10 CHICKEN BRAAI FACTS AND TIPS

Ever since the time of Aristotle, philosophers have been arguing about what came first: the chicken or the egg. According to scientists, the egg wins!

Skarrelkiep (literally “scurry fowl”) is the descriptive Dutch word for free-range chicken.

Spatchcock refers to a chicken with the backbone removed, opened up and flattened. According to linguists, this term comes from the cooking instruction “dispatch the cock”.

Our peri-peri chicken, a hot mixture of Mozambican and Portuguese influences, is one of the most famous barbeque chicken flavours worldwide. Its secret lies in the fresh, sour taste (vinegar or lemon) that balances the smoky flavours, chilli and sweet stickiness.

A large farm chicken may be perfect for Ouma’s Sunday roast, but smaller chickens (1,3 kg to 1,8 kg) are more manageable over the coals and easier to cook evenly.

Chicken is as much part of our vernacular as it is part of our food culture. Think of proverbs such as “as scarce as hen’s teeth”, “fox in the henhouse”, “don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched”, “you’re no spring chicken” and “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”.

Because chicken is so affordable, people are always looking for ingenious ways of enjoying it. Take the comical chicken on a beer can, for instance. This trend spread like wildfire after it surfaced at a BBQ competition in Tennessee in the US in the 1990s. The method yields crispy skin right around, while the beer ensures that the meat is juicy and aromatic.

Chickens have a top speed of about 14 km/h, depending on the type of chicken and his/ her temperament. No wonder these township delicacies are sometimes called runaways!

Barbequed chicken is a universally popular street food, distinguished by the unique spice blends used in different places, like the Scotch bonnet chilli and allspice in Jamaican jerk chicken, which is cooked over halved oil drums. In West Africa, the essential spice blend is called suya and contains peanuts, ginger and red pepper.

The age-old French technique of hanging a chicken from a length of wire in the fireplace is making a swinging comeback. Think of it as a low-technology predecessor of the rotisserie chicken – you just give it a nudge from time to time to keep the momentum going.