This happens all the time. Even those of us that have rotesseries from time to time find ourselves without. Such is the river of life. You say, "well what will I do when I am up river without a rotisserie?" You get creative. If you are mechanical in nature, there are many options at your disposal so read on. If you are not mechanical and you are in a pinch and simply can't read on...get yourself an indirect fire going in a grill or pit or whatever...take a beer can, open it, drink at least half, jam the can 3/4 of the way into chicken's arse, put it in the middle of your fire surrounded by coals, add coals as needed, and wait for it to get good and crispy with a high internal temp, and serve her up with your remaining cold beers. For the rest of you...read on... [More]

This recipe is nearly flawless. You may not have all of the ingredients listed or may just wish to improvise a few steps. Do it your way by all means, but if you stick to this recipe, you are in for some truly Holy Pollo. As always, cooking method is probably the most flexible variable here. We usually opt for a charcoal fire with rotisserie when we have the ideal scenerio, but this is not always the case. Circumstances might leave you with nothing more than a hibachi or ...gasp...an oven. Fear not. Your pollo will amaze regardless. [More]

So we are at it again with the side dishes. We promise you will love this as a side or even the 'main event' with some rice. In any event, it will not disappoint. Humble and elegant like all the great food of the world. This recipe will bring your biggest foodie friend to their knees. While it seems like many steps and ingredients, this recipe couldn’t be easier. Once you've tried it once, you'll realize the subtle variations are limitless. For instance, if you can’t find Cowpeas, use Black Eyed Peas. As for the other ingredient substitutions, we've even substituted beer for the sherry for a tail-gate. [More]

Huacatay is a herb native to south america from the marigold and tarragon family. Huacatay was introduced to Europe during the Spanish conquests. It is often used as a companion plant in gardening because its roots produce a compound which keeps slugs, pests and weeds at bay. Huacatay leaves and oil are used to flavour food, tobacco, alcoholic beverages and soft drinks, including cola. Huacatay goes by many names throughout the world: Mexican marigold, black mint, Aymara wacataya (Peruvian Quechua), Tagetes minuta, Peruvian black mint, and so on... [More]

OK here goes...its Thanksgiving and we just can't take the same old bird this year. Its 2009...it's about time we get our 'Thanksgiving Mojo on' and roast some bird...no matter how big.

Turkey is a challenge because ...well....it's Freakin' Huge!

Ok...so lets take a step back: The classic Pollo a la Brasa recipe could not possibly penitrate the massivness that is the North American Turkey. How can we get to the soul of this meat without over marinading?....ah....BRINE!!

Because we are brining the bird in advance of applying the Pollo a la Brasa paste; we'll make a couple of adjustments: First, we will dial back the salt in the paste recipe. Next we'll want to replace the traditional Pollo a la Brasa Aromatics with those more reminicent of a North American Thanksgiving. Let us know if you had the balls to switch it up this year and took your turkey to the Brasa. Please experiment and let us know how it goes. Remember one thing as always: this is supposed to be a paste, so keep you liquids to a minimum. In our Substitutions section, we offer some tips on how to acheive the best results from even the humble oven. In this section we also offer alternatives to other hard to come by ingredients. [More]

Boston usually conjures up the Sox, lobsta rolls, cold pints, and clam strips from Kelly's etc.... but lets refocus that energy to all things Pollo a la Brasa in the Boston Area. The best Brasa joints in Boston seem to be totally under the radar. A couple of our favorites include: Pollos A La Brasa El Chalan in Chelsea, Rincon Limeno in East Boston, La Casa De Pedro in Watertown...and many many more. This just made us wonder ...why is there no good Pollo a la Brasa in Jamaica Plain??? Oh well...guess we’ll just have to hope for the Pollo Revolution!! Let us know if we missed any of your favorites. [More]

Florida gets praise from everyone in one form or another. From ‘New Jersey people’ looking for the Promised Land to Florida's many fans on Fark; Florida has a reputation to live up to. Sometimes that reputation is bad and sometimes good but you can guarantee that you're friends in the sunshine state will live up to whatever oddly stereotype laced moniker you might devise. One of those stereotypes is a state with crazy good Pollo a la Brasa and let us tell you brother… you will not be disappointed. So step into our Toyota Mini with the Tazz 'Back-Off' mud flaps and buckle-up there Joe Dirt, we are in for a crazy good Pollo a la Brasa tour of Florida ...the land of great chicken and much much more... [More]

There are so many good Brasa joints up, down, and throughout California that we found even the task of plotting these on Google daunting...we think we did a pretty good job of getting at least the essential places on the map. If you think we've missed one or have a neighborhood place in mind, let us know and we'd love to add it to the growing list. California Pollo a la Brasa ranges from curb-side classic to high end and all point in between. We've tried to pick the best restaurants that both Cali natives and out-of-towner recommended from experience. If you have any to add, please do so. Some of the best Pollo in California comes from the least likely places, so share your stories and inspirations along the way. [More]

New York is the most culturally and ethnically diverse city in the world. With all of the mixing of culture and language comes the most natural human tendency of sharing food. With this sharing comes blending and hyperbole. No where is this more the case than Manhattan. While many of us are used to our Pollo a la Brasa coming from a classic Brasa joint...Manhattan and the 5 boroughs break many of those conventions. Among the list of Pollo a la Brasa are restaurants whose core specialty ranges from Cuban to Brazilian to even Asian. We've tried to keep this diversity in mind when compiling this map of the best Pollo a la Brasa in New York by not excluding a restaurant because it didn't conform to what many think of as Pollo a la Brasa. So hop to it....bring on the Brasa...New York Style! [More]

The history of pepper is essentially a story of the history of the European spice trade. So revered it is sometimes called the ‘King of Spices’. In origin, Black pepper is a tropical 'twining plant' from southern India. In the ancient world, the most important source of black pepper was India's Malabar Coast, the southwest coast of the country predominated by modern day Goa. These days black pepper is grown throughout all of South-East Asia. Though black pepper is a staple around the world, it was once so valuable it was used as currency. [More]