As Heard on WSVA's Middays
Bob  Pastorio shares Dave Shirkey's BBQ Recipe for 10 chicken halves
This is one of the more famous (and deservedly so) recipes for Shenandoah Valley BBQ chicken. Every Saturday in warm weather, there are hundreds of locations where variations of this seasoning approach can be found. Everybody from Boy Scout troops to churches and civic organizations will be out early with their charcoal, chickens and secret recipes. And with all the variations, it's easy to find moist, tasty chicken halves. When I have visitors from outside the area, I make sure to either make or buy some chicken like this to share.

Ingredients:
1 cup oil
2 cups vinegar
4 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon Accent (MSG)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Optional: 1 tablespoon Texas Pete

Combine all ingredients and baste chicken as it cooks. Don't baste during the last 15 or 20 minutes of cooking time to let the surface of the chicken develop that wonderful flavor.  Can also be used to marinate the chicken in advance. Discard any left over; don't reuse it because it'll be contaminated with bacteria from the raw meat.

Happy chicken. Or turkey. Or Rock Cornish Hens...

  Hi there. Pastorio here.
 
  Jim asked for a roast beef recipe to post on the web site because of
  so many emails. Here it is:
 
  The roast beef I cooked for Jim's birthday and that we talked about
  on-air was a whole sirloin tip roast, choice-grade, that came in a
  cryopak (plastic shrink package) from Costco.
 
  Here's how to cook a roast beef:
  Take it out of the package, rinse the blood off, and season generously
  on all sides with the mix (equal parts Lawry's or McCormick's season
  salt, powdered garlic and white pepper). Leave on the counter for 2
  hours to warm a bit and shorten cooking time. Put on a rack in an
  uncovered roasting pan and put it into a 250F oven. Roast until the
  center temperature is 120-125. Take it out of the oven and let sit on
  a countertop for 20-30 minutes before carving. Slice thinly to serve.
 
  That's all of it. The meat will finish between medium-rare and medium.
  Virtually no pan juices because it's all still in the meat. If you
  want gravy, you'll have to use a commercial beef broth (pick the
  low-sodium ones) as the base.
 
  A home-unit rotary slicer makes short work of slicing it (and other
  meats, cheeses, breads, veggies, etc.). I use a Polder probe
  thermometer like Alton Brown uses on his TV program "Good Eats" -
  Kitchenwares and More in the Dayton Farmers' Market has them.
 
  Around my house, we've been using it in wraps and subs. Flour
  tortilla, shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, meat, cheddar, mayo,
  drizzle balsamic vinegar. Or, sub roll, lettuce, tomato, onion,
  pepperoncini (Italian slightly hot peppers), fresh basil, olive oil,
  vinegar, roast beef, provolone cheese. Garlic butter if you want to go
  all the way.
 
  Also open-face roast beef sandwiches with gravy. Two slices of bread,
  toasted, about 6 ounces sliced roast beef and 1/4 to 1/3 cup gravy
  (or, even better, demi-glace) over top.