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The Gamecock Grill: Mojo Chicken

Do you really need a reason to grill during football season? Well, if you did, tomorrow is better than any other. 7:30 game against a team that beat us last year. Yeah, Kentucky.

Last year big boy Jared Lorenzen was a little peeved when Coach Spurrier said that UK is a lot faster. Or did he mean a lot less fatter?? LOL. The HBC was right. They were fast (and not fat). So, the last thing you want to do is walk into Williams-Bryce tomorrow night on an empty stomach and flask of Beam tucked in your tube sock because you'll spiral out of control if we have a repeat like last year. So listen up and learn Sparky. You got to get control of the grill. That is going to be the Alpha and the Omega for all your pregame festivities. Get this right and everything will flow just right before kick-off...we hope.

Here is what you're going to need:

A whole chicken.

Mojo Marinade (most grocery stores have them stocked near taco seasoning, shells and etc)

Coarse salt

4 tbs of melted butter

Bag of wood chips - preferably apple wood.

It's no big secret. Plain chicken sucks. You need to apply a rub or marinate it. Grab your whole chicken and take out the spine using a pair of scissors or meat shear or really good knife. Easy thing to do is throw it in a bowl or large plastic bag and drown it with Mojo Marinade. Save some Mojo marinade for the basting sauce. I like to marinate it for at least a few hours, but you could get away with about 30 minutes.

While the bird in marinating, grab a beer (or sweet tea) and get your grill started. If you're using gas grill then just fire up one side to medium-high and the other side low. If you're using charcoal or lump wood, then pile it up on one side and keep the other side as your cool zone. Grab a handful of wood chips and soak them in a bowl of water

Once the grill has reached about 350 F, toss in those wood chips. If you're using gas, you can ball them up in tinfoil with  slits for the smoke and put it near the flame.

Take the chicken out of the Mojo marinate and discard the marinate. Sprinkle it with some salt and rub it in. Put your whole chicken skin side down on the grill directly over the heat. After about  15 minutes (or one beer) flip the bird so skin side up and grill it for another 10 minutes.

Remember that cool zone you created for your grill? Move your chicken to the cool side. Melt the 4 tbs of butter and then pour in some of the Mojo Marinade. Brush the skin and the entire bird with basting sauce. Close the grill lid and let it go for about 5 minutes. Then check it again and brush some of the basting sauce, cover it and after about total of 15 minutes, check the internal temp. It should be at 165 F. If it's not, let it go a little more until you get there. Once it's done let it rest for about 5 minutes before you devour it.

The Mojo Chicken is easy peasy. Plus you'll have a lot of fans with this one.