Low and Slow lesson 1 (Gary Wiviott)


 
J

Josh Lessard

New member
Hi folks. I'm a (fairly) new WSM owner...got mine for Christmas and I've done three smokes so far. I've made some great Jamaican jerk chicken, tasty ribs, and delicious smoked salmon. I'm having a riot with this cooker.

For a different take on things, I borrowed "Low and Slow" by Gary Wiviott from my local library. Last night I read lesson #1 (chicken mojo criollo). In a nutshell, it says to fill up the water pan to within an inch of the top, dump a full chimney of lit lump charcoal on top of two chimneys of unlit charcoal with some wood in between, and leave all vents open for about 1.5 hours. Apparently this will cook the chicken at about 250-275.

In my experience, leaving all vents open like that will cause the temperature to sail WAAAAY past 275. While reading the lesson, I just had visions of completely burning my chicken. Has anyone actually tried this? What were your results?

Thanks.
 
In my experience, water puts a real damper on temps, and believe it or not, no matter how much lit charcoal I put in my cooker to begin with, maintaining 275* for any length of time can be a challenge.

No biggie though, since I usually cook somewhere in the 225-250 range. In the rare event I want to cook faster I'll skip the water and just foil the pan, but your cooker will likely run cooler as well as you develop more seasoning on the inside.

Don't worry about burnt chicken though. Just check it sooner if your cooker runs hot. 350* and even a little hotter is a great temp if you like crisp skin.
 
That whole waterpan thing is a pita. I'm not sure why you'd want to add the possibility of moisture in a chicken cook when you're aiming for crispy skin and a high heat cook. I recommend the same instructions with this change: no water (I never use water in the waterpan -- just a couple firebricks or a terra-cotta flower pot base, foiled, then foil the entire waterpan). The temps will take a half hour or so to climb, but you should get up to 350 or so to roast the chicken. Beautifully cooked, crispy skin. Here's an example. I hope this helps. Good luck.
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Great thread.
Gary, do you use a terra cotta flower pot base (foiled) and then the foiled pan in it? Or either or?
Looking to do my first cook in the 22.5, but have reading alot and trying to understand it before I jump in.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Gary, do you use a terra cotta flower pot base (foiled) and then the foiled pan in it? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yes, the pot base gets foiled, then put in the waterpan, then the whole thing foiled. It acts as a heat stabilizer. I just leave it in there, changing the outer foil as needed.
 
Hi Gary H. I will have to try using a terra cotta flower pot base instead of water. Sounds like it would make for a much easier clean up. I have two questions about this if you don't mind.

When you first mentioned this technique, I envisioned that you would foil the water pan, then foil the terra cotta saucer and toss it in the pan. But if I'm reading your instructions correctly, you're foiling the saucer, tossing into the (unfoiled) water pan, then foiling the entire water pan. So essentially, you're covering the saucer with the water pan's foil, and then you just change the water pan's foil as needed. The saucer's foil should never really get dirty. Is that correct?

And how big a saucer do you find works best? I'm using an 18.5" WSM.

Thanks.
 
The WSM is a very versatile tool, but we sometimes forget that it was designed as a low & slow smoker, not a grill.

So, if assembled for smoking as designed, i.e., with water in the pan, then temps should have some difficulty in getting over 275.
 
I use water - but only for low and slow cooks. For chicken you might want to go for a higher temp to avoid chewy skin. When I do chicken I like to do it between 325 and 350. For that I keep the water pan foiled but empty. And even when I do use water, I only use about 3/4 of a gallon. I switched out my stock pan for a Brinkmann charcoal pan which hold close to 2 gallons - but I've never used more than 1 gallon. Good luck with your chicken.
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A LOT of GV's guidance is more about teaching you fire control and characteristics of the WSM 18". So bear that in mind. The chicken itself is actually kind of secondary. He expects you to follow the instructions exactly as it is a fire control lesson plan more than a cooking lesson IMHO. If the chicken gets ruined you haven't wasted the $$ you would have on more expensive ribs, loin, brisket, etc. That's the point of using chicken.

He's trying to teach you to understand your WSM "under fire" to know how the temps travel, how far they go and how long it will burn (with lump).

That said - I'm totally with Gary H. No water in the pan for me for a good long time (years).

And if you over shoot 350 and go a little higher for awhile the chicken will come out great regardless. But - you would need to be able to check the chicken for done. And if you use an internal therm for temp you fail GV's lesson 1
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I've done his cooks. The brining adds "forgiveness" and keeps the chicken tender. The chicken came out great when I did it.

Again - GV #1 is about letting the WSM just run with that fuel/water pan filled to teach you characteristics of the fire and temps over time. Each lesson builds from that.

The chicken is really secondary in this cook IMHO and is better than just burning fuel to understand/get the same lesson. It shows you that the chicken will come out just fine and you don't have to be "anal" about cook temps or internal temps. You really don't need any other equipment IOW.

GV's book is a great lesson plan for learning fire control. To me that's the purpose. If you follow it all exactly you will come away with a lot of knowledge. It is more about learning how to use that outdoor cooker and not so much a recipe book.

Keep that in mind and stay with the plan and you will come away with a lot of base knowledge that will help you as you modify and "just cook" after that.
 
What works for one may not work for another. Wiviott has a number of opionions/thoughts that most might disagree with these days. He certainly has disdain for this site but that's his prerogative.

I cook chicken on my 18" as high as I can get. I tried low and slow a few times and I get great colour from the smoke but rubbery, oily skin. Since the cook is offset, you don't have the worry of burning the outside before cooking the inside. I can generally get 350-400F with a dry pan and lots of lit started just like a traditional coal BBQ. Unlit topped with lit and left to heat everything after 30 minutes.

For the smoke, with chicken, throw on a few chunks of wood and you're good.

Just my opinion.

Good luck !
 
I cook two chix on the top rack w/o the water pan. Turn every 20 minutes and take off when the thigh moves easily in the joint. Comes out great every time.
 
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