My sister Louanne and I share at least one thing in common: At our houses, Barbecued Chicken means a man with tongs, meat and fire who has an excuse to hide in the backyard, sip beer and play the banjo. Preferably for a very long time.

As you might imagine, certain grilling recipes tolerate this scenario more successfully than others. So when you're barbecuing chicken under these circumstances, you want to lean toward the thigh-leg quarters, with the skin and bone. This way the chicken cooks slowly with little fuss, and the banjo strumming needs only to be interrupted at sporadic intervals. Even then, all that’s required is a quick brushing or turning. Dousing is in order if flames erupt, but that’s considered a bonus in the man-fights-fire category.

This recipe is particularly easy with a bottled barbecue sauce, but Louanne's husband Fred uses a homemade Memphis version (tomato-based and sweet) that's just to die for.

We affectionately call it Fred's Red.

Full disclosure: Fred's Red has 17 ingredients (mostly spices) and does take 20 minutes to make. But you get a whole quart of sauce and it will keep refrigerated for a couple of months.

We think it's a worthwhile reason to slow down and hide in the kitchen. Beer sipping and banjo playing? Optional.