Chicken halves


 
C

Clay Jackson

TVWBB Super Fan
I have been doing low and slow on my chicken halves and not getting the results I would like. This past time I used my rub on the skin and under the skin as well. Don't get me wrong, it tasted good, but the rub under the skin turned into this moist sluidgey thing.

I have read that some people use there 22 1/2 kettle for indirect cooking of chicken halves. Obviously the rub technique needs to be modified, but was wondering what your experience has been using indirect on a kettle vs the WSM?

It seems a lot of people use the 22 1/2 for chicken comps?
 
I've done them both ways. Indirect on the kettle will allow you to cook at a higher temp ime. With coals in baskets on each side, I'm around 350. The downside is the kettle is not as steady in holding the temp and your capacity is less than the WSM with the empty foiled lined pan.

I just did last of many, many low/slow buttflied halves cooks on the WSM this weekend and loved it !

Paul
 
Are you using a rub, marinate, or injection? I am competing and figure I will have twleve hours or so of time to prep the bird for the smoker.
 
I almost never low/slow chicken and so cook it often in the kettle, if it's available, because I can cook at temps of over 400, my preference for chicken.

It seems most comp chicken is thighs only (more forgiving) and is low/slowed or cooked at a couple temps. Many marinate and many use a kettle for some or all of the cooking process depending on their approach and cooker availability.

If you want to rub under the skin mix the rub with fat first, about a 1:3 or 1:4 ratio rub:fat. This will help the rub cook better and will disperse it more evenly. Use proportionally more herbs and/or ground pepper and/or spices that work well ground slightly coarse. Minimize paprika, mustard, very powdery spices and the like for under the skin and skip the sugar.
 
I second the high temp method. I'll refer you to another thread. I think Keri has a pretty solid method in it with a brine and wsm in wide open mode. You can experiment and tweek it to your liking. Definatly helped out my bird cooking.Turbo Chicken
 
I use either unsalted butter--something rich and flavorful like Plu-gra, if available--or unsalted butter mixed with evoo 50-50, depending on what I am doing for a rub. If I marinate I often take just the herb components of the marinade, plus a little pepper and salt and use that. Another thing I will do to boost the acidic notes is to add lemon zest powder to the mix or I will reduce the same type of vinegar used in the marinade to a syrup and mix in a little of that.

You can make your marinade a bit more potent if you wish and forgo putting rub under the skin or use a 'regular' strength marinade and skip it anyway (kind of depends on the marinade, the rub, and your taste).

These sorts of things I do when I cook chicken but note that I am not a competitor.
 
Clay,

Have you tried Cornell Chicken? I've done this both on the gas grill as well as the WSM running at temps around 325 ish. The recipe follows.

Cornell Barbecue Sauce
Makes enough for 10 chicken halves

1 cup cooking oil

1 pint cider vinegar

3 tablespoons salt*

1 tablespoon poultry seasoning

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 egg

Beat the egg, then add the oil and beat again.

Add other ingredients and stir.

Brush sauce on the broiler halves every few minutes during cooking.

Leftover sauce can be stored in a glass jar in the refrigerator for several weeks.

*The recipe can be varied to suit individual tastes. Adjust quantity of or eliminate salt to meet individual health needs and taste. BBQ chicken basted frequently during cooking will be saltier than chicken that has been lightly basted.

Recipe courtesy Cornell University
 
Thanks Kruger, I think I will try the fat thing. I figure I will have 12 good hours or so to prep the chicken for the fire.

As for the Cornell recipe, Joe, how do you baste so frequestly on the WSM? I think this would really add a lot of time to cooking chicken halves?
 
Clay,

Sorry I didn't include the notes. I made the sauce, then put the chicken in a zip lock bag, added about 1/2 the sauce and marinated the chicken over night. I reserved the other 1/2 of the sauce to use for basting. I set the WSM to do a cook at 350. Put on the chicken and flipped the chicken and basted every 10 minutes. You can use the marinade that the chicken was in as long as you simmer/boil it for about 5 minutes. It took a little over an hour until it was done and the chicken was at 180 degrees.

You can also do the chicken low and slow at 250 degrees. You can add some smoke, I added one small chunk of cherry last time I did it this way. If you do it low and slow, flip and baste every 30 minutes. It will take about 3 hours this way and a target temp of 185-190.
 
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