Barbecue without the barbecue.

So tonight's bit of culinary magic is basically a page pulled from a restaurant I once worked it, only done right.

We had what the menu called a "BBQ Chicken salad", which of course, had no barbecued chicken at all. It was basically boiled chicken, shredded, and tossed with a healthy amount of cheap BBQ sauce. To be flatly honest, it wasn't the best. The chicken was usually over done, and when combined with the cold temperature the meat and sauce mixture was held at, made sort of a stringy paste that was largely unpleasant.

There was however, one magic method by which to turn it into something more palatable, which was to take the "BBQ chicken", put it between two pieces of bread with some cheddar cheese and just a bit of ranch dressing, then slapped in between the two hot slabs of metal that make up a panini press. After thoroughly warmed through, it actually approached something rather like tasty.

But, recently primed by Yet Another Good Eats Episode on the subject of poaching, it occured to me that with a more proper poaching job in a good stock, this recipe might still have some hope for it.

A small scale experiment a few days ago served to prove the principle, as using the simple technique of boil, drop, and hold discussed in the episode, combined with a flavorful dashi broth seasoned with garlic, onion, chives, and curry and chili pastes, produced what was actually quite a tasty sandwich.

But I was not done with it yet. While on a trip into town to deliver a package, my stepdad and erstwhile transportation dropped me that bombshell of a question, "So, since we're in town, you got any ideas for dinner?" My mind blanked for a solid 5 minutes, as it often does in those situations, and somehow my mind seized upon the experiment of a few day's past, and suggested I could make that, I just needed some stock and perhaps some fries for a side.

So, I started with a big 40 oz can of chicken broth, to which I added a sliced onion, a chopped stalk of celery, about 4 cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of curry paste, some chives, dried rosemary, parsley, paprika, and salt and pepper, into which went 6 chicken thighs. Brought it up to a boil, then dropped it down to the next to lowest setting on the burner and cooked for 20 minutes, then pulled off the heat for ten minutes.

Once the thighs had pulled from the broth and cooled, I set about the laborious process of shredding the chicken. Once properly shredded, I tossed this with about equal parts barbecue sauce and tonkatsu sauce, topped off with some sriracha sauce. This got tossed together, and then put into a bare frypan over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes, while the fries baked in the oven.

Put a helping of that on a bun with some ranch and mayo, and a slice of colby jack cheese. To speed up the cheese melting, I popped it in the microwave for 45 secs.

The result was perfect. The chicken was moist and tender, the combination of flavors from the three sauce was perfect, tangy, sweet, and just a hint of spice. Frankly, unlike my former employer's recipe, I think this one could actually get someone believing it was really barbecue.
The only think it lacks is the flavor of smoke.