There’s just something about grilled chicken that makes me smile. Not really sure why but I love it. I’m always looking for new ways to spice up the blank canvas that is chicken. Garlic ginger grilled chicken is the latest addition to my palette.
Garlic ginger grilled chicken is wonderful in it’s simplicity
This is a simple recipe. But sometimes simple is great. Japanese cooking in general is all about relatively simple ingredients and incredible attention to detail. This is no different. There’s nowhere to hide. No sticky barbecue sauce to hide the fact you burned your chicken. There’s nothing to it except your grilling skills. Mix up a marinade. Grill. Baste. Eat. But the flavours are anything but simple. Savoury, assertive, salty, delicious.
A few grilling tricks for success
There’s sugar in the marinade. Sugar burns. That’s why putting barbecue sauce on early is pretty much a guarantee of golden black chicken. Add a few flare-ups and it’s cinder chicken. Nobody wants that. Medium heat. Giving yourself a cooler safety zone to move the chicken out of harms way. Close attention to what you are doing. These are the keys to success every time. Set things up so you have a medium zone and low zone. Start the chicken skin side down over direct heat for the first two minutes to get a bit of colour and some grill marks. Then move it to the safe zone and cook it there. Maybe bring it back over the medium zone a couple times along the way but don’t leave it there to burn. Vigilance is key. Garlic ginger grilled chicken is an easy way to bring the flavours of Japan to your backyard.
