J Grotz
TVWBB Wizard
After half a dozen delicious rotisserie chickens on my newly restored 1000, I decided to mix it up. The plan was Rosemary Chicken Under Bricks from Weber’s Mediterranean Barbecue by Jamie Purviance, some grilled asparagus, and Caprese Salad. Though I have spatchcocked chickens before, I have never cooked chicken under bricks.
Spatchcocking and marinating the chicken went just fine.
I had a nice fire going with 42 weber briquettes. It reached the target 350 about five minutes after I put the chicken on the grill via a therm on the grate and never went over 375. The recipe called for 20-30 minutes bone side down followed by 20-30 minutes skin side down with bricks in a baking sheet or a CI skillet on top. I chose the skillet method. Because the fire was a tad cool at the start, I let the chicken go 25 minutes on bone side. When I went to flip the chicken it had stuck to the bottom of the CI skillet. I should have sprayed it with Pam. So far so good. And my corpse reviver no. 2 was going down nicely.
I let the chicken go for 18 minutes before I temped it and by then it was jerky. 200+ everywhere. It looked good, but every last bit of moisture was cooked out.
At least the Caprese was fantastic thanks to DW.
Plated.
I did a complete paint by numbers job, just following the directions without thinking. I have some ideas about what went wrong. I did not account for the chicken being on the small side. It was a 3lb, air chilled one from Trader Joe's. The no. 12 Lodge CI skillet was likely too big and heavy for the job. The recipe was silent about warming up the skillet/bricks. I put the skillet in to warm up with the grates after dumping the coals; that was likely a mistake, too. It was really disappointing because that marinade was terrific. I have 3 more whole chickens in the freezer, so I know I will be trying this again soon. Thanks for looking.
Spatchcocking and marinating the chicken went just fine.
I had a nice fire going with 42 weber briquettes. It reached the target 350 about five minutes after I put the chicken on the grill via a therm on the grate and never went over 375. The recipe called for 20-30 minutes bone side down followed by 20-30 minutes skin side down with bricks in a baking sheet or a CI skillet on top. I chose the skillet method. Because the fire was a tad cool at the start, I let the chicken go 25 minutes on bone side. When I went to flip the chicken it had stuck to the bottom of the CI skillet. I should have sprayed it with Pam. So far so good. And my corpse reviver no. 2 was going down nicely.
I let the chicken go for 18 minutes before I temped it and by then it was jerky. 200+ everywhere. It looked good, but every last bit of moisture was cooked out.
At least the Caprese was fantastic thanks to DW.
Plated.
I did a complete paint by numbers job, just following the directions without thinking. I have some ideas about what went wrong. I did not account for the chicken being on the small side. It was a 3lb, air chilled one from Trader Joe's. The no. 12 Lodge CI skillet was likely too big and heavy for the job. The recipe was silent about warming up the skillet/bricks. I put the skillet in to warm up with the grates after dumping the coals; that was likely a mistake, too. It was really disappointing because that marinade was terrific. I have 3 more whole chickens in the freezer, so I know I will be trying this again soon. Thanks for looking.
But at least you have some changes in mind for next time, so it wasn't a complete loss.
