When I was a kid, my Dad used to grill quite often, especially in the summer months. He used something like this:
My Dad put a layer of lava rock in the bottom of the grill, then lit a pile of charcoal using an electric starter. Once the coals were mostly lit, he’d spread them out over the lava rocks in one manner or another, depending on what he was grilling.
One of my fondest memories was the sound of the noisy rotisserie turning while the scent of chicken cooking over hot coals wafted through the back porch door on warm Sunday afternoons. I remember just standing there as the chicken was getting close to being done, just taking in the amazing aroma of the chicken and spices, feeling like I couldn’t wait to eat.
My Dad’s prep was interesting: After rubbing the birds down with butter, he created a rub of Lawry’s seasoned salt, paprika, and seasoned pepper, and rubbed it over the birds, completely coating them with the mixture. Then, he draped several pieces of bacon over the chickens, and fastened the bacon down firmly with string so it would stay intact during the cooking process.
When the chickens were done, he’d bring the spit into the kitchen, and let the chickens rest, but not usually before offering me a taste of the crispy spicy bacon. The chicken was always moist and tender, and the flavor of the savory dry rub was incomparable.
A few weeks ago, I finally mounted my rotisserie unit to my UDS as well as creating a sleeve for the rotisserie, and after doing a few rotisserie cooks, I decided to duplicate his recipe, sans the bacon(we didn’t have string on hand), for the first time.
First, I rubbed the bird down with butter, then coated the chicken with the spice mixture while it was already on the spit so as to create minimal rub loss on the surface:
Next, I mounted the spit on the drum:
I then covered the drum and turned the rotisserie on, with three valves fully open, reading about 300 degrees. About 40 minutes later:
After about an hour and 20 mins, just before I pulled it:
We then let the bird rest for about 10 mins:
After we cut it up, served on the very same platter we used when I was a kid, along with grilled zucchini and eggplant:
The chicken was super moist, and the spices caramelized beautifully on the skin, which was super thin and bite through. It tasted almost exactly as I remember.
I wish my Dad were with us to enjoy it, but he taught me many things for which I am deeply grateful, and for that, I am a very lucky man...
