Why this recipe works:
Authentic Huli Huli Chicken is typically something home cooks buy instead of make. The birds are continually basted with a sticky-sweet sauce and “huli"-ed, which means “turned" in Hawaiian. We wanted to find a way to make this sweet, smoky, burnished bird at home.
For the teriyaki-like sauce, we developed a version with soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, garlic, chili sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, and lots and lots of pineapple juice. We boiled the sauce down until it was thick, glossy, and sweet. To mimic a Hawaiian rotisserie, we used a moderate number of coals spread in a single layer over the entire grill. The direct heat rendered the fat and crisped the skin, but the chicken was far enough from the coals to avoid burning. Most Huli Huli Chicken recipes instruct cooks to marinate the chicken in the sauce, but with so much sugar, it burned every time we grilled the chicken. Also, the meat was dry and the marinade didn’t add much flavor. Our solution was to use some of the sauce ingredients as a brine. We mixed together soy sauce, water, garlic, and ginger (sautéing the last two to bring out their flavors). We grilled the chicken skin-side up to render the fat, and then turned it skin-side down to finish cooking and to crisp the skin (just one turn sufficed).
Serves 4 to 6
Split chicken halves are whole chickens that have been split in two through the breastbone. Buy them at the market or see page 31 for instructions on how to prepare them yourself. Lee Kum Kee Tabletop Soy Sauce is our favorite supermarket brand.
Ingredients
Chicken
2 quarts water2 cups soy sauce1 tablespoon vegetable oil6 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger4 chicken, split halves (about 8 pounds total) (see note)
Glaze
3 (6-ounce) cans pineapple juice1/4 cup packed light brown sugar1/4 cup soy sauce1/4 cup ketchup1/4 cup rice vinegar4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger2 teaspoons chili-garlic sauce2 cups wood chips (see related Key to Bold Flavor), soaked for 15 minutes
Instructions
1. BRINE CHICKEN Combine water and soy sauce in large bowl. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir into soy sauce mixture. Add chicken and refrigerate, covered, for at least 1 hour or up to 8 hours.
2. MAKE GLAZE Combine pineapple juice, sugar, soy sauce, ketchup, vinegar, garlic, ginger, and chili-garlic sauce in empty saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until thick and syrupy (you should have about 1 cup), 20 to 25 minutes.
3. PREP GRILL Seal wood chips in foil packet and cut vent holes in top. Open bottom vents on grill. Light about 75 coals. When coals are covered with fine gray ash, spread evenly over bottom of grill. Arrange foil packet directly on coals. Set cooking grate in place and heat, covered with lid vent open halfway, until wood chips begin to smoke heavily, about 5 minutes. (For gas grill, place foil packet directly on primary burner. Heat all burners on high, covered, until wood chips begin to smoke heavily, about 15 minutes. Turn all burners to medium-low.) Scrape and oil cooking grate.
4. GRILL CHICKEN Remove chicken from brine and pat dry with paper towels. Arrange chicken skin-side up on grill (do not place chicken directly above foil packet). Grill, covered, until chicken is well browned on bottom and meat registers 120 degrees, 25 to 30 minutes. Flip chicken skin-side down and continue to grill, covered, until skin is well browned and crisp and thigh meat registers 170 to 175 degrees, 20 to 25 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to platter, brush with half of glaze, and let rest 5 minutes. Serve, passing remaining glaze at table.
MAKE AHEAD: Both the brine and the glaze can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to 3 days. Do not brine the chicken for longer than 8 hours or it will become too salty.
Key to Bold Flavor: Mesquite
Authentic huli huli chicken is grilled over kiawe wood, from a hardwood tree that is a species of mesquite. The test kitchen finds mesquite wood chips too assertive for long-cooked chicken and pork dishes; after an hour or two, the smoke turns the meat bitter. But we liked them in this comparatively quick recipe. Our Huli Huli Chicken recipe will work with any variety of wood chips, but if you care about authenticity, mesquite is the chip of choice.
