Roast Chicken

[LMichaels]

Well, perhaps the pellet mystery has been solved. IDK for sure but perhaps.
Did 2 cooks since bringing the boss home from the knee surgery Thursday. Oldest daughter came out and hung around Thursday by herself and Fri with SIL. Thursday night, used up last of what had been sitting in the grill noted some struggle when I wanted to get to 400 to finish the bone in ribeye. Last night I did a whole chicken (not spatchcocked). One thing I do love about either of the pellet cookers is that in a way they act like a convection oven. So with a simple basic S&P I took out pellets stored in one of my green buckets. Just enough to heat up and do the bird. Process was simple lower temps with more smoke for a bit. (about 45 min or so at 225). Then 375 for the remainder along with the taters (I cheated those pre-cooked in the m/wave, then evoo, S&P on the skins).
Chicken was nothing short of incredible. skin nice, breast meat juicy and tender, dark meat outstanding. Honestly the best chicken my hands have ever turned out bar none.
If I had put that bird in front of anyone here, and did not tell them where it was cooked every last one would have sworn it came off the IR rotisserie on my Wolf. (only better) IMO.
No issue with temps (other than I did forget to add fuel), but Big Z recovered perfectly. I added fuel, hit the primer button, until pellets were going through the auger again, it lit right off and temps went up and stayed there.
All in all the only hiccups were caused by me. Trying to only keep enough pellets in it to do a cook. Looks like some of you guys may have been correct. Even though the hopper lid is gasketed and I use a really good cover, could be temp changes in that metal hopper might have been causing moisture issues. Since technically the hopper is not really an "airtight" seal

 

[Jay D in Jersey]

I've pretty much drawn the conclusion that the sear solutions in most pellet grills are more of a gimmick...the daisy wheel style or the slider style. It's one of the reasons I'm more drawn to getting the Nexgrill Oakford 580 over the Pitt Boss. The wifi/Bluetooth feature is worth $60 more. I figure if a quick sear is needed, there's always the Genesis II on the way back to the kitchen or...any of several CI griddles or pans I already have.

 

[LMichaels]

Oh and believe me, I am not immune to resorting to using something like the Wolf if I am doing a lot of things at once that require multi-stage cooking. Last summer I had a bunch of folks over and was doing steaks, burgers, chicken and dogs. Big Z was pressed into service to get things "rolling" and for a little smoke, then Wolf was fired up and waiting in the wings for finishing. As anyone who uses a pellet grill knows while they CAN get hot there is a certain "inertia" to it. So if you're going along at say 200 for some nice smoke. If I am only doing one thing (like maybe a couple steaks, some burgers, or last night's chicken) and I know I want to run the food up to "roast/sear/brown" whatever you care to call it, I can simply take advantage of that. I.E., if I know I want to rest my steak awhile before the final finish, I will boot the temp to my 450 BEFORE I yank the steak, and before my steak has reached my target "resting temp". When I see my temps in the grill begin to approach say 300, THEN I pull the meat for it's rest. Knowing my strips or ribeyes whatever can catch a 10-15 min rest while my pellet grill finishes hitting target. Then quickly get it/them in for the rest of the cook, and I have perfectly finished steaks every time.
Because the pellet cooker does not work like a gas grill in terms of temp changes does not make it "bad" or useless. I just have learned to use the momentums to my advantage. Kinda like driving my hybrid Toyota. Work with it not against it

 

[DanHoo]

I've pretty much drawn the conclusion that the sear solutions in most pellet grills are more of a gimmick...the daisy wheel style or the slider style.

The slider on my pit boss pro 820 worked great for searing. Downside is the size. Only a small area is the sear zone, but that meant plenty of cooler indirect space.

This was just one rib steak but there is enough sear space for 2 or 3 and when the flames get going having the indirect space is worth it.





Edit sorry to hijack a chicken thread with beef pics