[FONT="]Last year, we almost had a SoCal bash, but it got cancelled last minute due to rain. A few weeks before, Silverfinger did a really cool thing for me, and had a large piece of expanded metal cut to fit my buddy's firepit that I had planned to use as a cooking grate. It's been sitting in gtr's garage ever since. :icon_blush:
I decided it was high time get over to gtr's, get that expanded metal, and do a test run on my friend's firepit before the September bash. It was good to see gtr again and share a cold beer and good conversation in his backyard as well.
Later on, The Missus and I headed over to my friend's house with the expanded metal piece, plus three chickens and a batch of roadside mop[/FONT][FONT="][FONT="]
to feed that night's crew. My plan was to cook the chicken roadside style, and having done this before on many camping trips, for me, it's the ultimate way to cook chicken. Normally though, I do it on the UDS and it comes out fine, but there's something that happens when you cook meat over hot wood embers that imparts a flavor unlike anything else.
At this point, some of you may be wondering what roadside chicken is. If you go HERE, you'll find a full tutorial, plus the roadside mop recipe so you're up to speed. :thumb:
First we started on fire building, using some pine:
Now added some hardwood:
The base is starting to look good:
Tiny spectator checking out the fire from afar:
The grate that Silverfinger had cut for me fits perfectly on the top of the firepit lip:
At this point it was just about time to put the chicken on:
Chicken just after I put it on the grate, and brushed with mop sauce:
About 20 mins later:
Since breast meat cooks a lot faster, I add them a bit later in the cook so when I pull everything off the fire, it's all evenly cooked:
Getting very close now:
And here's the chicken after we took it off the fire. Every single piece of chicken was deliciously crisp on the outside, and exploded with juices when we bit into it.
This was a very successful test run for the Sept 2013 SoCal Bash - looking foward to seeing some of you SoCal Brethren there! And thanks again to Silverfinger for cutting the cooking grate to perfection, and to gtr for keeping it out of the elements in his garage!
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I decided it was high time get over to gtr's, get that expanded metal, and do a test run on my friend's firepit before the September bash. It was good to see gtr again and share a cold beer and good conversation in his backyard as well.
Later on, The Missus and I headed over to my friend's house with the expanded metal piece, plus three chickens and a batch of roadside mop[/FONT][FONT="][FONT="]
to feed that night's crew. My plan was to cook the chicken roadside style, and having done this before on many camping trips, for me, it's the ultimate way to cook chicken. Normally though, I do it on the UDS and it comes out fine, but there's something that happens when you cook meat over hot wood embers that imparts a flavor unlike anything else.
At this point, some of you may be wondering what roadside chicken is. If you go HERE, you'll find a full tutorial, plus the roadside mop recipe so you're up to speed. :thumb:
First we started on fire building, using some pine:
Now added some hardwood:
The base is starting to look good:
Tiny spectator checking out the fire from afar:
The grate that Silverfinger had cut for me fits perfectly on the top of the firepit lip:
At this point it was just about time to put the chicken on:
Chicken just after I put it on the grate, and brushed with mop sauce:
About 20 mins later:
Since breast meat cooks a lot faster, I add them a bit later in the cook so when I pull everything off the fire, it's all evenly cooked:
Getting very close now:
And here's the chicken after we took it off the fire. Every single piece of chicken was deliciously crisp on the outside, and exploded with juices when we bit into it.
This was a very successful test run for the Sept 2013 SoCal Bash - looking foward to seeing some of you SoCal Brethren there! And thanks again to Silverfinger for cutting the cooking grate to perfection, and to gtr for keeping it out of the elements in his garage!
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