probably my favorite part of the yard bird. Wings are unique because you get two experiences in one: a drumette and what I call the “flat.” That’s two handles on one piece of meat for you to hold on to and enjoy. Wings also take very little time to prepare and cook. All you have to know is that before you cook them you have to cut off the tip, which is attached to the outer flat part of the joint. Using kitchen shears is an easy way to just lop it off—or use a sharp knife—and if you don’t feel like throwing them away, put the tips in your freezer for the next time someone’s making stock or soup.

This dish evolved when I had a good-sized holiday turkey left in the refrigerator. Somehow no one ever wants the wings. They’re too big to gnaw on politely at the table, and the meat is hard to carve delicately into slices for sandwiches later. So they sit in the fridge, getting drier each day. But don’t let that happen, because they make very good eating for one or two when they are properly reconstituted. And I found that well-flavored dried beans did the trick.

This dish has much of the flavor of a cassoulet but is considerably simpler, because it uses ready-cooked duck-leg confit, which is obtainable today in most good markets and can also be ordered online.

Here is a good way to use up leftover chicken that makes a full, satisfying meal.

It’s hard to beat a good chicken salad, and it is open to variations, so you need not get tired of it. I prefer a chicken salad that isn’t smothered in so much mayonnaise that you can’t taste much else, so I tend to go easy on the mayo and temper it with a little yogurt. But play with the dressing to suit your own taste.

Don’t throw away your chicken carcass or the package of giblets. Here’s a way of making a simple chicken stock (or broth—I use the terms interchangeably) that you’ll be using in all kinds of soups. This will produce only about 4 cups, so you may want to freeze the chicken elements until you have enough to make at least twice that amount.

If you’ve tasted a well-made avgolemono with its velvety texture and lemony flavor, you’ll long to make it at home. And it’s so simple, particularly if you’ve just boned a chicken breast and have the rib cage handy, or if you have some chicken broth in your freezer.

I can’t resist a piece of calf’s liver when I see it—all too infrequently—in the meat counter. It’s even better if you get it from a considerate butcher who will cut an even-sized 1/4-inch slice and spare you the finicky job of removing the outside membrane. Liver in a winey sauce is particularly good on a cold winter night; somehow I always feel my red corpuscles are strengthened by its rich meatiness. I like it with some potatoes alongside. If you have a couple of cooked potatoes, you can brown them in a little butter while the liver cooks, or if you don’t have them on hand, try grating a medium raw potato through the coarse holes of a grinder and make a quick potato pancake.

People often asked me, as I was writing this book, What should I do with chicken breasts? I think they want to cook chicken breasts because they are lean (therefore supposedly good for you) and quick to prepare, but there’s that persistent problem that there are inevitably two to a package, too much for a single meal. Frankly, I see that not as a problem but as an asset, because, again, you have something to play with for a second round. Here is a basic recipe for cooking the chicken so that it is flavorful and not dried out; it can be varied in as many ways as there are vegetables in season. I confess that I prefer dark chicken meat over light; if you feel the same way, just substitute two leg-thigh pieces for the breast meat, and cook about 5 minutes longer.