Galeto series
- What it is
- How to grill it
- What to serve
- Sage paste
- White wine and sage
- Beer
- Garlic and lime
- Butter on the spit
- Brine, then sage
Young chicken over charcoal (galeto na brasa) is a small bird cooked over glowing embers, not in an oven and not over gas if you can help it. In Rio Grande do Sul the bird is the point of the meal. The method is open fire, moderate distance, and a garlic-acid marinade.
Safety instructions
Cook chicken to 165°F (74°C) in the thickest part of the thigh, checked with an instant-read thermometer. Buy air-chilled birds when you can. Higher-risk people wait for 165°F (74°C).
The bird
A galeto is a small, young chicken. At the meat case, look for a Cornish hen or a small air-chilled bird, 1 to 1 1/2 pounds each. A 2 1/2 to 3 pound broiler, butterflied, is the next best. A large roaster dries on the outside before the thigh is done.
Buy air-chilled chicken when the case has it. It skips the US water-chill tank, holds less water, and browns better over embers.
Plan one small bird for two people, or a half bird per adult if sides are heavy.
Marinade
Chicken at a churrasco takes garlic, salt, and acid, which is the one place galeto parts company with beef. The amounts are in the ingredient list below; lime past 12 hours turns the surface chalky, and wine is more forgiving.
Ingredients (2 small birds)
- 2 small air-chilled birds: Cornish hen or poussin, 1 to 1 1/2 pounds (450 to 680 g) each; or a 2 1/2 to 3 pound (1.1 to 1.4 kg) broiler, butterflied
- 8 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon (15 g) coarse salt
- juice of 2 limes, or 1/2 cup (120 ml) dry white wine
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) oil
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) dried oregano
- black pepper
The fire
Galeto wants a cooler fire than picanha: lump charcoal, ashed over, no flames. About 7 seconds on the hand test at the bird’s height is the heat to look for.
On a spit or long skewer
If you baste at the end, boil the raw-chicken marinade first. The last third of the cook is dry, which is how the skin crisps.
Butterflied on a grate
Move the bird if fat flares. Flames on skin taste like soot, not crust.
What to put on the plate
Polenta first, then Brazilian tomato-onion sauce (vinagrete), a plain salad, and toasted cassava flour (farofa). Cassava (macaxeira) and arroz de leite also fit if you are running a northeastern table.
Thighs and drumsticks, and chicken cubes on a skewer, are not galeto. Those posts:coxas e sobrecoxas andespetinho de frango.
Method
- Mash 8 cloves garlic with 1 tablespoon coarse salt, then add the lime juice or wine, oil, oregano, and pepper.
- Marinate 4 to 12 hours in the fridge. Pat dry before the fire.
- Wait until the coals are ashed over, not flaming. Hold your hand at the bird’s height: if you last about 7 seconds, the heat is right.
- On a churrasqueira, hang the spit or skewer about 25 cm (10 in) from the embers. On a kettle grill, bank coals to one side and start the bird on the empty side, lid on.
- On a spit: run a long flat skewer lengthwise through the bird and lock it so it does not spin. Turn steadily. Baste with leftover marinade for the first two-thirds of the cook, then stop so the skin can dry.
- Butterflied on a grate: remove the backbone, press the breast flat, start skin-up on the cool side 25 to 35 minutes. Finish skin-down over the coals 3 to 5 minutes.
- Cook to 165°F (74°C) in the thickest part of the thigh, not touching bone. Rest 10 minutes. Cut with shears into quarters.
How you know it is done
The juices run clear and a thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh, not touching bone, reads 165°F (74°C). Rest 10 minutes, then cut into quarters with shears.
Make-ahead
Marinate 4 to 12 hours in the fridge. Lime past 12 hours turns the surface chalky. Wine is more forgiving.
Next cooks
- What to serve with galeto
- Grilled polenta (polenta grelhada)
- Potato salad (maionese de batata)
- Galeto with the original sage paste
What to buy
Galeto wants ashed lump coals and a number in the thigh. The fire kit is on What to buy.
Region: Sul.
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