Guamian Chicken Salad

Guam, where the sun rises on American barbecue

That's the slogan of the Guam Barbecue Society and the inspiration for our first dish

Smoked chicken and fresh coconut make this one of the most singular salads on planet barbecue

First, the smoker. Now, this is called a water smoker, and I'll show you how it goes together

First, dump a chimney full of lit charcoal into the bottom portion of the smoker

This is the firebox. Next, place the smoke chamber on top, and then the drip pan goes in the middle of the smoke chamber

Now add about three quarts of water. The water shields the food from the direct heat

and creates a moist environment for the chicken to smoke in. Now, let me show you the chicken

And when you're working outside, of course, keep your chicken over ice. Season the inside of the cavity with salt, kosher or sea, and freshly ground black pepper

Then here's a cool skewering technique. Take a bamboo skewer, insert it through the drumstick just under the bone

and then come around and pick up the other drumstick. Finally, stand the skewer upright and poke it through the back

and then you can just break off the excess skewer. Fold the wingtips under the bird Be sure to season the outside of the bird with additional coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper And I have these in a small bowl so I can discard these or use

the seasonings for another dish that will be cooked so I'm not cross-contaminating with my

hands. Bring the chicken over and place it on the smoker. And of course, whenever you handle

raw poultry, clean your hands in hot soapy water and then hand sanitizer. To finish smoking the

chicken, open the door in front of the smoker and insert a couple of soaked hardwood chunks

place them right on the coals. You want to kind of lower them onto the coals

Don't toss them in or you'll stir up a lot of ash. Then place the lid on the smoker

You want to open the vent holes to obtain a temperature of about 275 to 300 degrees

Cooking time, an hour and a half to two hours. To get the full effect of this salad

you want to use fresh coconut. And when you buy whole coconut, give it a shake

You want to hear water. if there's liquid inside, it's fresh. Now to crack the coconut open, hold it in one hand and just sort

of tap it with the back of a cleaver. And you'll see it comes apart very easily. This is the coconut

liquid mixed with rum. It makes a great cocktail. This is not coconut milk. Okay, three ways to grate

the fresh coconut With a traditional coconut grater you sit on a bench with the wood part under your thigh and you use this to scrape out the coconut A slightly more high version from India you simply turn the crank and grate the coconut

And the most high-tech version of all, take a piece of coconut and peel it with a vegetable peeler

and then place the pieces of fresh coconut in a food processor

You want to break them into sort of about one to two inch pieces

just like that, and then using your chopping blade, simply turn on the processor

A lot easier this way. So here's your freshly grated coconut for the salad

Just add it to the bowl with some coconut we grated earlier

All right, let's check on the chicken. Well, the chicken should be done, and it sure looks done

but it's always a good idea to check with an instant-read meat thermometer

inserted into the deepest part of the thigh. You're looking for at least 165 degrees

Okay. Okay, so now you can take the chicken off the smoker and let it cool and take out your bamboo skewer

So once the chicken is cool enough to handle, what you want to do is just sort of break it apart

and then pull the meat off the bones Don forget this skin Mmm that my favorite part

Now all I have to do is add the freshly grated coconut

We can mix this in. and then thinly sliced fiery red chilies

finely sliced green onions. One thing I love about this salad, it's really colorful

Freshly squeezed lime juice, salt, different salt than you use for seasoning the raw chicken

and freshly ground black pepper. And in keeping with our Asian theme

you can serve the salad on a plate lined with a fresh banana leaf

A squeeze of fresh lime juice and a red chili to let them know you mean it

Mmm. It's hot, it's smoky, it's tart. This salad has everything

This is one of my favorite dishes on Planet Barbecue. It's chicken salad like you've never experienced