TRAVERSE CITY, MI – The breeze coming off Grand Traverse Bay last weekend did more than just give an open-air feel to celebrity chef Tyler Florence’s cooking demonstration at the inaugural Traverse City Food & Wine event. It wafted the delicious scent of his grilled chicken right to the enthusiastic crowd that had gathered to watch him flex his skills.
The Food Network star returned to Michigan’s popular vacation spot to help headline the big event – a couple decades after he carved and chopped his way through an internship at the nearby Grand Traverse Resort.
His name carries a little more weight now. And his recipes are sought-after. On the menu: Reverse-Seared Grilled Chicken with BBQ Sauce, and his mother-in-law’s delectable Potato Salad, and a Grilled Peach Panzanella Salad. All are recipes featured in Florence’s “American Grill” cookbook.
While he didn’t give exact ingredient amounts during his live-fire demo – Type A cooks will need to get his book for that – Florence did keep up a detailed, running stream of conversation as he cooked that gave everyone there an inside look at how he makes his recipe magic happen.
We took some notes – and we’re sharing the highlights below so at-home grillmasters can replicate all this saucy goodness:
Reverse Seared Grilled Chicken
The Basics: The guy who owns eight grills said the secret to this juicy chicken is dry-brining it first, then cooking it in the oven before you fire up the grill. “Protein doesn’t like high temperatures for a very long time‚” Florence told the crowd. “It’s essentially a magic trick, a flavor boost.”
The Brine: In a bowl, mix some chopped or torn fresh thyme and rosemary, the grated zest of a lemon or two (Don’t get Tyler started about how much he loves his microplaners), some grated garlic cloves, kosher salt, a little sugar, black pepper and olive oil.
The Oven: Preheat the oven to 220 degrees. Cut a whole chicken into about 10 pieces (splitting each breast in half). Rub it with the dry brine mixture and arrange it on a baking sheet. Bake the chicken until it reaches about 130 degrees on the thick part of a thigh. *** At this point, your chicken is only partly cooked. You can finish it on the grill (see the next step), bag it up and take it to a friend’s house to finish, or toss it in the freezer and finish it at a later time.
“When it comes out of the oven, it’s not going to look pretty, but that’s not the point,” he said.
The Grill: Use a charcoal or gas grill, with a hot zone/cold zone method. Grill the chicken, starting on the hot side, and rotating and flipping the pieces back and forth between the two zones. What you’re looking for: a nice, even sear on the chicken without burning it. When the instant-read thermometer reaches 152-155 degrees on the thickest part of the thigh, take the chicken off the grill and let it rest.
Congratulations. You’ve now cemented yourself as the grilled chicken guru. And if you are partial to the Southern way of eating grilled chicken, like Florence, you’ll want to provide your guests copious amounts of BBQ sauce for dipping. If you really love BBQ, paint your chicken pieces with it before and after you grill them.
BBQ Sauce
Into the Pot: Florence grew up in South Carolina with mustard-based BBQ sauces “in my baby bottle,” as he likes to tell it. While the sauce recipe he shared in Traverse City does have mustard in it, it has a much more balanced flavor. During the demo, he used a saucepan to crisp up a few pieces of bacon, then added fresh thyme, olive oil, chopped onion and garlic. Once that got all nice and caramelized, he added a good amount of ketchup for body, then some brown sugar, a little molasses, a couple spoons of red wine vinegar. He seasoned that mixture with equal parts mustard, cumin, smoked paprika and some black pepper.
Mix it Up: Once that simmered for few minutes and cooled, he liquefied it in a Vitamix (take any stray thyme stems out before you do this, if you are using fresh herbs).
“This is as good as base BBQ gets,” he said, trying some on a spoon. “It’s bangin’. It’s so good!”
Add-ins: Florence told his audience this basic recipe leaves room for lots of yummy add-ins. For a more complex flavor profile, you can add in peaches, cherries, even truffles.
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