For a summer barbecue, Delia Smith’s bbq chicken coats 18 drumsticks in a sticky apricot sauce, gives them a short spell in the oven, then finishes them over the coals. It feeds 6, and whatever glaze is left in the dish turns into an extra sauce with a glass of white wine.
Back in 1993 the glaze first appeared in her Summer Collection, as a mixed grill with lamb cutlets and pork ribs sharing it with the drumsticks. The Delia Collection: Chicken (2003) later gave the chicken a page of its own, and the card below follows that one.
The barbecue sauce itself is a blender job, and she says it suits any meat. Ripe apricots are skinned and whizzed with dark brown sugar, Worcestershire, soy, root and ground ginger, tomato purée, garlic and a few drops of Tabasco.
What comes off the barbecue is sticky and dark at the edges, sweet from the apricot and sugar, with a salty, gingery kick underneath, so a crisp salad is all it needs. For beef on the same coals, her burger recipe makes thick half-pounders from chopped steak.
Delia Smith’s Barbecued Chicken with an Apricot Glaze
Course: DinnerCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy6
servings20
minutes30
minutes390
kcalDrumsticks brushed with her apricot barbecue sauce, pre-baked, then cooked over charcoal, with any spare glaze simmered with wine to pour over.
Ingredients
- For the chicken:
18 small to medium chicken drumsticks
a glass of white wine
- For the apricot barbecue glaze:
2 large fresh apricots
2 rounded tablespoons dark soft brown sugar
55ml (2fl oz) Worcestershire sauce
55ml (2fl oz) light soy sauce
1 tablespoon grated root ginger
1 rounded teaspoon ground ginger
a few drops of Tabasco sauce
2 tablespoons tomato purée
1 clove garlic
freshly milled black pepper
Directions
- Skin the apricots: Put the apricots in a small pan, cover them with water and simmer for 2 minutes. Drain, and once they’re cool enough to handle, slip off the skins (a cloth helps if they’re still hot), then halve and stone them.
- Make the glaze: Whizz the apricot flesh in a blender or food processor with the sugar, Worcestershire, soy, both gingers, Tabasco, tomato purée, garlic and some pepper until smooth.
- Coat the drumsticks: Lay the drumsticks in a shallow dish, pour the glaze over and turn each one so it’s well coated. Cover and keep them somewhere cool until you’re ready to cook.
- Heat the oven: When you light the charcoal, heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan), gas mark 4.
- Pre-bake: Give the drumsticks 15 minutes in the oven.
- Barbecue: Once the coals are at the right heat, brush the drumsticks with more glaze and cook them about 7.5cm above the coals for about 5 minutes on each side.
- Extra sauce: Scrape the glaze left in the dish into a small pan, add the wine and bring it up to a simmer.
- Serve: Pile the drumsticks on a plate with the sauce on the side and a crisp salad, plus a full-bodied red wine if you’re following her lead.
Notes
- The glaze in the dish has been in contact with raw chicken, so let the extra sauce bubble properly for a couple of minutes rather than just warming it, which is my own rule.
- Barbecues vary a lot. Check the thickest drumstick at the bone before serving: the juices should run clear, or a probe should read 75°C, my own check.
FAQs
How do I make her chicken in barbecue sauce in the oven?
Her Complete Cookery Course has an oven version, Chicken in Barbecue Sauce, which she counts among the easiest suppers she knows. Eight small joints for 4 are rubbed with oil and pepper, no salt, and roasted with a chopped onion on the top shelf at 200°C for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile she whisks 5 tablespoons each of dry cider and soy sauce with a heaped tablespoon of tomato purée and a tablespoon of soft brown sugar. A heaped teaspoon each of ground ginger and mustard powder and a crushed garlic clove go in too.
The oil is then poured off, the sauce goes over, and the chicken has 25 minutes more with plenty of basting. She serves it with brown pilau rice and a salad.
Can I use the glaze on lamb or pork?
Yes, that’s how it started. In her Summer Collection the same glaze covers a mixed grill of 6 drumsticks, 6 lamb cutlets and 6 pork ribs for 6 people, with only the drumsticks needing to be pre-baked first.
The ribs and cutlets take about 6 minutes a side over the coals, and she takes the lamb off before 12 minutes if you like it very rare. Her oven-roasted potatoes with garlic and rosemary go alongside.
What if I don’t have a barbecue?
A hot grill does the same job, my own swap. Pre-bake the drumsticks as usual, then give them about 5 minutes a side under the grill, brushing on more glaze as you turn them.
Her Frugal Food also has a grill recipe, Devilled Chicken Drumsticks for 3. The drumsticks sit for at least 3 hours in Worcestershire, tomato paste, ketchup, two mustards, sugar, soy and paprika, then grill for 15 to 20 minutes with plenty of turning.
Can I make the glaze ahead?
Yes. Her method has you coat the drumsticks and leave them covered somewhere cool until it’s time to cook, so the glaze is meant to be made first.
I’d make it up to a day ahead and keep the coated chicken in the fridge, my own timing, then let it lose its chill for 20 minutes before it goes in the oven.
What if apricots aren’t in season?
They’re a summer fruit, so out of season I’d use 4 canned apricot halves in juice, drained, which is my own swap. They skip the skinning and go straight into the blender.
Keep the sugar the same to start with and taste the glaze, as canned fruit can be sweeter.
