Tailgate Huli-Huli Chicken

Served up by LANI, the Stewardess with all the world’s recipes.

Prep: 15 min, plus 4 hours to marinate · Cook: 20-25 min · Serves: 6

Why surfers love it: Marinate it before dawn patrol, light the grill when you paddle in, and feed the whole crew while the boards dry on the truck. Sweet, salty and smoky is exactly what a sunburned crew wants.

Ingredients

• 3 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• Glaze: 1 cup pineapple juice, ½ cup soy sauce, ½ cup packed brown sugar, ⅓ cup ketchup, 2 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger, 4 cloves garlic, grated
• 1 fresh pineapple, peeled, cored and cut in thick rings
• Oil for the grill grate
• 2 green onions, sliced, and sesame seeds to finish
• To serve: rice and a green salad or slaw

Method

1. Whisk the glaze ingredients together. Pour 1 cup into a small saucepan and set aside for basting. Put the chicken in a zip bag with the rest and marinate in the fridge at least 4 hours or overnight.
2. Simmer the reserved cup of glaze over medium heat for 5-8 minutes until it thickens a little. This is your clean basting sauce.
3. Heat a grill to medium (about 375-400°F) and oil the grate. Lift the chicken out of the marinade and throw that marinade away.
4. Grill the thighs 5-6 minutes, flip, and keep turning every few minutes, brushing on the simmered glaze each time, until sticky and charred at the edges and 165°F inside, about 20 minutes total.
5. Grill the pineapple rings 2-3 minutes a side alongside the chicken.
6. Rest the chicken 5 minutes, then pile it on a platter with the pineapple, green onions and sesame seeds. Serve with rice.

Tip: Huli means "turn" in Hawaiian, and that is the whole trick: keep flipping so the sugar in the glaze caramelizes instead of burning. Keep the raw chicken in a cooler on ice until it hits the grill.

Surf-town roots

Every surf town has the same scene: a grill on a tailgate, wet boards on the roof racks and somebody turning chicken while the sun goes down. This is our version of that cookout.