John K BBQ
TVWBB Wizard
I’ve been wanting to do a Rotisserie chicken on the WSM for quite a while. Earlier this week Wednesday looked like the “day of days”, 54F and sunny so I committed to doing it. Yesterday I picked out the bird. I lovingly seasoned it up with Penzey’s Northwoods and olive oil, under the skin, above the skin, and all over. I put it in a slow cooker bag over night and tucked it away in the fridge for an overnight rest. Today during my lunch break, I even went out and scored a bag of the coveted Weber Briquettes. Work finally wound down enough for me to light the coals and start cooking, but about the time I put the chicken on and lit the fire pit just for fun, the drizzle started in earnest. Of course, I pressed on! Here are some photos and additional ins and outs and what have you’s
Here's the cooker with the weber 22 kettle rotisserie setting on the 22" WSM base, and 22" kettle lid. I ran with 1 chimney full of lit coals mostly on one side of the aluminum pan, fully in line with a wide open vent for most of the cook. The cooker ran between 325 and 375 F without too much fuss. Lots of drizzle, no sun, and luckily no wind during the cook.
Here's my bird on the cooker with an aluminum pan underneath, loaded with red potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and a a few brussels sprouts. This photo is a little fuzzy - my apologies to all. I put a few pecan chunks under the lit charcoal for some additional smoke flavor.
Questionable electrical safety in the drizzle? Some risks are worth taking. That's what GFCIs are for!!
Here's the finished bird before serving. My family and I really enjoyed it. Biggest surprise - my wife really liked the sweet potatoes. Of course, they were basted in chicken fat and butter so as Emeril said, you could serve it on a flip flop and it would've been good. I might do the thanksgiving turkey like this, depending on the weather. Cook time was about 1 hr, 15 min for a 3.75 lb bird - I admit there was a lot of peeking/basting. I could have loaded a bit more charcoal but in the same conditions a 16 lb bird would take a lot longer.
Overall, a really fun cook, and a good result, especially for a worknight. For thanksgiving, or an all-out weekend project cook, I would probably try to dry the skin out a bit more before the cook to make it more crispy. Let me know if you've tried something like this and how it went!
Here's the cooker with the weber 22 kettle rotisserie setting on the 22" WSM base, and 22" kettle lid. I ran with 1 chimney full of lit coals mostly on one side of the aluminum pan, fully in line with a wide open vent for most of the cook. The cooker ran between 325 and 375 F without too much fuss. Lots of drizzle, no sun, and luckily no wind during the cook.
Here's my bird on the cooker with an aluminum pan underneath, loaded with red potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and a a few brussels sprouts. This photo is a little fuzzy - my apologies to all. I put a few pecan chunks under the lit charcoal for some additional smoke flavor.
Questionable electrical safety in the drizzle? Some risks are worth taking. That's what GFCIs are for!!
Here's the finished bird before serving. My family and I really enjoyed it. Biggest surprise - my wife really liked the sweet potatoes. Of course, they were basted in chicken fat and butter so as Emeril said, you could serve it on a flip flop and it would've been good. I might do the thanksgiving turkey like this, depending on the weather. Cook time was about 1 hr, 15 min for a 3.75 lb bird - I admit there was a lot of peeking/basting. I could have loaded a bit more charcoal but in the same conditions a 16 lb bird would take a lot longer.
Overall, a really fun cook, and a good result, especially for a worknight. For thanksgiving, or an all-out weekend project cook, I would probably try to dry the skin out a bit more before the cook to make it more crispy. Let me know if you've tried something like this and how it went!
