Chicken Questions

[Guest]

I am planning on cooking a whole chicken on Thanksgiving while my wife does the turkey thing. I have read a lot of the info here about chickens, and i am having a hard time deciding the ideal method. I definetely would like crispy skin with very moist meat. I don't know if i should or shouldn't brine, quick roasting or slow cooking and so on. Unfortuanelty i do not have a WSM yet, Christmas is just around the corner!!! So my current smoker is quite difficult to control temps for long periods of time. I have smoked a 7lb pork sholder that turned out terrific, but with a lot of work. Also, which rack should i cook a butterflied chicken. I have the high rack and one above the water pan. Any info would be terrific.

KT

 

[Randy P.]

Kevin,

I prefer the beer can style whole chickens. Are you familiar with that? It provides very moist and tender meat and the crispy skin depends on how high a temp you cook at. At 350 or so it will be crispy, 250 - 300 is not as crispy which is what I prefer but that is just me. Leaving the chicken whole helps keep the moisture inside versus butterflied.

Either rack will work or use both. At 350 you should be about 2 hours or so. At 250 - 300 more like 3 hours sometimes 4.

Good luck with it and keep us posted. Ask away if you have anymore questions.

Randy