Lump charcoal and fire

Galeto with garlic and lime

Whole small chicken on the grill (galeto)

Galeto series

Young chicken (galeto) with garlic and lime, overnight. This is the common Brazilian home chicken seasoning, not the original Caxias sage paste. Persian lime (limão taiti), garlic, salt, and oil, 12 to 24 hours in the refrigerator.

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).

Buy air-chilled chicken and keep the bird small: Cornish hen, poussin, or a broiler under about 3 pounds.

Lime and garlic (2 small birds)

  • Juice of 2 Persian limes (limão taiti), about 1/4 cup/ 60 ml
  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons (10 g) fine salt

Mix and rub under the skin and in the cavity. Cover and refrigerate 12 to 24 hours. Lime for two full days makes the surface mushy. Stop at 24 hours. Keep the leftover liquid for the brush. Skip extra lime at the fire, or the skin stays pale.

Brushing while it cooks

Brush the skin with the leftover marinade every 8 to 10 minutes, then stop in the last few minutes so the skin can crisp. On a long skewer, stack the bird with slices of pork fatback (toucinho) or thick bacon and whole sage leaves; that fat bastes as it cooks. Raise the bird if fat drips and flames. No barbecue sauce as a mop.

The cook itself is on how to grill young chicken (galeto): ashed lump charcoal, about 25 cm (10 in) from the embers, thigh at 165°F (74°C). Polenta and a plain salad go with it.

Method

  1. Mix and rub under the skin and in the cavity.
  2. Cover and refrigerate 12 to 24 hours. Stop at 24 hours.
  3. Keep the leftover liquid for the brush. Skip extra lime at the fire, or the skin stays pale.
  4. Cook using How to grill young chicken (galeto).

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).

Make-ahead

Cover and refrigerate 12 to 24 hours. Lime for two full days makes the surface mushy. Stop at 24 hours.

Next cooks

Region: Sul.

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