It's Green. It's Grilled. It's a Chicken.

Use your grill like an oven and you're well on your way.

CRACKLE!

Some friends of mine had me over the other night and put out a spread of spreads for the snacking. They forced me to sit, pressed a glass of LeBron James’s tequila in my palm for the sake of my mental health, and ordered me to stay out of the kitchen for the sake of my mental health. I’ve been in a state of overcooking, and even in moments like this, I can’t not cook. These dear and intuitive besties knew that forcing this food-giver into the somewhat uncomfortable role of food-receiver was precisely the prescription.

What they didn’t know was that in my presence, the zhoug they served should have been kept behind lock and key. I thought they’d made it, so fresh and perfect it was, but I knew no food processor or blender existed on their premises. The chef? Mr. TJ. Believe it.

AT $2.99, FEELS LIKE A LAST REMAINING VESTIGE OF SANITY

The following seemingly nonsequitous words immediately popped into my head: chicken, Greece, slam dunk. I thought of a bird, slathered in a super salty, Greek yogurty, zhoug-y, garlic-y, lemon-y marinade, flying through the air towards a hoop with a thimble of agave spirit under its wing.

WHILE GRILLING, LOOK FOR THE CREVICES WHERE YOU CAN SYPHON MORE MARINADE DIRECTLY INTO THE FLESH

PRAY TELL… Zzhhoouu-what?

What is ZHOUG!? And why is your latest installment of NOODLE making an earnest plea to mix it with some yogurt, garlic, and lemon and bathe your chicken in it— ideally 10+ hours— before grilling?

Zhoug is a bright, herby green sauce, decisively spicy and spiced (not the same thing). The origin of the sauce is likely in Yemeni food culture, but its talons appear in many other Middle Eastern cuisines. Imagine a pesto, but replace basil with cilantro, cheese with chiles, and nuts with spices– coriander, cumin, and the ever-significant cardamom. Mixed with something milky to temper it— like sour cream, yogurt, labne, or buttermilk— zhoug transforms poulet into perfection.

BURNISHED... AND JUICY. LOVE TO SEE IT.

Did you know that yogurt— with its high acid and lactic properties that caramelize with the heat of the grill— is one of the greatest poultry tenderizers and flavorizers of all time, breaking down fibers, infusing moisture, and adding spunk?

THE TIMELINE… (SORRY)

Perhaps this may not make it on your menu for July 4, as I suggest an overnight marinade. But did you know that there’s a July 5th, 6th, 7th, and 27th on the horizon? Or, if your 4th menu is yet unplanned and you’re on top of reading emails the minute they come into your inbox, you’ve got time, baby! (Though I promise: even marinating for four hours will yield a super delicious result.)

GO TACO: Crisp that skin, grill scallions, slice white onions, lime it, yogurt it, zhoug it

Ok so: one of the craziest things about this chicken is that— based on the clean-as-a-whistle plates from a highly selected (albeit small) focus group, including three children who are picky-beyond-picky eaters and one adult who has an (emotionally) allergic reaction to cilantro— this is a pleaser of a chicken. A surpriser of a chicken. An “I wish I’d made three chickens” of a chicken. 

FOLLOW THE RECIPE

The technique for how I like to get this marinade as integrated into the chicken as possible requires some intimacy with the bird. In the recipe, I’ll instruct you to get a bit handsy with it by employing a pretty simple trick, and flavor payoff awaits. And speaking of, during testing of these chickies, I’ve settled on a new salt-to-pound-of-meat ratio that will help not only with this recipe, but with all of the proteins and marinades in your future.

Follow my instructions for grilling, too: I’ll detail the methods for spatchcocked chicken grillery; after many a grilled bird under the ol’ belt, I’m a believer in my gospel. (Let me know in the comments if you disagree… I love dissenters, especially as of late.)

GRILLED ZHOUGY-YOGURTY-SPATCHCOCKY CHICKEN