A Weekend at the Weber #2: Bavarian-style Roasted Chicken (Oktoberfest Chicken) and Brined Pork Forequarter Roast Recipes

As a follow up to our previous post we though we would provide the recipes for the chicken and pork dishes we made. Both of these are easy to prepare and take regular ingredients to an all new level of flavour and succulence. The Bavarian chicken recipe is so simple it’s almost not a recipe. Placing a handful of fresh parsley inside the cavity makes for a very moist bird. The brined pork has nearly all the sweet salty complexity of an old fashioned country ham. We, of course, cooked both of these in our Weber BBQ, but you could just as easily do them in the oven or on a rotisserie. Here are the recipes…

Bavarian-Style Roasted Chicken
(or ‘Oktoberfest Chicken‘, as revealed in the Oktoberfest Insider Guide)

Ingredients

1.5kg Chicken washed and patted dry with paper towels
3 level teaspoons salt
1 & 1/2 teaspoons white peppercorns
40g soft butter
generous handful of fresh parsley with stems

Method

1. If cooking in an oven preheat it to 200C. Otherwise, prepare your BBQ or rotisserie for cooking ahead of time.
2. Grind peppercorns along with the salt in a mortar and pestle until quite fine.
3. Rub the salt and pepper mix over the bird, inside and out. Lift the skin around the breast and work some of the mix in between the skin and the meat.
4. Take the butter and place some knobs in between the breast meat and the skin. Place a knob of it in the cavity and rub the remainder onto the outside of the bird.
5. Stuff the bunch of parsley into the cavity.
6. If possible close the flaps around the cavity and secure with a strong toothpick. Fold the bird’s wings behind its back and secure the legs at the end of the drumsticks with some butcher’s twine.
7. If you’re using a rotisserie, spike the bird on the truss and proceed with cooking in the usual way. Otherwise…
8. Place the bird breast-side up in a roasting tray and cook in your chosen way: If cooking in an oven, roast at 200c for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 180C and cook for an additional 1.25 hours; If cooking in a Weber, put the tray on to the grate and put the Weber lid on. Check occasionally to see that it is not cooking unevenly or too quickly. If it’s cooking too quickly, move it to a cooler part of the fire.
9. In both cases, baste occasionally with the fat in the tray. The bird should take around an hour and a half to cook via oven or bbq.
10. To check if it is ready pierce a thigh; if the juices run clear the chicken is ready, if there is a trace of pink return to the heat and continue cooking until ready.
11. Remove from the pan and allow to rest before portioning and serving. The pan juices can be made into a sauce by adding a little water or stock and then bringing it to the boil on your stove-top/bbq. Thicken with a little cornflour dissolved in water. Adjust the seasoning and serve in a sauce-boat along with the chicken.

Note: As you can see in the picture we cooked our chicken in the BBQ in an uncovered braising pan on a bed of onions and carrots, which made a nice accompaniment to the meal and added flavour to the pan juices. Although we feel this really made the dish shine, it is only optional, so do what suits your fridge/pantry/budget!

One juicy and succulent breast and wing.

The remaining parsley-filled carcass after the chicken was carved. It looks a little pink in this picture, and we have to admit that although overall the chook wasn’t undercooked, the thighs were a touch pink. The breasts and wings were cooked to perfection, but we chose to return the thighs to the BBQ for a couple of extra minutes just to be sure.

As you can see, the parsley does a fantastic job of both flavouring the chicken and keeping it extremely moist and tender. SO yum!

Brined Pork Forequarter Roast

Ingredients

1 to 1.5 kg pork forequarter roast (we de-boned ours, making it easier to carve, but that’s optional. If you keep the bone in you may find you need to cook it a little longer)
1/4 cup cooking grade salt (avoid table salt here if possible)
1/4 cup sugar (brown or raw sugar work well here)
2 tablespoons peppercorns
6 whole allspice berries
3 bay leaves, roughly crumbled
6 whole cloves
a few blades of whole mace
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon tandoori spice mix or paste (optional – but it does give the pork a nice deep red colour)
750ml water

Method

Preparation

1. Place pork in a deep non-reactive container, such as plastic, ceramic or enamel.
2. Place all other ingredients in a pot.
3. Bring to the boil, then take off the heat and allow to cool to room temperature before pouring them over the pork.
4. Use a syringe to inject the brine into a number of places in the meat. This allows the brine to really penetrate into the pork. If you do not have a brine syringe use a fine skewer to make a number of incisions in the pork – these will perform a similar function.
5. Cover the bowl with cling film and place in the fridge for about 3-4 days. Turn a few times to make sure the brine gets to act on all surfaces.
6. Before cooking, remove pork from the brine. Wipe away any whole spices and wash the meat under running water to remove the excess brine. Pat dry with paper towels.

Cooking

We barbequed ours, however this salted joint can also be oven roasted or boiled. Below are instructions for each method.

To BBQ:

1. Place over indirect heat and turn often as not to burn it.
2. Baste with oil and /or beer.
3. We added some fresh rosemary branches to the coals during cooking which imparted a nice aroma.
4. At the last minute, before serving, baste with honey, golden syrup or maple syrup and allow it to brown on each side.
5. Transfer to a plate and allow to stand for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
6. We served ours with a mild mustard which worked really well with the smokey salty flavour of the pork.

To oven roast:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Place the salt pork in a roasting tray.
3. Cook for about an 1.5 hours, or until well browned and tender.
4. Baste occasionally with oil and/or beer. At the last moment, glaze the pork with honey, golden syrup or maple syrup and allow it caramelize a little.
5. Rest before slicing finely.

To boil:

1. Place the brined pork in a large pot and cover with cold water.
2. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer, cooking until tender (about 1 – 2 hours).
3. Allow to cool a little in the cooking liquor until serving. This can also be kept in the fluid until completely cooled and then drained and used as sandwich meat. For a more old fashioned flavour add 1/2 cup of malt vinegar, 1/4 of a cup of brown sugar, a tablespoon of peppercorns, 4 whole cloves, a bay-leaf and some grated nutmeg to the water before cooking.

Prost and Enjoy!!!