A question I get a lot of the time is “when did my love of BBQ start?”. I know a lot of popular answers are Texas, Kansas City.. but for me: Alabama. I spent a couple months down there and was graced with the presence of Saw’s BBQ. I don’t where it stacks up as far as best in the State, best in the Country or whatever.. I just know it was a life changing BBQ experience for me.
What they also introduced me to is that Alabama White BBQ sauce. Never used to be a mayo fan, probably still wouldn’t opt for it in the raw. But something about the the mayo & apple cider vinegar just really popped when put on smoked chicken. Never forgot it. And therefore, I shall make it. You saw me use it in the Spring BBQ post – I actually made this just before that BBQ, but let’s dig into how I made it.
We’re going with a pack of drumsticks for a quick and easy RecTeq day, but the beauty is in that Alabama White. Recipe above for those short-of-time, but let’s look at the process
The Prep Table
Work has been killing me mentally as I was making this – and as I’m typing it, it ain’t getting any better. One of the things to help me snap out of that funk, is getting out to the grates. The only thing I forgot in this picture was the bird rub. If you remember, I’ve been trying to find what I think is the best bird rub – and I think I locked it up when I made the Chicken Lollipops. I still had some of my tester blends to use up, so that’s what I did here. The rest of these ingredients, sans the EVOO, is for the white sauce.
The prep for the bird is kind of like a process, so I dropped it in there for continuity.
The Process
Can’t fancify this anymore. Add ingredients to the mason jar and shake it up. It’s a thin sauce, you can make it however you want, but that’s all I did. Into the refrigerator it went until the birds were cooking.
Take these out the package, give them a rinse and pat ’em dry. I did the lollipop style last time (Chicken Lollies), this time we’re just rubbing and RecTeq’ing. Not every cook can be an all day thing. Sometimes you need simple.
After the rinse, I peeled the skin back a little bit and threw some rub on the bird. I did three with the seasoning I have to use up – and one with my Bird Blend (Waiting on MrsForensicBBQ to name this one! She named the beef rub (Meaty Bits) and the pork rub (Fine Swine). I’ll take suggestions, but I’m pretty sure she’ll win.)
Anyway, season the meat and pull the skin back over the meat. Drizzled some olive oil on the skin and applied some more rub. Ain’t gonna be short on flavor.
Fire up that RecTeq to 275. We’re going hotter than usual, but still going to grab some smoke. We’re going to take it up even higher to battle the skin, but let’s get some smoke on there first.
Now, if you’re a RecTeq’er, just open up the app on your phone and slide the temperature gauge to 375. Today was a brutally cold day in April, so I was more than happy just using technology to achieve my result. Deal with it.
Let these go at 375 for another 20 minutes or so. We’re looking to get at least a 155F degree internal temperature. I don’t really need these at the minimum, so if they go a little long, I ain’t too worried about it. Probe it, know you’re cooking it safely and proceed.
For the last 10 minutes (1 hour at 275, 20 minutes at 375 and another 10 after that with the sauce), I decided to brush on a little sauce. It successfully made a good mess on the drip pan, but as you can tell by the rest of the grill – it’s in a dire need of a cleaning anyway. I think the last probe before the pull was around 175-180, so it’s cooked – let’s get them inside.
The Result
These were already looking pretty fantastic. I was keeping the one with my preferred rub separate so I could verify (validate) that it was in fact, the perfect bird seasoning. As pretty as that looked, I needed to finish up with that Alabama White Sauce.
I will say I had JUST enough AWS to round this out. The white is vibrant, but after you let it sit on there for a few, it looks really homestyle.. really good. How’d she plate?
I remember it being good back in Birmingham, AL – but were they THIS good? I impressed myself with this one. MrsForensicBBQ laughs (suspiciously) when I make something that exceeds expectation, because I’m not shy about my excitement. I tell her about it like she even cares about the production of a meat product. She married me, deal with it.
Like I said, it was better than I had hoped, and I hope you try it out. Not everything I make works (remember that BLT idea?) – but when I do, I’ll tell you.
This worked.
The Recipe
Alabama White Chicken Drummies
Ingredients
Chicken Legs
- 1 Pack Costco Drumsticks 4 legs
- 1/2 Cup Favorite Bird Rub
- 2-3 Tbsp Olive Oil
Alabama White Sauce
- 1 Cup Mayonnaise
- 1/3 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 Tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 Tsp Coarse Black Pepper
- 1/2 Tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 Tsp Onion Powder
- 1/4 Tsp Cayenne to taste
- Water to thin to your liking – I did just about 1 Tbsp
Instructions
The Bird
- Get the RecTeq fired up to 275 degrees.
- If they're still in the package, get 'em out of there, rinse em and pat day. Give a thin olive oil coating and throw your favorite bird rub on 'em. I put the rub on the meat, folded the skin on top and dusted again.
- Throw the bird legs on the grates and let 'em go for about 30 minutes. Flip after 30 and let 'em go for another 30 (Total of 1 hour)
- Dial up the RecTeq to 375 and we're gonna turn that skin from rubbery to bite-through. Keep 'em in the heat for 20-25 minutes – looking for an Internal Temp of 155.
- Brush on that Alabama White and get it back in the heat for another 15 minutes or so – until IT is at least 165.
- Rest for 5-10 minute, throw another bit of sauce on there if you want and eat 'em up!
The Sauce
- You can be more elegant than I, but I combined the ingredients in a mason jar, gave it a solid shake, and in the refrigerator until use.