Cooking several Fryer Chickens.


 
R

Rick Soliman

TVWBB Pro
I have to cook 15 chickens for a party this weekend and was looking for suggestions.

Should I butterfly all of them? I dont want to shread them so what Temp shoud I take them too and what type of maranade should I use. I was thinking of spliting all of them throwing them in a cooler with ice and tons of Paul Nuemans.

Thanks
Rick
 
Rick,

Seems to me that butterflying 15 chickens will cut into your cooker space...a lot, even on one of those PCCs!

I did three (far cry from 15) last weekend, no brining or marinading, coated skin w/ olive oil, rubbed up with some Head Country, and basted about every 20-30 mins with a version of the "roadside chicken" baste mentioned in the chicken recipe section. I also placed about 4 pats of butter between the skin and the breast meat. Cooked between 300 and 325 on the WSM. Skin turned out a little rubbery, but the flavor was good. Was nice to cook something simple for a change.

Just my personal opinion, but I'm not sure it would worth the effort or $$ to marinade in buckets of paul newmans.

You using a bigger cooker for this one?
 
I agree with Joe - don't butterfly them. I can get 6 whole chickens (smallish ones - 3.5 pounds approx) in at a time. But butterflied, you wouldn't be able to get that many in. 4 max.

As for temp, it's always the same for me... 160 breast, 170 thigh.

How are you cooking these? In the WSM? In batches?
 
Rick

I may be mistaken, but I seem to recall a post by you in the past indicating some involvement with a company that manufactures large, offsets. If so and you're planing on cooking on a unit that doesn't have a space problem for 15, I would butterfly them. I believe the rub and marinate gets a better penetration that way than with a whole chicken.

I agree on 160 breast and 170 thigh. I usually use WB Italian I get from Sams. Would be a lot less expensive and I doubt if you could tell that much difference from the other marinade.

Paul
 
If I were cooking 15 fryers, I would cut them into the four basic pieces, leg, thigh, breast and wing, and grill them. You are then able to control the doneness better, getting the breasts and wings off sooner and they stay moister than letting them cook as long as the thighs. People like the option of picking the pieces that they want rather than taking a half and leaving the parts that they dont care for.
 
Okay guys I have to admit I feel like I am cheating on my WSM but I have 10 shoulders, 15-20 chickens, ribs and wings.
However I do have a shoulder on the WSM right now as I speak.

Hey Joey here is a link to the photo of the cooker I will be using for this cook. I think you need one. All 19 feet of her.
Thanks for the input I am going to butterfly not maranade and use the rub and pad of butter technique. Supreme Commander
 
Rick - I sort of thought you'd be practicing on something with a little more capacity
icon_wink.gif
. That is a nice looking pit.

I was actually talking to a fellow central IL BBQ with LOTS of credentials about PCC and althouth I'm currently a pellethead and bullet nose, I'm very interested in what y'all are doing. That pit would look very nice behind my new truck (well I don't have it yet but I will).

Please shoot me an email to the email on record here.
 
For that nice looking pit I'd butterfly them. I've done it in the past with a 100 birds on an offset and it works great. They cook quicker and the smoke and rub gets to both sides.

HTH
 
Man, I've got serious smoker envy right now.

Rick, didn't realize you were using a rig with so much capacity. I agree with the others then, if you've got room - AND time - butterfly. Just make sure you have a great set of poultry shears... I keep meaning to get some and I swear up a storm with my old kitchen shears. Makes butterflying a hassle.

Oh, and the carcasses of 15 chickens?!?!? that's some awesome stuff to work with. I see some chicken demi glace in your future...
 
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