Hot Chicken

Note in addition to the above cook and prep times, the chicken should marinate for at least 2 hours (up to overnight).

Clean chicken with cold water. Pat dry. Rub chicken inside and out with olive oil. On the inside of the chicken, sprinkle and rub the thyme and cumin and half of the listed amounts of garlic powder, black pepper and red pepper. (The more black and red pepper you use, the hotter chicken will be.) On the outside of the chicken, sprinkle and rub garlic powder, black pepper and red pepper, omitting thyme and cumin.

Sprinkle and rub Texas Pete hot sauce on the inside and outside of chicken. Chicken should be red all over from spices and hot sauce. Add more garlic powder, red and black pepper, if you like it hotter

Put chicken into a dish and put it into the refrigerator. Allow chicken to marinate 2-4 hours or overnight, if possible. (Chicken can be cooked immediately if you have no time. I’ve done it and had good results.)

Preheat grill until coals are ashen and glowing or a medium heat on gas grill. Put chicken to the side of the coals or on the cooler part of grill with the open cavity of chicken facing out and the breast of chicken facing down. Cover grill and allow to smoke at low heat for 2-4 hours, turning chicken over in the last hour. Chicken should be cooked low and slow to get best results. The skin should be brown and crisp and the chicken should be very tender. When cooked properly, the leg bone should move and pull away from chicken easily. Cook until the internal temperature at the thickest part of the thigh reaches an internal temperature of 160 F. Finish in the oven, if necessary to brown and crisp skin.