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Recipe

Cayenne Sesame Barbecue Chicken

we doin cayenne sesame seed bbq chicken today boys! everybody invited!

Cayenne and sesame on barbecue chicken, which is not a combination anybody taught him. It is the one people ask about.

The cayenne goes in twice — once dry on the chicken before it cooks, and again in the glaze. The dry one gets under the skin and into the meat; the wet one sits on the surface. Only doing the second gives you heat that arrives and leaves without ever getting anywhere.

Then sesame, thrown on thick while the glaze is still tacky. Thick enough that you cannot see much chicken, which is what the picture shows.

Feeds
6
Hands-on
30 minutes
On the grill
30 minutes
Cayenne
Twice

An hour. Everything except the sesame can be done ahead.

Cayenne sesame barbecue chicken straight off the heat
Shot the night it was made. Open the picture for the full photograph.

What you need

The chicken and the dry cayenne

  • 12 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs
  • 1 tbsp cayenne
  • 1 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tbsp kosher salt
  • 2 tsp granulated garlic
  • 2 tsp coarse black pepper
  • 2 tbsp neutral oil

The glaze

  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 1/3 cup soy sauce
  • 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup cider vinegar
  • 2 tbsp molasses
  • 1 1/2 tsp cayenne
  • 4 cloves garlic, grated
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil, off the heat

To finish

  • 3/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted in a dry pan
  • A little extra cayenne, for dusting

How it goes

  1. 1 — Dry rub first, an hour ahead

    Oil, then cayenne, paprika, salt, garlic and pepper worked over and under the skin where you can get at it. An hour on the counter, or overnight in the fridge uncovered.

  2. 2 — Simmer the glaze down thick

    Everything but the sesame oil in a pan for fifteen minutes until it coats a spoon heavily. Sesame oil in off the heat — it is a finishing oil and heat destroys it.

  3. 3 — Toast the sesame seeds and tip them straight out

    Dry pan, medium, shaken constantly, three to four minutes to the colour of straw. Out of the pan immediately; they keep cooking in hot metal and go bitter.

  4. 4 — Indirect heat first, skin up, twenty minutes

    Cool side of a two-zone fire, lid down. The fat renders and the skin tightens. No glaze anywhere near it yet.

  5. 5 — Three coats over the coals

    Over the fire, brushed, two minutes, flipped, brushed, two minutes. Three times. Each layer sets onto the last and that is what makes the surface look lacquered rather than painted.

    pro tip — Keep the lid OFF over direct heat. You want to see the moment it goes from glossy to catching, and a closed lid hides it.

  6. 6 — Pull at 175°F with black at the edges

    Thighs want 175°F, not 165°F. The skin should be blackened where it sat on the bars and dark red everywhere else.

  7. 7 — Into the dish, sesame over the top immediately

    Packed into a glass dish still hot, then a huge handful of sesame thrown over from height, and a dusting of cayenne. Thirty seconds later the glaze sets and nothing sticks.

Everybody invited. Show me your bbq. LFG.

More of what comes out of this kitchen on the food wall.

Every picture on this page is one of mine. I paint for a living the rest of the time — that is the gallery, and the originals are for sale.