Author Topic: The legend of my "DAMN IT!!" Chicken  (Read 1225 times)

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Offline DoomsmokeBBQ

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The legend of my "DAMN IT!!" Chicken
« Reply #-1 on: October 14, 2017, 03:47:22 AM »
 First off .. it's good to finally post again :) ..its' been a crazy month, but here I am still Q'ing away.

 Happy October ...my favorite time of the year and of course it marks the anniversary of the very first recipe I was ever to call my own .. , my infamous "Damn it!" chicken, a recipe with a tale to be told behind it. It was when I first began getting into BBQ and still worshipping a "recipe", a trait people do when they are new to cooking, they look at a recipe and swear by every step and ingredient it calls for and take no substitutes nor let themselves get creative or learn from it. Nowadays I see recipes as guidelines and sources of inspiration .. I read from top to bottom before I begin anything and study the ideas if I'm not familiar with the methods , but of course ...this was not the case back then.

 I had a friend coming over and I wanted to cook her up some chicken thighs , I reached for one of my books to find a recipe for a sauce to glaze them at the end of cooking. I immediately began the recipe and shortly noticed I had none of the main crucial ingredients, it was Coca-Cola based sauce ..and I didn't even have coke in the house...well just DAMN IT !! (hence the name of the chicken !) . I didn't trust my own wits in a kitchen yet ..so of course I panicked ..but I really wanted a sauce to happen with this bird and eventually allowed myself to substitute with what I had on hand. The Coca-Cola was now Root Beer and everything else was substituted as well ..the sauce eventually became something entirely different and I was very nervous for the out come and The challenges didn't stop there, I realized too late I didn't have a chicken rub or seasoning for the chicken .. there was only a beef rub that I hadn't even tried yet on beef or anything yet , it was all that was there that seemed appropriate to season the chicken with , so I did. 

   I lit the weber kettle for medium heat for indirect cooking (about 325 to 350) with mesquite lump charcoal , I set the seasoned thighs away from the heat and allowed them to cook indirectly. I was nervous the entire cook ..worrying the beef rub would be too assertive for the chicken , but things where smelling incredible as they were cooking along. I checked the pit and saw incredible color and the skin was looking crisp with some of the coarse spices speckled through out , it had me feeling a bit more confident ..however the real trick I became proud of was moving them over to the direct heat side where the fire was just hot enough yet still medium to crisp the skins of the thigh's even more without any flare ups , resulting into some of the best looking chicken I ever seen!. It was time for dinner ..and began making my guest her plate and suddenly noticed ...I forgot the sauce....DAMN IT AGAIN !,  I had no choice ..sauce had to be on the side rather then glazed. Finally the moment of truth  my friend took a bite ..and was astounded by the results ... "Daaaaamn!" was the first thing she said , she even mentioned she hated skin on bone in chicken but never had it done like this before and was glad I kept sauce on side cause she loved the spices and crisp skin and found dipping the meat into the sauce made it more balanced. Things only got better from there , I made it for family and more friends with the same reactions that they all thought it was some of the best chicken they ever had, I even made batches of the sauce and rub requested by guests! ... I dubbed it my "Damn it" chicken because of how many times I said "Damn it!" when I first made it , It was it's own thing now ..and I couldn't be more happy to call it my own :).


 I was young and still learning when I first made my Damn it chicken ..I eventually went on to create other recipes and grew as a cook and it's been year's since I made it again until yesterday I decided to bring it back for old time's sake with the years of experience I have now. The result's where nostalgic but also a reminder of how far I have gone and would of never guessed back then that I'd still be making BBQ now , it was a bit emotional ..but hey I'm a proud cook/chef/pitmaster :)

 Oh and my cookbook source that the sauce came from is secret! .. but even if it wasn't it is no longer in print, thankfully I still have it today still in good shape!.  Bottom line ..it's a Texas style rub , lots of black pepper & some chilies with a Root Beer based Barbecue sauce.

 Thanks for reading !!
WeberQ22inch

Offline hikerman

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Re: The legend of my "DAMN IT!!" Chicken
« on: October 14, 2017, 07:09:06 AM »
Great story and equally good looking chicken thighs!

Offline smokeasaurus

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Re: The legend of my "DAMN IT!!" Chicken
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2017, 08:20:25 AM »
Great story and equally good looking chicken thighs!

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Offline tomcrete1

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Re: The legend of my "DAMN IT!!" Chicken
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2017, 08:35:21 AM »
Great story and equally good looking chicken thighs!

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Offline RG

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Re: The legend of my "DAMN IT!!" Chicken
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2017, 12:16:45 PM »
I shall add the sequential X4 but DAMN IT MAN! We need the recipe for that DAMN IT Chicken! LOL You can't just tease us like that ;)
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