Recipe: Chef Reuben Riffel’s Wood Fired Brined Chicken with Peri-Peri

In his latest book, Chef Reuben Riffel has drawn on all his varied experiences and the exotic tastes he’s collected around the world to honour his favourite thing – Braai!

“I think every chef has a dream of how they’d cook for people in an ideal world… for me my dream scenario is definitely cooking with fire. There’s a happiness that goes with cooking on a fire, a freedom and festive feel to it, that is what I love about it,” says the chef.

In Braai (Published by Quivertree Publications: info@quivertree.co.za and available at all good book stores or online), Riffel offers quick and easy recipes that he likes to cook for the family on weekday nights – “it’s often just as easy to light a fire as it is to heat up the stove,” he says – and simple but delicious recipes to create a sense of occasion when you have friends over on the weekend.”

There are thousands of recipes for peri peri chicken, but Chef Reuben says brining the chicken for just the right amount of time makes all the difference. The brine penetrates the flesh and carries the flavour all the way in, seasoning it perfectly and allowing for better retention of those tasty juices.

Recipe: Wood Fired Brined Chicken with Peri-Peri

Serves: 4

1 chicken (about 1.8 kg), spatchcocked

Salt and ground black pepper

Brine

½ cup salt

½ cup sugar

4L water

Peri-Peri Sauce

3–4 long red chillies

5 cloves garlic

2 egg yolks

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 cup olive oil

Brining the Chicken

Mix the brine ingredients together in a deep bowl and submerge the chicken in the liquid. Place a plate on top to keep the bird submerged and refrigerate overnight.

Remove the chicken from the liquid and pat dry using paper towels.

Preparing the Peri-Peri Sauce

Prepare medium-hot coals.

Grill the chillies, turning occasionally, until blistered and charred.

Cover them with cling wrap to allow them to sweat and their skins to loosen, then peel and discard the skin.

Blitz the chilli flesh with garlic in a food processor until finely chopped.

Add the egg yolks and lemon juice, and process until pale and frothy.

With the motor running, add the oil in a thin stream until it is all incorporated and the sauce is thick and glossy.

Season to taste.

Reserve a quarter of the sauce for serving and use the rest for basting.

Spatchcocking the Chicken

Using a small serated knife or kitchen scissors, cut along each side of the chicken’s spine to remove it.

Open out the chicken, breast side/ skin side up, and press down to flatten the chicken.

Cooking the Chicken

Prepare medium-hot coals.

Score the chicken through the thickest parts of the thigh and breast using a sharp knife. Brush the chicken all over with peri-peri sauce and season with salt and pepper.

Grill the chicken, skin-side down, until the skin is golden and crisp.

Turn the chicken and continue cooking, brushing occasionally with sauce, until cooked through (30–40 minutes).

Serving

Cut chicken into pieces and serve with the reserved peri-peri sauce.