I grew up on a farm. My grandfather sold eggs for a living, so we had eggs coming out of our ears. And who knows which came first, the chicken or the egg, but along with the eggs, we had chickens. Funny how that works! And every Sunday after church, my mom (we lived in a separate home on the farm property) would fix the side dishes, and my grandmother, after first killing, de-feathering, and butchering some unlucky rooster or hen (and I refuse to go into the details of how this was accomplished) would prepare the fried chicken. Now I know I’ve told you that my grandma was not a good cook, but boy could she fry chicken! So at about 2:00 p.m. every Sunday we would sit down to a dinner of fried chicken with all the trimmings. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Then long about 7:00 p.m. we would have a late supper. Often it was as simple as a Spanish omelet (like I said, we had eggs in abundance) and toast. Lovely in its simplicity.

Now logically you would think that as an adult I would hate eggs and chicken. But I still have an egg every morning for breakfast. Love them. And as far as enjoying the taste of chicken, well, in all probability, if I had to choose just one meat to eat for the rest of my life, it would be the delectable Gallus gallus domesticus. And after having grown up on a chicken farm, as far as I’m concerned, the only good chicken is a dead chicken anyway! Chickens are mean critters. They will literally peck one of their fellow chickens to death if the poor thing happens to have even a tiny scratch or scrape. And as a small girl trying to help her grandfather gather eggs, well those old biddies were unmerciful! So like I said, better dead is a Rhode Island Red, or however that cold war saying goes!

So for me, a lovely piece of chicken that has been rubbed with spices, spent a few hours of well deserved incarceration in the refrigerator, then cooked over low heat on a BBQ and slathered with BBQ sauce; well life just doesn’t get much better. Actually, the only thing I can think of that would be better, is if I could fry chicken like my grandmother. But to do that, I would have to raise my own chickens (not out of the question) and then slaughter them (satisfying but completely out of the question), churn my own butter from my own dreamy eyed cow (I believe we have a covenant in our development that expressly states that cows are prohibited), and own a well seasoned cast iron frying pan! Well I’ve got the pan, but as for the rest, not going to happen, so I will just have to cherish my memories. If I am lucky enough to end up in heaven with my grandmother, I know she will be waiting for me with a plate of her fried chicken. In the mean time, I will gladly content myself with this BBQ’d chicken. Hope you enjoy it too.

chicken pieces, any type or number of pieces you need

Dry Rub for Chicken:

• 5 T. kosher salt
• 1 T. freshly ground black pepper
• 3 T. granulated garlic
• 3 T. onion powder
• 1 T. dried thyme
• 1 T. ground sage
• 1 T. paprika
• 1 tsp. ground savory

Mix all dry rub ingredients together. Wash and dry the chicken pieces. Thoroughly rub each chicken piece with the dry rub. (Store any unused portion of the dry rub in an airtight container at room temperature.) Place chicken in a zip lock bag and refrigerate for up to 12 hours. Grill over medium low heat and serve with Bourbon BBQ Sauce (under This & That Recipes)