Published July 1, 2003.
To perfect our chicken alla diavola recipe, we needed ingredients for a well-rounded but not overly spicy diavola flavor. We started by brining the chicken to keep it juicy, adding crushed garlic and bay leaves to the brine for flavor. A combination of black and red pepper flakes, gently heated in oil to release their flavors, gave our chicken alla diavola the heat it required.
Before building the fire, make sure that the grill is cleaned of residual ash from previous use; if left in the bottom, residual ash catches fat drippings and causes flare-ups that can singe the chicken. For this recipe, we prefer the even, slower heat generated by charcoal briquettes over faster-burning hardwood charcoal.
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