brandon_w wrote:I picked up some achiote paste last week when I got some skirt steaks. I might have to try this out this weekend.

The achiote works well on skirt steak, too.

I have the chicken marinating in the fridge. I will be grilling it up on Saturday.

This might be the first time I've ever made a recipe where the ingredients for the marinade cost more money than the protein it is marinating. Man citrus can be expensive.

Has anyone ever tried boiling and reducing the marinade to make a sauce/baste?

brandon_w wrote:I have the chicken marinating in the fridge. I will be grilling it up on Saturday.

This might be the first time I've ever made a recipe where the ingredients for the marinade cost more money than the protein it is marinating. Man citrus can be expensive.

Has anyone ever tried boiling and reducing the marinade to make a sauce/baste?

I basted with the sauce last time, making a point to stop basting well before cooking completed.

I'm not sure I'd advise it. It interfered with the charring of the chicken itself and the resulting flavor was almost too much.

And I feel you on the marinade cost. I think my total was over $30 last time. Sheesh.

Grilled up the chicken on Saturday. It turned out delicious. I grilled with lump charcoal, which I do not have much experience with, and because of that had a hard time telling how hot everything was going to be, and how long it would stay hot. I ended up doing more direct grilling that I thought I would because the heat was lower than expected. I guess I'll just have to use lump charcoal more often to get used to it. I think total cooking time ended up being an hour.

However the chicken turned out delicious. Moist and flavorful. I ended up straining out the onions and jalapeños then boiling and reducing the marinade because I couldn't stand to just throw it away. The onions and jalapeños sat on top of the chicken most of the time that it grilled. I basted the chicken once with the reduced sauce. I took some more of it and used it as a hot dressing for a lettuce, corn and black bean salad, because that popped into my head. The lettuce of course wilted a bit, but tasted ok. The corn and black beans covered in the sauce was great.

This really is a great recipe, and my friends who ate over commented more than once about how good it was. Everyone started with knives and forks, but by the end everyone was using their hands.

On Grill:


Finished:


Plated with braised kale and the corn bean salad thing:

As the summer grill season approaches, I thought I would bump this back to the top. For anyone who has not tried this recipe, it is fantastic. I have made it for and passed the recipe on to countless people. I now always have a supply on hand of Achiote paste. I found a store in Highwood that has 3.5 oz. sizes of it, so I don't need to worry about storing opened ones. If you don't want to grill, just bake it in a 425 oven - it is almost as good.

Non-chicken-related, but I'd like to thank Kurt and GWiv for bringing up Achiote: we used it to color our mac-and-cheese for the competition - all the HT find and use the seeds in this thread were extremely useful.

If you don't like anemic white mac and cheese, but want to use higher-quality cheddar (which is usually uncolored) you can color with achiote seeds yourself (what most orange cheddar uses as a dye,) when you're melting the butter for your roux; I think I used about 2tbsp of seeds for twice as much butter. Just dump them in and stir until the melted butter is a deep orange, then strain them out and discard before you add your flour.

I didn't detect anything but color in the end product, but Sparky mentioned a flavor and smell "kind of like toast."

I don't know where to get the paste, but our latino groceries carry the powder, which is awfully easy to use. I use a Tbs in my rice, sometimes in addition to a bit of turmeric. Makes it awfully pretty!

Nice tip about the mac 'n cheese Mhays. I'll do it, but of course.

Geo

I gave this recipe a try over the rainy weekend. I went the whole nine yards and toasted and ground up my own chilies. I have to say the resulting chili spice was something special, smoky and rich. My son thought the finished product looked like dirt! Anyway, I was convinced that the marinade was going to be too hot (spicy). The chicken grilled up just as lovely as photographed by G. Wiv above. The taste was outstanding. I have a 16 year old son who is a very picky eater. I just set the chicken in front of him and didn’t say a word. After a few bites he looked up at me and said, “Mom, this is the best chicken you have EVER made”! (I’m keeping that comment for my Mother’s Day gift.) Then he asked if I had come up with the recipe for the marinade. I told him no. He was very disappointed because he was sure there was millions to be made with the marinade. The chicken was not too spicy, and had wonderful citrus notes of flavor. So King Kurt…thank you so much. I now have an outstanding new chicken dish and an early Mother’s Day gift thanks to you!

Then he asked if I had come up with the recipe for the marinade. I told him no. He was very disappointed because he was sure there was millions to be made with the marinade.

Naw, recipes are meant to be shared. You get paid by the reward of others enjoying them.

So King Kurt…thank you so much. I now have an outstanding new chicken dish and an early Mother’s Day gift thanks to you!

You are quite welcome!

I was pointing out this recipe for a friend, when I ran across thread. It's a bit dated, but at least I finally read it. lol

Kurt
King of Kurtopia