Kettle Chicken Spatchcock


 
M

M Beutler

New member
Trying to do some Roadside Chicken tonight. Never done a whole nor a spatchcock chicken before.

I have the bird cut and marinating in the sauce. Big questions is...direct or indirect and what should the dome temp be?

I have a full chimney started with Kingsford Blue and am planning on half and half on the sides with the bird sitting in the middle over a foil pan. Thinking 350 for the dome temp.

Thoughts??? Thanks in advance for the help.
 
While I've never done the road side chicken recipe,I do spatched chickens all the time! I bank the coals to one side and do indirect on the other. Not sure of the dome temp,but never had one go more than an hour. 45 minutes is more usual. HTH
 
Phil...guess I got lucky. I did end up putting all the coals on one side. Fire started around 450 and is now dropped to 405-410 after 20 minutes of cooking. Every 5 minutes I am applying the sauce. I am using a brick to sit on top of the breast area to help keep it flat.

Going to do 25 minutes bone side down followed by 20 minutes skin side down.

We will see if that works. Fun part about grilling other than the eating is the trying out different methods. I'll be the first to admit I have no clue at this point in time. Only been using charcoal for three weeks now.
 
Here is a recap of my vey first charcoal chicken cook & along with my very first spatchcock. If you have any tips or recommendations please don't hesitate to offer them up. I have only been using charcoal for about three weeks now.

1. Got the grill started with Kingsford Blue between 3/4 & 1 full chimney
chimneyy.jpg


2. Brought out more supplies. This was a last minute cook so I did let the chicken warm on the counter for about 15 minutes after purchasing it from the grocery store. I had put on the Roadside Marinade right away.
moresupplies.jpg


3. Let the grill preheat. Got it to 450 degrees prior to putting the chicken down.
preheat.jpg


4. I used a foil wrapped brick to keep the breasts down as much as possible. Started the cooking at 450 but it went down to 410 within 17 minutes and then held at 400 for the remainder of the cook.
brickh.jpg


5. Here is the final product. I cooked bone side down for 25 minutes adding marinade every 5 minutes. Then flipped to skin side down for 20 minutes. Put directly over the coals for 4 minutes at the end to crisp up the skin. Every 5 minutes when the skin was down I was flipping to add more marinade to keep it moist. THe problem with that is the skin tore and one of the thighs/legs came detatched from the rest of the chicken.
donef.jpg


6. We definitely enjoyed the meal although not very pretty it did taste good. I am sure the chicken would have been a bit more flavorful if I would have marinaded like the recipe stated. I would have if I didn't decide to do it on a whim. The zucchini and yellow squash was sitting in Italian dressing for about 30 minutes prior to grilling. Those were good too!
 
M Your chicken looks great. I do RSC all the time with chicken thighs and drums. Marinading overnight adds flavour but isn't necessary. Last ones I did ended up marinating for 48 hours since something came up the night I was supposed to cook them, it was good but had a strong vinegar taste. I cook them direct and have a 2 zone fire set up so I have room to move them out of flare ups. If you want to cut down on the flare ups leave the oil out of the basting sauce. Make sure you have a long set of tongs and basting brush or you'll lose all the hair off your hands.

Welcome to the forum.
 
I do spatchcock all the time ...I bank on both sides with chicken in the middle i marinate in italian dressinf I know it sounds simple but it produces the best tasting chicken ever ...id do whole ...cut up ..wings ...smoked ...quarters...and this always taste the best
 
Looks really good. The only thing I would've done differently was to point the legs toward the fire so the breast might be a little juicier when the thighs were done.

Even if marinading, you're not gonna get true "Roadside" flavor unless cooking direct and basting over the coals, but I'm a big fan of indirect, just the same. I would suggest using lump instead of briqs if trying the Roadside chicken grilling, though.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> I would suggest using lump instead of briqs if trying the Roadside chicken grilling, though. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Why is that? Is it because of the heat you lose from the marinade dripping down on the coals?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jeff R:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> I would suggest using lump instead of briqs if trying the Roadside chicken grilling, though. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Why is that? Is it because of the heat you lose from the marinade dripping down on the coals? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Missed this, but better late than never, I guess. In my experience the chicken will get some black stuff that looks like soot on it from the baste hitting the ash-covered briquettes. So typically I get better looking poultry if I baste roadside or Cornell-style chicken over lump. I say "poultry" though since I'm still not any good at spatchcocked birds directly over the coals. I always seem to cook them a bit too quick and get more charring than I like, but I've had pretty good luck with split chicken breasts. I feel a LOT more confidant cooking whole butterflied birds on the wsm or indirect on the kettle.
 
I do splatchcock birds indirect by the Cook's Classic method:

http://tvwbb.com/eve/forums/a/...0069052/m/9061057916

However, of late, I much prefer to butcher them before I start and just handle the chicken parts. I often do a whole chicken after having the store do the butchering and me grilling the individual parts.

At any rate, whether I do splatchcock or individual parts, I grill with the Cook's Classic method. I change off from using Barbecue Sauce (either Baby Ray's or Bullseye sauce) with Larry Wolfe's Marmalade Sriracha Sauce. It just doesn't get any better than that!

FWIW, I find that you can do hot wings with the exact same grill method (Cook's Classic). I just did a batch up for my oldest son, his wife, and children (our grandchildren) and they were a big hit! My son is an accomplished griller and smoker in his own right, so their compliments were not empty gestures... We are visiting them in North Carolina and they know a bit about barbecue around here, let me tell you!

Dale53
 
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