Non-spatchcocked chicken

[wilburpan]

Cooked a whole chicken on Smaug tonight. It turned out great, as you would expect food cooked on a Komodo Kamado would.

 

 

I put together a rub with equal parts McCormick’s poultry seasoning (thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, black pepper and nutmeg), oregano, salt, garlic powder, and onion powder. I cooked at 375ºF on the main grate with the deflector in place for most of it, and raised the temperature to 400ºF when the breast got to 140ºF. I took the chicken out when the breast was at 155ºF.

 

The skin was crispy, but next time I think I might go to 400-425ºF, just to try to get the skin a little crispier.

 

Oh, and why did I not spatchcock this chicken? I had a discussion with Meathead at Amazing Ribs about their beer can chicken article. That discussion went south pretty quickly, as Meathead seemed to not like my questioning a point in that article. Ultimately, he deleted our conversation. Since Meathead advocates spatchcocking chickens, I cooked this one whole out of spite. It was delicious, even though I didn’t follow their recommendations.

[CeramicChef]

Wilbur - you ROCK Buddy! I haven't had as big a chuckle since your last note! LOL!

And here I thought this was going to be just another Wilbur-Smaug successful collaboration! Silly me! You never cease to amaze me.

Oh, very nice bird too!

[CeramicChef]

Hey Wilbur - its a good thing you went to med school! I guess that's where you learned the art of successfully extracting your thumb from the eye of those who piss you off, huh!? Nicely done!

[dstr8]

wilburpan, et al:  If you haven't tried the late Judy Rogers (of Zuni Cafe fame, San Francisco) roast chicken I encourage to give it a go.  

 

Overview:

1)  Whole bird, thoroughly cleaned in and out.

 

2)  Wipe impeccably dry (paper towels), inside and out; moisture is your arch-enemy for this recipe.  When you think you have the bird wiped completely dry...do it again and you'll be surprised by the amount of moisture that you get.  Be sure to wipe under the leg and wing joints...they hold moisture

 

3)  Take your pick of fresh savory herbs:  I like sage, rosemary, thyme and Italian parsley.   Sometimes I use one and sometimes 4 for variety

 

4)  Gently insert a couple sprigs of of herbs under the skin of each breast and again for the thighs

 

5)  Liberally sprinkle kosher salt over the outside of the bird

 

6)  Place the bird, breast side up, on a rack placed over a sheet pan and then into the fridge for at least 12-hours but up to 48-hours (I like 24-hours best); don't even think about covering it!

 

7)  KK at 500*F.   Use foil, per Dennis,  or your SS heat deflector on the middle grate.  Place the chicken, breast side up, on the large top grate for 20-minutes.  Then damp the temp down to 350* for the remaining ~ 40-minutes/until thigh is to 175*F.  

 

 Remove to a cooling grate over a sheet pan and allow to rest for about 10-minutes in a warm spot in your kitchen/oven before slicing/eating.  (WTF???  The text editor will NOT allow me to use "8)" here but instead the goofy "cool-guy" moticon). 

 

Note:  I also use my rotisserie attachment but to be fair the KK cooks so evenly I mostly keep it simple as above with equally wonderful results.

 

Note 2:  If you don't like juicy, tender roasted chicken with an incredibly golden brown and crispy skin with herb infused flavor then by all means avoid this recipe!  

 

Note 3:  And DO NOT be tempted to put fruit or anything in the cavity.  Ditto for oil or butter in or outside the bird...it will just screw it up.

 

Try not to like it.  

 

Dan

[wilburpan]

 

 

7)  KK at 500*F.   Use foil, per Dennis,  or your SS heat deflector on the middle grate.  Place the chicken, breast side up, on the large top grate for 20-minutes.  Then damp the temp down to 350* for the remaining ~ 40-minutes/until thigh is to 175*F.  

 

 

 

Just out of curiosity, could you do most of the cook at 350ºF, and crank it up to 500ºF at the end? I think that would be easier than backing a KK grill down to 350ºF after getting it up to 500ºF.

[DennisLinkletter]

If the grill is at 500º and you shut the damper top.. it will vent thru the polder sleeve and within a few minutes drop to 420º ish...

Just camp on it and within the one hour cook you will be back at the 350ºish mark.

Can't remember how used to heat soak the grill at 500º and then cook a turkey with the drafts completely closed using just the retained heat.

[tony b]

Similar to how my mom used to cook our turkeys in the oven. Put it in a hot oven (450F) for about an hour, just before bedtime, then turn off the heat, and just let it roast overnight on the stored heat. In the morning, she'd take it out, stuff it, tent it, and put it back in the oven to cook the stuffing. In over 40 years, she never made anyone sick doing it this way.

[dstr8]

Just out of curiosity, could you do most of the cook at 350ºF, and crank it up to 500ºF at the end? I think that would be easier than backing a KK grill down to 350ºF after getting it up to 500ºF.

 

Unlike my high temp Neapolitan style pizza bakes I don't completely heat soak my KK prior to roasting fowl via Judy Rogers recipe/method I described above.   Therefore I can very quickly pull the temp down from even 550* (yes sometimes I do the above first roast session at 550* but pull back on the allotted time...12-15 minutes instead of 20) to 350-400*F by tightly closing the top vent along with bottom vent and getting to target in just a few minutes; probably less time than do this in an indoor oven!

 

The whole cooking process is approximately 60-minutes so you don't need to stoke a big roaring fire...

[CeramicChef]

Wilbur - did you see the comic "Wizard of Id" today?  Your KK is famous!  

 

If you don't get the comic strip in your local paper, let me know and I'll send you a pic!

[wilburpan]

Ha! Just looked at the comic. Thanks!

[CeramicChef]

Ha! Just looked at the comic. Thanks!

 

You're welcome.  Smaug is much more famous than we thought!