by Chris Colby
Named after a trapped bobcat that found fame online for snarling at wildlife officers attempting to free him, this spicy chicken dish has about the same heat as a serving of Kung Pao chicken. You can lower the spice level by adding more bbq sauce, subtracting dried chiles and chile paste, or choosing milder chiles — in ascending order of spiciness, chile de árbol, cayenne, or Thai hot.
Yield: 4 servings.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken legs or thighs, or 8 chicken wings
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Sauce
- 3 dried spicy red chiles
- 3 tablespoons chile paste
- 2 tablespoons Texas-style barbecue sauce
Directions
- Day before grilling: Make sauce by tearing apart dried chiles. Combine chile skins and seeds with chile paste and barbecue sauce. Wash your hands thoroughly! Also, salt and refrigerate chicken.
- To cook: Remove chicken from fridge up to 2 hours before grilling. Build two-zone fire in grill — with charcoal briquettes covering half of grill bottom — and let it burn down to coals. Clean grate with a brush and wipe with olive oil. Close grill lid, with vents open, and let sit for
- 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, season chicken with salt and pepper and place on grill. Flip once after 8 to 9 minutes for legs or thighs, or once after about 3 minutes for wings. Cook until internal temperature reaches 160 F. Keep grill lid closed except when flipping chicken pieces or probing for temperature.
- Move chicken to grill’s “cold” side (without charcoal) and swab with Murderbritches sauce on all sides. Close lid and let chicken cook 4 minutes. Sauce will dry out, but not burn. When internal temperature is more than 165 degrees, preferably 175 to 180 degrees, remove chicken and serve.
