Whole vs. Butterfly Chicken


 
JustinL

JustinL

TVWBB Pro
Hey everybody,

I picked up a whole chicken at the store last night and am planning on cooking it this weekend, but I had a few questions first. What do you prefer when it comes to chicken...Whole laid on grill, whole beer can style, butterfly'd, or halved. Also do you prefer low and slow, High heat smoke, or to grill? I was thinking about halving it, removing the skin, then brine, rub, and cook over high heat in the WSM with some peach or apple smoke. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks,

Justin
 
Justin,

Personally I like a high heat cook for chicken. It crisps up the skin, cooks faster and adds a nice flavor that lower temp cooks won't. Halved or butterflied is nice as it maximizes surface contact on the grill. Time permitting, I'll do a basic brine and leave the skin on. I tend to stay with basic combination of seasonings such as s&p, sage, tarragon, perhaps some ground dried chiles. The Roadside Chicken recipe is excellent as well.

Paul
 
I've done whole birds both ways, split or intact. I prefer them intact, mostly for presentation purposes, not appreciable difference in flavor though, IMO. Roadside is fabulous, and if you butterfly it, roadside would adapt nicely to that. As a whole bird, the roadside may not be as effective with so much of the baste just running off. If you want to leave it whole, Alton Brown's Orange Juice Brine is a great, simple brine to use. Imparts nice flavor, and keeps things very juicy. No matter which was you do it, HIGH heat is the way to go. Chicks don't benefit from low and slow. I do most of them on my kettles, but the WSM can get plenty hot with a load of lit coals and the lid cracked a 1/4"
 
I don't like my chicken smoked as it imparts a pink color to the meat that I don't like and it makes the skin rubbery. I like to either grill it halved roadside style or put it whole on the rotisserie (my new favorite). I try to cook both at about 350 degree lid temp with no smokewood (just charcoal).
 
Gotta do the HH. It's just a better technique. And you can still add smoke flavor if you like. Whatever you decide,enjoy!
 
Thanks for all of your responses. This forum is such a great source of information. After reading the responses I think I might halve and go the roadside chicken route on my kettle instead of the bullet.

Mike,

I was also thinking about picking up another chicken and trying the orange juice brine and then rubbing with some wolfe rub citrus. Do you or anybody who as tried this brine think the rub would be overkill?

Thanks,

Justin
 
The brine will pair nicely with the rub. I use Texas BBQ Rub for most everything, and it is a stand-up rub, but the brine flavors the internal meat nicely while the rub will give you really tasty flavor outside. I would definitely hit it up some rub.
 
Originally posted by Andy Erickson:
I don't like my chicken smoked as it imparts a pink color to the meat that I don't like and it makes the skin rubbery. I like to either grill it halved roadside style or put it whole on the rotisserie (my new favorite). I try to cook both at about 350 degree lid temp with no smokewood (just charcoal).
Click to expand...

You know there are ways to smoke for a small amount of time and then grill so you have the best of both worlds.

Adrian
 
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