Ingredients
Chicken
- 1free-range chicken of 1.4 kg, spatchcocked and slashed to the bone
- Juice of 3 limes
- 6garlic cloves, crushed
- 30 gfresh ginger, grated
- 1onion, grated
- 2 tbspmustard
- 1stock cube, crumbled
- 1 tspblack pepper
- 1 tspsalt
- 4 tbspgroundnut oil
Basting
- 60 mlgroundnut oil
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 tspchilli powder
Piment (relish)
- 3onions, sliced paper-thin
- 4red chillies, chopped
- 2tomatoes, chopped
- Juice of 2 limes
- 1 tspsalt
- 2 tbspoil
To serve
- Attiéké or hand-cut fried potatoes
Directions
- Blend the lime juice, garlic, ginger, grated onion, mustard, stock cube, pepper, salt and oil into a loose paste and massage it into every slash.
- Marinate at least 4 hours, or overnight in the fridge. Light a charcoal fire and let it burn down until the coals are grey and you can hold a hand 20 cm above them for four seconds.
- Start the chicken skin-side up, bone-side to the coals, on the cooler side of the grill.
- Cook 30 minutes with the lid on or a foil tent over it, turning twice and basting with the oil-lime-chilli mixture. Move it over the hot coals skin-side down for the last 10 to 15 minutes, watching constantly, until the skin is blistered, mahogany and lacquered.
- Chop the bird through the bone into pieces and serve with the relish, attiéké and cold beer.
Technique
- The name comes from the sight of live birds tied in bunches to the back of a bicycle on the way to market. The point is that they are scrawny, free-ranging and full of flavour — the texture is firm and the taste far stronger than an intensively reared bird.
- Two-zone charcoal cooking is essential. Straight over the fire the marinade’s sugar and mustard burn black long before the thigh is cooked.
- The raw onion-and-lime piment is not optional in Burkina — its sharpness is the counterweight to the smoke and fat.
Substitutions
- No charcoal: roast at 200°C (400°F) for 45 minutes then finish 5 minutes under a fierce grill; you get the caramelisation but not the smoke.
- Attiéké is fermented grated cassava — couscous steamed with a squeeze of lime is the usual stand-in abroad.
Variations
- In Bobo-Dioulasso the bird is often opened, grilled, then cut up and tossed back on the fire with the piment for a final minute.
- Poulet télévisé is the rotisserie cousin, spit-roasted in a glass-fronted cabinet on the roadside.
History
Lean free-range village chickens named for the bicycles that carry them, strung by the legs, from the countryside to city markets.
Frequently asked questions
What is Poulet bicyclette?
Poulet bicyclette is a main from Burkina Faso: lean free-range chicken charcoal-grilled with lime and chili. Lean free-range village chickens named for the bicycles that carry them, strung by the legs, from the countryside to city markets.
How long does Poulet bicyclette take to make?
Poulet bicyclette takes 25 min plus 4 hr marinating of preparation and 50 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Poulet bicyclette?
Yes, within limits. No charcoal: roast at 200°C (400°F) for 45 minutes then finish 5 minutes under a fierce grill; you get the caramelisation but not the smoke. Attiéké is fermented grated cassava — couscous steamed with a squeeze of lime is the usual stand-in abroad.
What is the most important thing to get right in Poulet bicyclette?
The name comes from the sight of live birds tied in bunches to the back of a bicycle on the way to market. The point is that they are scrawny, free-ranging and full of flavour — the texture is firm and the taste far stronger than an intensively reared bird.
