Devilled Chicken

How hot you make this spicy chicken dish is entirely up to you; just remember that the main spicing ingredient is cayenne pepper and let your taste buds do the rest. Too much, and you'll have chicken from hell.

Okay, first things first. The ideal way to cook this recipe is to use small chickens cut in half. The French call these poussins. Here in Australia we think in terms of size 15 or less, which in American terms would be a bird weighing less that 3lbs. The smaller the better, without going to extremes. There's not much meat on a day-old chick.

So the first thing to do is to buy two chooks of the size mentioned, split them down the back and remove the backbone with kitchen shears or a sharp, sturdy knife. Press the opened out birds flat with the heel of your hand, turn them so they are skin side down and split them lengthways down the breast, again using a very sharp knife or shears. You now have enough meat for 4 hungry people.

Here's the rest of the ingredients:

• freshly ground salt and black pepper
• cayenne pepper to taste
• 2 tbs wholegrain mustard
• 2 tbs chopped tarragon

Season the chicken on both sides with the salt, black and cayenne peppers. Coat the skin side only with the mustard and sprinkle this with the tarragon. Leave this to marinate while you fire up the barbecue.

Over a hot grill, barbecue the chicken pieces skin side down until brown and crisp, then turn them over, lower the heat and the lid and leave to cook through for about 20 minutes or until done. Test for doneness by cutting into the thickest part of the meat and look for shiny or pink flesh. If you see any, cook for a further 10 minutes.

Serve with your favourite barbie salad and some risotto rice. The best 'wine' with this dish is a very cold beer.

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