Rotisserie Chicken with Chinese Oyster Sauce Glaze

Equipment:

• Grill with Rotisserie attachment (I used a Weber kettle with the Rotisserie attachment; the kettle is here and the rotisserie attachment is here)
• Aluminum foil drip pan (9″x12″, or whatever fits your grill)
• Butcher’s twine

Ingredients

• 1 (4 pound) chicken

Marinade

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Shao Xing rice wine (or substitute dry sherry)
• 1 tablespoons sugar
• 1 clove garlic, smashed
• 1 quarter-sized piece of ginger, smashed
• 1 scallion, minced
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Oyster Sauce glaze

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Directions

1. Marinate the chicken

Whisk the marinade ingredients in a bowl until the sugar dissolves. Put the chicken in a gallon zip top bag and pour the marinade over the bird. Squeeze the air out of the bag, seal, and put the bagged chicken in a baking dish in the refrigerator. Refrigerate for at least one hour, preferably four hours, turning occasionally to redistribute the marinade.
I rotate the chicken a quarter turn every 15 minutes (or as often as I remember) to make sure it marinates evenly.

2. Truss and spit the chicken

Remove the chicken from the bag, letting excess marinade drip off. Fold the wingtips under the wings and truss the chicken. Skewer the chicken on the rotisserie spit, securing it with the spit forks. Pick off any bits of scallion, garlic, or ginger that stuck to the chicken – they’ll burn in the heat of the grill. Let the chicken rest at room temperature while the grill preheats.

3. Set up the grill for indirect high

Prepare the grill for cooking on indirect high heat (see details here). For my Weber kettle, I light a chimney starter full of charcoal, wait for it to be covered with ash, then pour it in two equal piles on the sides of the grill, and put the drip pan in the middle, between the piles.
I recommend the Weber Chimney Starter, because it is larger than most chimney starters. It holds 5 quarts of charcoal, the perfect size for this recipe.

4. Make the Oyster Sauce glaze

Whisk the Oyster Sauce glaze ingredients in a medium bowl. Set aside for later.

5. Rotisserie cook the chicken

Put the spit on the grill, start the motor spinning, and make sure the drip pan is centered beneath the chicken. Close the lid and cook until the chicken reaches 160°F in the thickest part of the breast, about 1 hour. During the last 15 minutes of cooking, brush the chicken with the Oyster Sauce glaze every five minutes.

6. Serve

Remove the chicken from the rotisserie spit and remove the twine trussing the chicken. Be careful – the spit and forks are blazing hot. Let the chicken rest for 15 minutes, then carve, drizzle with any the remaining oyster glaze, and serve.