Chicken with Alabama white sauce

Heat the oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Ask your butcher to spatchcock the chicken or watch our simple how-to video. Put the chicken in a roasting tin in which it fits snugly. Mix together the paprika, cumin, garlic, salt and pepper. Sprinkle this all over both sides of the chicken, patting it down to coat. Cover the tin with a double layer of foil, then roast for 1 hour 30 minutes. At this point you could cool the chicken to room temperature, then chill for up to two days before the finishing on the barbecue.

Mix together all of the white sauce ingredients and pour into two bowls – one for basting and one for serving.

Heat a barbecue to high. Use a large metal skewer to pierce the chicken diagonally through breast into the leg on the other side of the chicken. Repeat with another skewer on the other side to make an X shape. This will support the chicken and help you turn it. Lay the chicken on the grill and brush the sauce all over it. Carefully flip the chicken every 3-4 minutes and brush with more of the sauce. After 10-15 minutes the chicken will start to char and crisp, and will be heated through. Remove to a serving platter, brush with more sauce, cover and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Alternatively, if you’re finishing the chicken indoors, heat the grill to high and brush the chicken with plenty of sauce. Grill for 4-5 minutes, flipping, brushing and repeating three or four more times until crisp, charred in places and cooked through.

Serve the chicken with the reserved white sauce for dipping or slathering over.