The author and cook, Heather

Blueberry BBQ Chicken

Deep Run Roots

BBQ sauce made from blueberries? Yep! It's a little messy, but what barbecued chicken isn't?

I found this recipe online here: https://www.saveur.com/blueberry-barbecue-chicken-recipe/

Captions

[00:01]: [Music]
[00:04]: hi guys welcome back to cooking the
[00:07]: books with Heather and today we're gonna
[00:09]: make another recipe out of vivian
[00:11]: howard's deep brown roots cookbook it's
[00:13]: blueberry season here in North Carolina
[00:15]: and we're going to make blueberry
[00:16]: chicken first step is to make the
[00:20]: blueberry barbecue sauce we're making
[00:22]: blueberry barbecue chicken and first
[00:24]: step is to make the blueberry barbecue
[00:26]: sauce which by the way you can buy in
[00:30]: the store here at least I assume all
[00:33]: over all over the United States because
[00:36]: she does have a show on PBS or she had a
[00:42]: show on PBS and so I'm sure that's
[00:45]: everywhere but I know it's available
[00:47]: here so the first step is to take the
[00:50]: blueberries and put them in a food
[00:52]: processor I've tried to pick these over
[00:56]: as much as I can it probably doesn't
[00:60]: really matter if you get all of the
[01:02]: stems because we are going to be
[01:04]: blending this and then straining it so
[01:05]: all that stuff will come out and then
[01:08]: some of the vinegar but not all we're
[01:12]: just giving it a little bit of a liquid
[01:13]: and we're gonna pulse this we're not
[01:16]: looking to for a smooth mixture right
[01:18]: now we're just going to sort of break up
[01:20]: the blueberries a little bit to get them
[01:21]: cooking faster so all right that's
[01:31]: probably good for right now and next
[01:35]: we're going to go over to the stove to
[01:36]: cook this and it's got to cook for like
[01:38]: an hour and then you're supposed to
[01:41]: refrigerate it overnight and so I've
[01:42]: already made a mistake I should have
[01:44]: made this yesterday we're going to use
[01:45]: this this evening but we're gonna put it
[01:47]: in the refrigerator for however long we
[01:49]: have probably about four hours by the
[01:51]: time it's all done and that should be
[01:54]: fine
[01:54]: I hope alright so we're gonna reset up
[01:58]: over at the stove and we'll see you in a
[01:59]: second okay so we have everything set up
[02:02]: here for the blueberry barbecue sauce
[02:03]: we're gonna have to cook it for a while
[02:05]: so
[02:05]: we're just gonna dump all of this into
[02:09]: the pan from food processor trying to
[02:15]: get as much out as I can hmm then we're
[02:22]: gonna add the other ingredients and it
[02:24]: has to cook for an hour once it comes up
[02:27]: to a simmer so vinegar apple cider
[02:35]: vinegar we're gonna add a three inch
[02:41]: cinnamon stick mine are a little bit big
[02:44]: so I've chosen the smallest one some red
[03:10]: pepper flakes and then some sugar and
[03:23]: then it's a lot of sugar but most
[03:29]: barbecue sauces these days done it again
[03:37]: I love the way these look but they don't
[03:43]: fit most of my measuring cups till just
[04:04]: a lot of sugar all right that is the
[04:12]: right amount and now we're gonna bring
[04:15]: this up to a simmer and after it simmers
[04:21]: we're going to cover it and let it cook
[04:25]: for an hour but we also have to stir it
[04:28]: because she says it can burn she knows
[04:31]: from experience so now we're just
[04:35]: waiting for it to simmer so I realized
[04:38]: as I was cleaning up and putting things
[04:40]: away I had forgotten to put the bay leaf
[04:43]: in so I did that and then I turned it up
[04:47]: a little bit because we waited for
[04:48]: probably 20 minutes for this to come to
[04:52]: a simmer and that was annoying me so it
[04:54]: turned it up a little bit but we're now
[04:56]: at a good simmer it's it's sort of
[04:58]: bubbling a little bit going good and so
[05:02]: now we are going to put the lid on this
[05:08]: and I know she does not say to turn the
[05:13]: heat down but I know that if I leave it
[05:16]: at a 5 on my stove with a cover on it
[05:21]: will be boiling like crazy so I'm
[05:24]: probably going to turn it down to a 3
[05:26]: once it comes to a really good boil just
[05:27]: to it's it's already boiling more so I'm
[05:35]: gonna turn it down a little bit so it's
[05:37]: simmering more than boiling really fast
[05:41]: but we're gonna leave this for an hour
[05:44]: and in the meantime I'm going to be
[05:46]: making some brunch for my family so
[05:48]: it's gonna be a little hectic in here
[05:50]: but I will try to show you what it looks
[05:52]: like a couple times as I stir it in
[05:55]: between so we'll be back when it's done
[05:58]: okay so this is what it looks like when
[06:00]: I take the lid off it's been going for
[06:03]: about 20 minutes up skews my finger and
[06:07]: I'm just gonna stir it it's going pretty
[06:10]: good and that's it I'll be back to stir
[06:16]: it later this has been cooking on the
[06:18]: stove for about an hour and I'm just
[06:22]: going to take out the solids that I
[06:25]: don't want to to blend up she suggests
[06:31]: that you put this into a standard
[06:35]: blender and all that which is a blending
[06:39]: hot things is always a little anxiety
[06:42]: inducing for me so I'm going to use my
[06:47]: immersion blender now this isn't boiling
[06:49]: anymore but it is very hot so you do
[06:50]: kinda have to be careful but I have yet
[06:55]: to hurt myself doing this so we'll see
[06:57]: but I'm gonna blend it with this
[06:59]: immersion blender these are great love
[07:01]: them they don't take up much room I can
[07:06]: put it in the drawer it's easy to clean
[07:08]: up because this part comes off and just
[07:10]: goes in the dishwasher so we're gonna
[07:12]: blend it up
[07:16]: alright that's all done and the really
[07:21]: good thing is I can just take this off
[07:23]: and put it in my sink for the cleanup
[07:27]: crew
[07:30]: mm-hmm got a little bit on my arm but
[07:33]: pretty good now we have to strain this
[07:37]: so I've got a big bowl here and just a
[07:42]: sieve I'm gonna pour it all in there and
[07:49]: we'll get all the little pieces that we
[07:50]: couldn't get entirely smooth oh the hot
[07:56]: vinegar here can really get into your
[07:59]: sinuses and then I'm just gonna sort of
[08:04]: force all the liquid through here and it
[08:08]: will keep the pieces behind a little bit
[08:11]: of skin left in here and probably any
[08:15]: bits of little stems that I didn't get
[08:19]: and when you use a different spatula
[08:23]: here to scrape what's on the outside
[08:26]: just so we have it as smooth as possible
[08:28]: and I'm going to rent out my pan so we
[08:32]: don't go don't get any little pieces
[08:33]: left and then we have to reduce this so
[08:37]: be right back okay so I just did sort of
[08:39]: a quick rinse and dry on this didn't
[08:42]: didn't scrub out all the little pieces
[08:43]: but I'm gonna put ooh this hot mixture
[08:48]: back into the pan and now the plan is to
[08:54]: reduce this by a third so we're gonna
[08:57]: bring it up to a boil and leave it
[08:58]: uncovered and put it right there for now
[09:06]: and then we're looking for the viscosity
[09:08]: of maple syrup not honey so not super
[09:12]: thick but thick and where it will cover
[09:15]: the back of a spoon so okay so this is
[09:17]: boiling and I'm planning to just let
[09:22]: this go at a relatively high heat so it
[09:24]: happens pretty quickly but because
[09:27]: there's a lot of sugar you have to be
[09:28]: careful and stir it
[09:30]: so it doesn't burn so this has been
[09:34]: about five minutes since it started
[09:35]: boiling and it's been boiling pretty
[09:37]: good I'm gonna turn the heat off a
[09:39]: little bit for a little bit so we can
[09:42]: see so it'll stop boiling so I could
[09:44]: kind of see how much is left there my
[09:47]: heat comes up pretty easily so I don't
[09:50]: mind just leaving it on the burner and
[09:51]: turning it off and it looks like we
[09:54]: maybe aren't quite there with the one
[09:56]: third but I'm gonna check looks like it
[10:00]: coats the back of the food very nicely
[10:03]: it's pretty good very sweet still seems
[10:09]: slightly more viscous slightly thinner
[10:13]: then I might want I know it's hot right
[10:15]: now which you know it'll always be
[10:19]: thicker when it's cold I'm gonna let it
[10:21]: go for another couple minutes I think
[10:25]: boiling I said it's really hard to tell
[10:28]: when it's boiling how much it has
[10:31]: reduced because when it's boiling all
[10:33]: the bubbles make it look taller now this
[10:38]: has been boiling for about seven minutes
[10:40]: total and I think I'm going to call it
[10:42]: good it definitely looks like it's
[10:45]: reduced a bit and it's very thick yeah I
[10:50]: would say that is more like maple syrup
[10:53]: and we can check back of our spoon
[10:57]: definitely coats it really well all
[11:01]: right I'm going to find something I'm
[11:06]: gonna let this cool off a little bit
[11:07]: find something to store it in the
[11:09]: refrigerator in and then a little bit
[11:12]: we'll get our chicken ready and cook it
[11:14]: up
[11:22]: so my blueberry barbecue sauce I put it
[11:25]: in a little bit of an ice bath to cool
[11:28]: down a little bit quick more quickly
[11:30]: because I was supposed to make it last
[11:32]: night it's been in the refrigerator I've
[11:34]: got it in a mason jar
[11:35]: very good it's all ready to go maybe a
[11:38]: little thick but the good thing is it's
[11:40]: too thick you can add just a little bit
[11:42]: of water until you get the right texture
[11:45]: but as a special bonus you'll get to
[11:48]: watch me spatchcock a chicken also
[11:52]: called butterfly the so Vivian Howard
[11:56]: suggests you ask your butcher to do it I
[11:59]: have never actually asked to do that for
[12:03]: me but I have spatchcocked even a turkey
[12:06]: so I'm not super afraid of doing this
[12:12]: and I've got several utensils that help
[12:14]: I've got a couple of different cutting
[12:18]: instruments here some of them are better
[12:20]: to get through the tough bones I've even
[12:22]: spatchcocked a turkey before for
[12:26]: Thanksgiving and that turned out very
[12:28]: well but so right now I'm gonna get the
[12:32]: yucky bits out it's sick so what we're
[12:37]: gonna do is remove the backbone so this
[12:39]: is the breast and the wings and the legs
[12:41]: you want to flip him over and you're
[12:45]: going to cut along either side of this
[12:49]: backbone I might have said breast bone
[12:52]: earlier backbone so that's the one thing
[12:57]: about this one it tends to lock
[12:58]: unintentionally
[13:01]: so take a good pair of kitchen scissors
[13:08]: can do this but this one gives you a
[13:11]: little more leverage for the thicker
[13:15]: bonus get stuck on the skin a little bit
[13:22]: sometimes
[13:42]: okay oh yeah and now I'm just going to
[13:48]: flip it around get some of these bits
[13:53]: out but I don't need little bits of fat
[13:57]: and internal organs that are just kind
[14:00]: of left in there and then I'm gonna go
[14:05]: from the other side and just cut down
[14:06]: the other side of that backbone
[14:32]: this is where was hard bones gets in
[14:35]: there and then it's pretty easy
[14:46]: you can use that for chicken stock or
[14:49]: whatever I'm just gonna throw it away
[14:51]: today because I don't have the time or
[14:53]: the patience to make any stock with that
[14:55]: and the and the bones or and the the
[14:59]: bits the neck and all that stuff you get
[15:02]: when you buy a full whole chicken all
[15:05]: right and so the last step to
[15:07]: spatchcocking a chicken is you flip it
[15:10]: back over and you want to sort of break
[15:12]: the breastbone to so it lays flat so you
[15:14]: just kind of hear that break then he
[15:21]: sort of lays flat oh good I'm gonna put
[15:25]: this over here on this tray I have and I
[15:34]: also had already bought some chicken leg
[15:37]: quarters and I'm gonna go ahead and clip
[15:39]: those this way too because we're having
[15:41]: enough people over that one chicken will
[15:44]: not feed all of us so got some pretty
[15:49]: large chicken leg quarters here and I'm
[15:55]: gonna get them all salt and pepper on
[15:57]: all of them
[16:03]: uh I was gonna wash my hands but really
[16:07]: they're gonna get chickeny anyway so I
[16:09]: probably need to move this out of the
[16:11]: way so this will be the right place so I
[16:20]: have I have all of the salt and pepper
[16:24]: that I want to use on this I'm gonna use
[16:27]: all of it so putting my yucky hands in
[16:30]: it it's okay we're gonna wash the dish
[16:31]: afterwards all cool but I'm gonna use
[16:34]: all of this just get all over I've mixed
[16:39]: the salt and pepper together just so
[16:40]: it's just one step just another good
[16:43]: thing when you are dealing with
[16:46]: something kind of yucky like chicken raw
[16:53]: chicken anyway then we want to get this
[16:56]: on both sides
[16:59]: something on
[17:01]: [Music]
[17:17]: just redid it all spread around so the
[17:23]: next step is just to cook this she
[17:26]: suggests you cook it on the grill we
[17:29]: happen to have a smoker that has enough
[17:34]: room for all of this to go on it and
[17:40]: that's my plan so for the first time
[17:43]: you'll get to see me cooking outside
[17:45]: just a minute so we've got our outside
[17:49]: setup ready
[17:51]: chickens here and this is our pellet
[17:55]: smoker we've got it set to 350 makes it
[17:58]: a whole lot easier than trying to keep
[17:59]: the grill
[18:01]: we're gonna put these on skin side up
[18:05]: and they stay that way just regular no
[18:09]: sauce on them yet for 20 minutes
[18:18]: so we're just gonna close the lid let it
[18:20]: go for 20 minutes
[18:23]: this has been going for excuse my kids
[18:27]: in the background if you hear them this
[18:29]: has been going for about 20 minutes it's
[18:32]: time to start basting I did end up
[18:36]: thinning my sauce a little bit with
[18:39]: water to make it slightly more vegetable
[18:42]: so I'm gonna just baste all of my pieces
[18:45]: with the barbecue sauce
[18:51]: I really like this
[18:55]: fully silicone barbecue brush just
[18:58]: because it can go into the
[19:00]: to the dishwasher all told and gets
[19:02]: really clean
[19:05]: so you don't worry too much about it
[19:12]: right
[19:14]: let's back down and then we come back in
[19:17]: five minutes every five minutes for 20
[19:20]: minutes so three more times of basting
[19:23]: something like that all right we'll be
[19:26]: back
[19:29]: so I've basted this 3/5 so we didn't
[19:35]: show you
[19:39]: [Music]
[19:41]: before we flip it
[19:45]: but now it's time to turn it over and
[19:47]: get the skin crispy
[19:54]: we're gonna base the other side after
[19:57]: return
[19:58]: pretty well coded got fresh tongs here
[20:09]: got fresh Tong here flipping the chicken
[20:12]: over
[20:23]: [Music]
[20:25]: all right so now we're just gonna base
[20:28]: this side that has more
[20:32]: I've seen it soft yet
[20:40]: okay
[20:43]: close the lid and let it go for five
[20:45]: minutes face this side again five more
[20:48]: minutes and then we're going to check
[20:49]: the temperature so we'll be back in
[20:51]: about ten minutes okay so in ten minutes
[20:56]: I'm going to check the temperature
[20:58]: [Music]
[20:60]: I think
[21:06]: theses are definitely done
[21:12]: says you're looking for 165 and the
[21:15]: meaty part of the
[21:18]: of the leg and
[21:21]: the whole chickens not done but we're
[21:23]: gonna go ahead and take off these pieces
[21:34]: bringing a little bit
[21:41]: clean tray
[21:50]: turn this back over
[21:56]: I'll probably get it with some more saw
[21:59]: but we'll let it go another five or ten
[22:00]: minutes and check the temperature again
[22:03]: I checked the temperature this is gone
[22:08]: probably for another twenty minutes now
[22:11]: on on skin side up and it's done so
[22:17]: we're about to take job
[22:25]: right
[22:29]: they're beautiful we're gonna let these
[22:32]: rest and cut them up and I'll have
[22:34]: pictures for you and we'll let you know
[22:36]: how it tastes Thanks on this episode of
[22:49]: cooking the books with Heather we made
[22:51]: blueberry barbecue chicken from Vivian
[22:55]: Howard's deep run Ruth's cookbook and I
[22:58]: have to say cooking the chicken was
[22:60]: pretty much as easy as cooking a chicken
[23:01]: can be I love butter flying
[23:04]: spatchcocking the chicken because it
[23:06]: cooks a whole lot quicker more evenly
[23:08]: that way and we were able to use our
[23:11]: smoker which keeps things at a good
[23:14]: consistent temperature so that was
[23:16]: pretty easy and it really it turned out
[23:19]: it cooked didn't the amount of time that
[23:21]: it was supposed to just about everything
[23:23]: was great the blueberry sauce was not
[23:26]: too difficult I'm not sure about needing
[23:29]: to pulse the berries at first to break
[23:31]: them up that was kind of another piece
[23:33]: of equipment to clean that didn't seem
[23:37]: entirely necessary but I'm sure it
[23:42]: probably helps the the process along I
[23:44]: did end up sort of over reducing my
[23:48]: sauce it's really more like a jam right
[23:50]: now in my refrigerator but that's an
[23:53]: easy problem as long you don't scorch it
[23:55]: as long as you don't burn it which I
[23:57]: didn't that's an easy problem to
[23:59]: overcome you just have a little water to
[24:00]: it and it's fine and so all in all it
[24:03]: was it was really pretty easy no super
[24:08]: hard things to do with this recipe yeah
[24:15]: it was it was it was easy and it was
[24:18]: good
[24:19]: our friends enjoyed it our kids enjoyed
[24:22]: it my daughter who if you can remember
[24:25]: her from the blueberry breakfast
[24:28]: pudding that we made from the same book
[24:31]: does not like blueberries and when we
[24:34]: had the leftovers
[24:36]: the other night she got some of the
[24:40]: sauce on her hand and she asked why it
[24:42]: was purple and when I told her that it
[24:45]: was made with blueberries she looked a
[24:46]: little bit betrayed but she still ate it
[24:49]: she ate that she she's a skinned chicken
[24:51]: skin kid she loves it so she still ate
[24:54]: the skin even though it had the
[24:55]: blueberry sauce on it and she says she
[24:56]: hates blueberries so that was definitely
[25:00]: a point in its favor
[25:03]: makes my daughter eat blueberries but
[25:06]: yeah all our friends our friends liked
[25:08]: it actually their kids didn't like the
[25:11]: sauce they eat the chicken without the
[25:12]: skin but everybody else enjoyed it the
[25:17]: skin was cooked I mean the chicken was
[25:19]: cooked nicely very juicy so all in all I
[25:21]: would say easy and I think anybody
[25:24]: should be able to make this so thanks
[25:27]: for watching if you enjoyed our video
[25:28]: please can click Subscribe down below or
[25:32]: right about here and come back next week
[25:36]: for another another recipe thanks for
[25:40]: watching
[25:44]: door closed don't come in