You can’t get by on tacos alone and Chile Revival’s Taco Gusto is breaking free from Taco Tuesday!
This recipe is inspired by the fantastic Peruvian chicken that my brother and I would get growing up in DC. We’ll be adding vinegar and oil to our Hatch Chile Taco Gusto to make a paste that will be rubbed all over our chicken before cooking. This is something you really want to cook outside on a grill. It just wouldn’t be the same in the oven. I spatchcock/butterfly my chicken so that it lays flat on the grill. This is the best way to cook a whole bird on a grill without a rotisserie attachment. If you’re lucky enough to have a rotisserie on your grill, by all mean use that and cook as you normally would and skip the part about spatchcocking.
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A note about scaling this recipe:
The quantities in the ingredients list below made enough paste to cover a 4.5lb to 5lb bird. If you’re cooking a larger or smaller bird you can scale this recipe up or down following this ratio: 2 parts Taco Gusto, 1 part oil, 1 part vinegar. If the paste seems too thick or thin, adjust the liquids as necessary.
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A note about the spatchcocking the chicken:
I’m not going to go into how to spatchcock a chicken but here is a link to some detailed instructions that also includes a video by one of my very favorite food writers, J. Kenji López-Alt.
Ingredients
5 tablespoons Taco Gusto – Hatch Chile
2.5 tablespoons Vegetable oil
2.5 tablespoons Vinegar – (any type of vinegar, but I use red wine vinegar)
1 Whole Chicken, spatchcocked if not using a rotisserie (see note above)
1 to 2 teaspoons salt to taste
Directions
• Place Taco Gusto in a small bowl and add the salt, vinegar and oil.
• Massage with your fingers until a paste forms
• Rub the paste onto both sides of your chicken
I like to prep the chicken a little early and let if sit with the rub on it for a couple of hours, but I don’t think it would hurt to get it right on the grill after rubbing it with the chile paste.
Preparing the Grill:
• Light a chimney full of coals.
• When the coals are ready, set the grill up for indirect cooking. This means that there are only coals under half the cooking surface.
Grilling the Bird:
• Place your bird on the opposite side of the grill from the coals, skin facing up and the breasts pointed away from the hot side of the grill
• Open the bottom vents on the grill and align the top vent so that it is above the chicken and open it.
• Grill with the lid on until the internal temperature of the thick part of the breast has reached 115 degrees.
• Flip the bird so that it is skin side down and the breast is facing away from the hot side of the grill
• Place the cover back on and continue to grill until the breast temperature has risen to 155 degrees.
• If the skin begins to burn before the bird reaches temperature, move it to the cooler side of the grill and continue cooking.
• Once your bird has reached 155 degrees in the breast, transfer it to a cutting board and let it rest for 5-10 min.
• Bring to the table whole for an impressive presentation.
• Goes great with fried or grilled Yucca and Aji Amarillo Sauce
• Enjoy your Gusto Chicken.
