First go with my new 26 OTG - Chickens


 
Dave_B

Dave_B

TVWBB Fan
Figured I had my sons B-day, he wanted burgers and the rest didn't so much.

Debated with the wife on what to cook and settled on 2 chickens.

Made up a brine of water, salt, soy sauce, and white sugar. Brined for around 16 hours overnight.

Out of the brine, rinsed well, spatched (my first time with that, will do again!) and then rubbed in 2 different rubs. One was some left over from ribs a week earlier, other was with sage. Sorry, didn't remember what the exacts were in either.

Smoked low at first, ~ 275 dome temp. After a couple hours, I brought the time up to 325. Total time, around 4 hours.

I thought it came out, ok. Thighs were spot on, but breast meat was a little dryer than I would have liked. All in all, happy and can't wait to do more on this thing. Coming from my 22 OTS, this thing is cavernous!

On with the pics.



The setup:



Benefits of having 2 grills!



And just before they came off.

 
Looks good. One thing you can do to help the breast from drying out is inject butter into the them.I like to melt them butter and put some of whatever rub is going on the outside in with the butter.
 
Great idea on the butter, I'll give that a go next time and report back.

Regarding location, I was grilling in the snow just 2 weeks ago. I'm in upstate SC. We don't get too much snow each year.
 
Dave_B;
First of all, the chicken looks GREAT! I am a fan of splatch cocked chickens. I often go one step further, and halve them just for easier handling.

I have a suggestion for the dry breast meat. Thighs require longer cooking as they need to be cooked to slightly higher temperature. That is complicated by the fact that all the meat is connected (as we all know). If you place the chickens on the grill with the thighs pointed towards the heat, that helps to keep the breast meat cooler and it DOES make a difference. This is predicated on you using a grill as your set up shows.

If you are using a WSM, then you need to do the opposite (put the breast meat in the center of the cooker and leave the thighs to the outside (in a WSM the heat comes up the outside, as we all know).

Those "placements" do help to keep moisture in the chicken breast (or rather help to keep from over cooking the breast meat). I, too, am a great fan in brining, whether it is whole chicken or chicken parts.

At any rate, GOOD JOB, and

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
Where were you measuring temp at? I have cooked halved spatchcocked chickens in 1.5 hours at 325-350 on my WSM. 4 hours seems like a long time. (I have smoked a 14lb turkey in 3.5 hours)
 
Robert McGee said:
Dave_B;
First of all, the chicken looks GREAT! I am a fan of splatch cocked chickens. I often go one step further, and halve them just for easier handling.

I have a suggestion for the dry breast meat. Thighs require longer cooking as they need to be cooked to slightly higher temperature. That is complicated by the fact that all the meat is connected (as we all know). If you place the chickens on the grill with the thighs pointed towards the heat, that helps to keep the breast meat cooler and it DOES make a difference. This is predicated on you using a grill as your set up shows.

If you are using a WSM, then you need to do the opposite (put the breast meat in the center of the cooker and leave the thighs to the outside (in a WSM the heat comes up the outside, as we all know).

Those "placements" do help to keep moisture in the chicken breast (or rather help to keep from over cooking the breast meat). I, too, am a great fan in brining, whether it is whole chicken or chicken parts.

At any rate, GOOD JOB, and

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
Click to expand...

I somewhat thought about that! I'll certainly change the orientation next go around and likely the butter trick and see what I get. Thanks for the tip!


Paul, I started at a very low temp for a period of time on my grill. Since reading so, it seems chicken likes a higher temp so next time I may go that route.
 
Good tips above. I usually shoot for a high temp (350*+) when cooking butterflied or split chickens on my kettles. No need for a water pan. Start off with enough lit, keep the vents wide open, and your efforts should be rewarded with crisp skin.
 
So... I just got home, walked in the door and was immediately hit with the smell of BBQ.

Looked at the wife dumbfounded wondering if there was another man in my house making BBQ LOL, come to find out, she saved the chicken caucuses from this very cook. They are in a pot now, boiling to make chicken and dumplings.

Cant wait try it!


 
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