My question Mark asked me recently why I can't make crispy chicken on the grill like I do in the oven (see A Few of My Favorite Wings). You see, not only is it too hot to have the oven blazing for 50 minutes, it's also a pain to clean up (resulting in running the oven's clean cycle for another 3 hours. I should mention that it was also a Sunday, and his philosophy is that Sunday is a great day for experimenting with new recipes, because ostensibly you have all day to shop, cook and clean up - yay! Anyway, it was a good question although I hadn't a clue to the exact answer, it was a mystery I was sure I could solve as I knew I had motive, means and opportunity. Afterall, it was a matter of investigating the right meat (dark likely so it would dry out), the right oil (I had used the usual suspect in the past - vegetable thinking it must be able to hold up under the scrutiny of high heat) and time and temp (the perfect accomplices). All it took was a bit of leg work. Chicken legs, rubbed with olive oil and salt, on a very hot grill, for 30 minutes. The photo is all the proof you need.
A wheel or umbrella series (that's fancy TV talk), episodes rotated between three of the finest investigative crime drama entertainment ever aired. Of course I am referring to McMillan and Wife, Columbo and McCloud. As a kid, I fell in love with the hunky San Francisco Police Commissioner and his young kooky bride and their acerbic maid, the rumpled raincoat cigar chewing LAPD homicide detective, and the fish out of water cowboy lawman fighting crime in New York City. The diagnosis was almost always murder and the guilty party was brought to justice in a just an hour and a half without the use of forensics or DNA. There's just one more thing, don't do the crime if you can't do the time. Don't do it.
The Recipe:
4 pounds chicken legs or drumsticks (which could be used as a murder weapon)
4 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. ground black pepper
6 tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. lemon juice
Vegetable oil or spray for the grill
Mix the salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon in a large bowl. Dip the chicken legs in your olive oil mixture and rub the mixture into the chicken, getting under the skin as much as possible. Grease your grill with vegetable oil using a cloth to spread it. Turn the grill to the highest temperature, allowing it at least 10 minutes to preheat. Put the chicken on the hot grill. Cook on high for about five minutes then turn the chicken over and cook for another five minutes.
Turn the grill to low, place the cover on and cook the chicken for another 25 to 30 minutes or until browned and crispy (but not burned beyond recognition) turning once or twice as needed.
Place on a rack to drain juices before serving to keep crispy.
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