Grilling or Broiling Poultry

Except when cooking a whole bird on a spit over hot coals, only cut-up poultry is used for broiling or grilling. It is frequently marinated or coated with butter and seasonings before being broiled or grilled. In the interest of food safety, marination must take place under refrigeration. A marinade must be fully cooked if it is to be served or used for basting. Failure to heat the marinade to a sufficient temperature to kill the bacteria that remain in it from the raw chicken may cause a foodborne illness. For the same reason, unless it is thoroughly washed in the interim, the plate used to carry the raw poultry to the grill should never be used to carry it back to the table after it is cooked.

Vegetable sprays applied to the pan or grill help to prevent sticking. When an oven broiler is used, the poultry pieces are put skin-side up on a rack in the broiler pan and placed approximately 6 inches below the heat source. The same procedure is used for grilling over coals, except that the skin side goes down. The cooking time varies according to thickness, but in general, chicken takes 20 minutes per side. Turkey pieces are larger and so require longer cooking.

Once the skin side is browned, use tongs to turn the poultry pieces over, since the piercing tines of a fork will allow juices to be lost. Sauces are best added during the last 15 minutes of preparation, because high heat readily burns sugar, which is the main ingredient of many barbecue sauces.