Good Frickin Chicken on the grill.
There was a place in San Francisco called Goood Frickin’ Chicken (note the extra O; we’re not stealing anybody’s name here) that served an addictive middle eastern grilled chicken that had been heavily marinated in spices, oil and acid. Sadly, it closed earlier this year after a long COVID-induced decline. Here is our pretty good approximation of their recipe. We used a whole spatchcock chicken because that’s what they sold, but thighs or breasts would work just as well and would be easier to manage*. Marinade is sufficient for 4 pounds of chicken in any form.
Ingredients:
4 lb whole spatchcock chicken or 4 lbs individual chicken parts
6 garlic cloves
3/8 c olive oil
2 T zata’ar (we used a mix from Teeny Tiny Spice Co, would also trust Penzey’s )
1 T ground sumac (omit and use more lemon juice if you don’t have it)
1 T lemon juice (increase to 2 T if not using sumac)
1 ½ t kosher salt
½ t ground black pepper (or maybe more)
Method: Spatchcock the chicken, removing backbone and giblets and saving for another use. Grind garlic cloves with dry spices in a mini-chop, then add oil and lemon juice in several batches (add, mix, then add more). Rub marinade into chicken and refrigerate at least 4 hours but no longer than 24 hours… these flavors are pretty intense. Grill until tender but not dry and serve with pita and a cucumber salad.
*Grilling a whole chicken is a challenge because the breast cooks faster than thighs and legs. The SF place didn’t have this problem because their chickens were much smaller and cooked quickly. Our Weber Genesis has three heat zones and we did not turn on the top zone, so the temperature was lower for cooking the breast area.
I’ve seen frickin’ chicken on menus as a cute name for chicken fricassee or chicken and biscuits, but if ordered fricken’ chicken and got what you described, I’d be very happy! Cornell chicken kicked up a notch. The mysterious zata’ar which sounds like a scifi villain is good on eggs and corn on the cob and other odd things. Extra sumac? Why not? In terms of spatchcocked, my father once pointed out as I was “butterflying” a chicken that it would make more sense to leave the breastbone and remove the backbone…
there are different zata’ar blends around; Tiny Spice Co is a good one and I’m sure Penzey’s is as well.
This looks yummy and thank you also for adding the Toum recipe…will be trying this….maybe on the charcoal grill instead of the gas grill…but will cook over indirect heating.
ok, but be sure the skin gets good and crispy… that’s the best part.
Zata’ar: Penzeys was a favorite, I use others. But! Not authentic? Oh well…https://www.seriouseats.com/zaatar-recipe-6375053 “…The word “za’atar” itself refers to a specific plant…”
My favorite zata’ar blend was something from a local (Watervliet NY) store called Nora’s that was imported and listed only thyme and sesame as its ingredients. The owner would sit at the back of the store in slow times eating his breakfast of pita dipped in olive oil with a lot of zata’ar. It was good but the Itty Bitty Spice Co product is too and I am not going to worry about authenticity, as long as I get the flavor I am looking for.