Ginger lime grilled chicken

The Goods*:

3 medium sized chicken thighs

Brine

2 kg warm tap water

100 grams kosher salt

25 grams sugar

2 bay leaves

6 cloves garlic

Ginger Lime Rub

1/2 stick butter

1 black cardamom pod

1 lime

14 grams ginger**

5 cloves garlic

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp AP flour

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

Prepare the brine in large container. Add the chicken thighs to the brine and weight them down with a small plate. Refrigerate for about three hours.

Place the butter in a small saucepan on low heat. Smash the black cardamom pod with the back of a chef's knife. Add the cardamom pod to the butter. Cook on low heat for about 15 minutes, or until the milk solids in the bottom of the pan begin to brown, but not burn. Strain the butter through a wire mesh strainer into a bowl and set aside.

Slice the tops off from the garlic cloves. Stand up in a small aluminum foil package, drizzle with some olive oil, and bake at 400 F for half an hour to roast the garlic cloves.

Grate the ginger on a microplane. Add to the butter. Zest the lime, slice it in half, and juice into a measuring cup. Add the lime zest and juice to the butter. Remove the garlic from the aluminum foil and finely mince the garlic cloves. Add the remaining rub ingredients to the butter. Mix throughly. The rub should have the consistency of peanut butter.

Remove the chicken from the brine. Rinse thoroughly under cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. By hand, slather some rub under the skin and all around the top and bottom of each thigh.

Preheat the grill by turning the burners on high. Grill the chicken, skin side down, over high flame for 2-3 minutes. Turn over, reduce the flame to low, and grill, covered, for 13-15 minutes, depending on individual chicken-doneness-preference. Allow the chicken to rest for 10 minutes, then serve.

*This was an interpretation of a another recipe.

**I've found that keeping ginger is a huge pain. Typically, I'll use a bit of one root, store it in the fridge, and then go to use it again only to find that it has spoiled. This problem was compounded when I purchased a whole sack of ginger from the Super 88 recently. I decided to freeze the ginger roots to preserve them longer. This, unfortunately, creates a new problem of how to use the ginger. I discovered that, once one end of the root is cut off, the microplane works wonders on the ginger. The resulting grated ginger has the appearance and texture of finely packed snow. I've provided a weight measurement because the stuff is fluffy, but its about a tablespoon.