Brasa Brazil

Chicken thighs and drumsticks (coxas and sobrecoxas) are the backyard bird on a Brazilian fire when you are not cooking a whole young chicken (galeto). They cost less than beef, they feed people early, and the bone keeps them from drying out. They are not wings and they are not galeto. Wings have their own post. Galeto is a small whole bird with sage.

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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

Buy air-chilled chicken. It skips the US water-chill tank, so chlorine or peracetic acid in that bath do not reach the meat that way. There is less water in the pack. The skin browns better over embers.

When you go to the meat case, look for “air chilled” on the label and for bone-in, skin-on thighs and drumsticks. About 4 1/2 lb (2 kg) serves six as an early round. If the case only has boneless, ask the butcher for bone-in thighs.

Seasoning

• 4 1/2 lb (2 kg) air-chilled chicken thighs and drumsticks
• Juice of 2 Persian limes
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon (15 g) coarse salt (sal grosso), crushed slightly so it sticks
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) oil

On the fire

A kettle grill grate often sits around 10 cm (4 in), closer than a churrasqueira. Use the cool side of a two-zone fire and only pass the pieces over the coals to brown the skin. See two-zone fire.

Wet skin steams, so pat the pieces dry before they go on. Flames touching the skin burn it rather than cook it.

Serving

Rest five minutes. Serve first, while the beef is still going, with Brazilian tomato-onion sauce (vinagrete) and toasted cassava flour (farofa). A plain salad orthe galeto sides fit if this is the main bird.

Wings:chicken wings on the churrasco. Cubes on a stick:chicken skewers (espetinho de frango). Whole small bird:how to grill young chicken (galeto).

Method

1. Toss and refrigerate 1 to 12 hours. Pat dry before the fire.
2. Work over embers, not flames. Bone-in chicken sits 30–40 cm (12–16 in) from the coals.
3. Skin side up first, then turn. Total time is usually 30 to 45 minutes. If fat drips and flares, move the pieces.
4. Cook to 165°F (74°C) in the thickest part of the thigh, not touching bone.
5. Rest five minutes.

How you know it is done

The juices run clear at the bone and a thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh, not touching bone, reads 165°F (74°C). Color alone lies.

Make-ahead

The lime and garlic toss holds 1 to 12 hours in the fridge, overnight if that is easier. Two days in lime makes the skin soft.

Next cooks

• Chicken hearts on the skewer
• Chicken gizzards, boiled then grilled
• Chicken wings on the churrasco
• Brazilian linguica on the grill
• How to run a two-zone fire on a Weber kettle grill

What to buy

The thermometer is so the thigh hits 165°F (74°C). The usual mid is the one to get first.

• Low: ThermoWorks ThermoPop 2 — fast enough to pull beef and to know a thigh hit 165°F (74°C).
• Usual mid: CHEF iQ Sense — wireless leave-in probe + hub.
• High: ThermoWorks Thermapen ONE — fast instant-read for spot checks at the fire.