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Video: Smoky, tangy chicken and ribs

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    >>> this morning on "today's kitchen" we're going back to basics with great ideas for your labor day barbecue. our barbecue expert is the designer and creator of the pellet cooker grill.

    >> that's right. we've also got chris lilly, the pit master of bib bob gibson 's barbecue in decatur, alabama. good morning to both of you.

    >> nice to have you here.

    >> thank you for the opportunity to come.

    >> let me spin off to fast eddie . you talk about these grills and these things smoke, barbecue, they grill, they do everything. the star is the wood pellets , though, isn't it?

    >> they're pressed saw dust is what they are and they're eco-friendly, considered carbon neutral. 500 btus and come in apple, hickory, cherry, maple.

    >> you like to say gas only comes in one flavor and that's no flavor.

    >> exactly.

    >> there you go. that's what you're cooking with here. you like to use indirect heat a lot. we have direct and indirect. you can cook over the char broiler or indirect like the slow cook of your ribs.

    >> let's talk about some ribs here. you do this the night before you're going to cook them you rub them with brown sugar .

    >> i use a light brown sugar, rub them overnight. that sugar will melt down and then it will be a nice, sweet undertone flavor to your ribs.

    >> right before you cook them, 30 minutes , you put the rub on. the ingredients of your rub we're going to put on our website because there are a lot of them. it's a pretty complex rub. put it on 30 minutes before and then you cook them and then when do you put the glaze on? we'll put the ingredients of the glaze on as well.

    >> the last 15 minutes so you don't burn it. and all you're doing is just packing it up so it sticks to the ribs really nice.

    >> when i direct people to our website, check it out. this is a recipe that got you a perfect score in a competition, right?

    >> the 2000 world barbecue championships here in lebanon, tennessee, a 180. thank you.

    >> there you go. i have chris lilly over here with something that's ceramic. what's the advantage of working with this?

    >> it's a ceramic grill and runs off charcoal. charcoal means flavor. the charcoal adds another dimension to your barbecue. and what better way to capture it than on a ceramic grill? it has several advantages. it has insulation, multiwalled insulation right here so it's huggable. you can actually get down there and it's hot on the outside but it's cool inside. also, it's the most efficient cooker on the market. it burns very little charcoal which means less airflow which means the moisture stays in your cooker which means moist, juicy ribs and chicken. and talk about ribs and chicken, what i've got here is a slab of ribs that's been cooking for about two hours with a nice dry rub on it. we're going to bump it up a notch, though, mix apple sider, honey, apple jelly and brown sugar . we're going to pour it over the top . pour it right over the top of that rib. plus a little extra added love. this is the dry rub and seasoning that we initially put on the rib. we're going to wrap it up.

    >> put it back in for how long?

    >> it's going to go on for about another hour until it gets tender. next we've got our chicken. oh, look at this. this is an airline chicken breast with basil butter.

    >> why do you call it airline chicken?

    >> it has the one drummette bone here. they say that back in the '50s and '60s this fit nicely in the little airline compartment and it made the chicken look bigger. but basically you can do it with a skin-on chicken breast , salt, pepper, you baste it with basil butter over the top and look at this.

    >> look at this right here. look how it tastes. look at the juice coming right off of that.

    >> that's fantastic.

    >> it looks amazing. lesser?

    >> fast eddie , thank you very much. guys on the crew, jump in because jim bell 's hovering here.

    >> uh-oh.

    >> you will not get any.

TODAY recipes
updated 8/31/2010 10:26:34 AM ET 2010-08-31T14:26:34

Recipe: Airline chicken breast

Ingredients
  • 4 airline chicken breasts (skin on breast with only the wing drummette attached)
  • Kosher salt
  • Black pepper
  • Basil butter
  • 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
Preparation

With a sharp knife, remove the bones and cartilage from the underside of the chicken breast.  The only bone left in the breast should be the drummette bone. 

Season the chicken breasts lightly on both sides with salt and black pepper. 

Build a charcoal and/or wood fire on one side of grill, leaving the other side void. This will create two cooking zones; indirect and direct. The heat over the coals should be very hot, approximately 450 to 500 degrees.

Melt the butter in a small pan.  Add the basil and mix well.  Place the chicken breasts directly over the coals, skin side down and baste with half the basil butter. 

Grill the chicken for 5 minutes or until the skin is golden brown and crisp.  Transfer the chicken to a shallow baking pan skin side up and place it over the void side of the grill.

Baste with the remaining basil butter.

Cover the grill and cook with indirect heat (approximately 400 degrees) for an additional 35 minutes.  The internal temperature of chicken breast should reach 160 degrees.

Serving

Slice the chicken breast across the skin and into small medallions to serve.

Serving Size

Serves 4

Recipe: Apple cider ribs

Ingredients
  • 2 slabs loin back ribs (baby back)
  • Dry rub
  • 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
  • 4 teaspoons garlic salt
  • 4 teaspoons chili powder
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
  • Liquid seasoning
  • 1/2 cup apple cider
  • 1/4 cup apple jelly
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon dry rub mix (above)
  • 1 cup Big Bob Gibson Championship Red Sauce (substitute favorite BBQ sauce)
Preparation

Remove the membrane from the back of the rib.  In a small bowl, combine the dry rub ingredients and mix well.  Reserve 1 tablespoon of the rub for the liquid seasoning mixture.  Generously apply the dry rub onto the front and back sides of ribs. Gently pat to ensure that the rub will adhere.

Build a charcoal fire for indirect cooking by situating the coals on only one side of the grill, leaving the other side void.  Add a small aluminum pan to the void side of the grill and fill it half way with water.  When the charcoal grill reaches 250 degrees, place ribs meat-side up on grill grate and cook over indirect heat for 2 hours 15 minutes. 

Remove the ribs from the grill. Place each rib meat-side down on its own doubled aluminum foil square.  The foil should be large enough to completely wrap each rib.  Mix the liquid seasoning in a small bowl.  Pour ½ cup of the liquid over each rib.  At the same time, tightly wrap and seal each rib with aluminum foil.  Place the wrapped ribs back in cooker for 1 hour at 250 degrees.

Remove the ribs from the charcoal grill, unwrap and discard foil.  Brush finishing glaze on both sides of the ribs.  Place the ribs back on the grill for 15 minutes, or until sauce caramelizes.

Serving Size

Serves 4-6

Recipe: Fast Eddy's chicken

Ingredients
  • Chicken breasts
  • Brine
  • 1 cup of Kosher salt
  • 1 cup of honey
  • 1/2 cup of roasted garlic rice wine vinegar
  • 4 quarts of water
Preparation

Mix ingredients together in a pot bring to a boil and then chill.

Brine chicken overnight.

Add rib rub from other recipe and grill indirect at 400 degrees for 40 minutes.

Finish on charbroiler with a brushing of unsalted melted butter on both side. Take the bones off after cooking.

Tips

Eddy likes using the breast because it's a leaner piece of meat.

Recipe: Fast Eddy's ribs

Ingredients
  • Rib rub
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup Hungarian paprika
  • 1/2 cup Lawry's seasoning salt
  • 2 tablespoons garlic salt
  • 1 tablespoon allspice
  • 1 tablespoon cumin
  • 1 tablespoon onion salt
  • 1 tablespoon freshly and coarsely ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon celery seed
  • Rib glaze
  • One 18-ounce bottle KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1 cup water
  • 3 slabs of baby back ribs
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
Preparation

For the rub:

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

To make the glaze:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Put in a foil pan and cook the glaze in the smoker for 3 hours (while you cook the ribs).

Remove, cover with foil, and reserve.

To make the ribs:

Rub the slabs all over with the brown sugar and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning prepare the cooker for indirect grilling at 275 degrees using pecan wood for flavor.

Rub the ribs with Fast Eddy's rib rub 30 minutes prior to cooking.

Put the ribs in the smoker meaty side up for approximately 3 hours.

They are done when the meat starts to separate when you pick up the middle of the rack with tongs.

Brush both sides with Fast Eddy's Rib Glaze 10 minutes before taking them off the smoker.

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