Throwdown #27: Whole Chicken


 

Chris Allingham

Administrator
Staff member
Updated 4/27/2015: The details of this throwdown have been clarified. See additions in green text.

As winner of Throwdown #26, Peter Gallagher has chosen the next throwdown topic:

WHOLE CHICKEN!

Grill or smoke your best whole chicken! It must be cooked whole. It may not be butterflied/spatchcocked or cut into halves or pieces. It can be cooked hot & fast or low & slow. It can be rubbed or marinated, it can be stuffed and roasted over a bed of veggies. It can be cooked on a beer can or cooked on its back, it can be cooked on a vertical roaster or hung from a rack.

You must include photos showing how you prepared/cooked the whole chicken. Once cooked, you can serve it any way you like: as-is, carved, in pieces, or as an ingredient in another preparation.

Let's run this throwdown until Sunday, May 17 at 11:59pm Pacific Time.

The winner will receive a $15 Amazon Gift Card!

Good luck everybody!

P.S. Remember, don't be intimidated! This isn't a barbecue competition, it's just for fun and friendship! Try it, you'll like it! And make sure to see the simple throwdown rules.

P.S.S. Remember, only 10 photos for each entry! Photo collages (multiple photos grouped into a single file) are OK, but each photo in the collage counts towards the 10 photo limit.
 
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Green Eggs and Ham, a book that my 16 month old grandson will listen to the 62 pages worth. How about a green chicken?
Chris that line sounds like a Dr. Seuss book about smoked meats.

This will be a good one!
 
Ok no "Sam I am" here just chicken...decided to post this since its been a long while since I have done a throw down so here we go!

Hickory smoked hens....

Started with a quick and easy salt/sugar and spice brine for a few hours...

Simple seasoning of Penzys Nothwoods and EVOO after a bit of air drying!

Got the wsm up and running and hung a couple birds (first ever trussing job so no laughing!!) and used some hickory today for wood smoke!

Bit later after running at about 350 starting to pick up some color!

Bout finished up!!

Got some sides going on the performer... Cedar planked mashed taters and cob corn....

Chicken off and rested for about 20 minutes!

And all plated up with sides, fresh baked rolls and a lovely Pacific Northwest brew!

All in all good stuff...chicken went about 2 hours, very moist and very tasty..the carcuses went into a pot for soup later this week, spuds were new for us and had great flavor but was a little much for this venue!

Thanks for looking..take care folks!!
 
Yea, there more than one way to hang a chicken -! good looking stuff Morgan - I'm still plotting my strategy - I think I got it figured out for the weekend-
 
Well, I gots to thinking, I CAN do a Chicken, but CAN I do it Good? Well I think so... Here is my Beer Can Chicken... Seasoned with Weber's Chicken Rub...



Can with Apple and Onion..



Bottle for the Cook.



Vortex ready.



Cooking.



almost ready.



done, family doesn't care for toooooo dark of bird...



shredded...



Tasted GREAT... I may leave some left to hanging, if the time is right....

Matt

Thanks for looking...
 
Morgan, that is a fantastic job on the birds and I love the side. Those potatoes are awesome my friend.:D
 
This is the first throwdown for me and these may not even count, but if not, they still tasted amazing. We have had these cornish hens in the freezer since just before the whole chicken throwdown was announced, which I thought presented the perfect chance to use the rotisserie.

These two besties came out of a 5 hour brine before being injected under their skin with a compound butter of fresh sage, rosemary, and thyme. Then they were trussed, fresh rosemary and thyme stuffed in the cavity, and then put on the spit and dusted with Penzey's Northwoods Fire, salt, and pepper.
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Meanwhile, we prepared the sides of Hasselback potatoes and some snow peas. The potatoes were prepped with a mixture of butter, EVOO, Penzey's Tuscan Sunset, pepper, and parmesan cheese.
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The rotisserie was set up on my 22 OTS with charcoal baskets on each side of a foil pan with some water in it. I used a small chunk of apple wood in one basket and a chunk of pecan in the other. This kettle was run at about 400F or thereabouts throughout the cook. Here are the birds partway through cooking.
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This was the fire proofing of choice for today.
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Birds closer to the finish. They cooked fast and had gotten to about 175 by the time I pulled them, but were very flavorful and juicy thanks to the brine and seasoning under the skin.
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The potatoes and snow peas were cooked on the performer, also running about 375-400. The potatoes cooked indirect for about an hour; while peas were blanched and shocked first, then seasoned with Penzey's roasted garlic and lemon pepper, then charred up at the end of the cook in a grill pan over direct heat.
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A shot of the finished birds on the carving block.
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Plated photo. I ate the chicken like a savage whilst squirting a dose of No. 5 sauce on every other bite. Man was this good eats.
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Great weather today too, and I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. Most of the photos were taken by my bride-to-be, and she says hello! I hope everyone else enjoyed their weekend too.

Cheers,

Chris
 
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