Name: Grilled Half Chicken With Ginger and Garlic
Cook time: 45 minutes
Total time: 55 minutes
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: ½ cup soy sauce; 2 Tbsp. sake; 2 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger; 4 cloves grated garlic; 2 tsp. tobanjan; 2 Tbsp. packed brown sugar; 1 tsp. salt; 2 half chickens (3 to 4 pounds total)

Two grilled ginger garlic half chickens on a platter being served with rice.

Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Judy Haubert

Preparing half chickens on the grill reveals the beauty of cooking chicken with the bones intact. Even though you’re grilling this chicken for 30 minutes, it will turn out tender, incredibly flavorful—and never dry. Thank the bones for that. Keep the grill covered to create radiant heat that will penetrate the thickest parts of the bird and cook it evenly.

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Recipe information

Total Time
55 minutes
Yield
Serves 4

Ingredients

½ cup soy sauce

2 Tbsp. sake

2 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger

4 cloves grated garlic

2 tsp. tobanjan

2 Tbsp. packed brown sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 half chickens (3 to 4 pounds total)

Preparation

Step 1
Mix together the soy sauce, sake, ginger, garlic, tobanjan, brown sugar, and salt in a bowl to make the marinade. Pour three-fourths of the marinade into a baking dish or rimmed sheet pan; reserve the rest. Lay the chicken in the marinade and flip the halves four times to generously coat all over. Use a rubber spatula or your hands to make sure all the crevices are well coated. Marinate the chicken halves for 10 minutes, turning once.
Step 2
Preheat a grill to medium. Grill the chicken, covered, for about 35 minutes. Start by grilling skin side down for about two minutes. Flip the chicken and brush on the reserved marinade.
Step 3
Flip the chicken about every seven minutes, brushing on more marinade after each turn. The chickens are done when very juicy with meat pulling away from the bone. Rest the chicken for five minutes, cut into serving pieces, and serve.

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Reprinted with permission from The Japanese Grill by Tadashi Ono & Harris Salat. Copyright © 2011 by Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat; food photographs copyright © 2011 by Todd Coleman. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Penguin Random House. Buy the full book from Penguin Random House or Amazon.