Issue with Big Easy

Make a expanded metal rack to raise the bird up...

Cliff H. said:

I use my Big Easy this year to cook 14 lb turkey. After two hours the internal temp of the top side of the breast was 170 so I pulled the bird out of the cooker. The top 3/4 of the bird was cooked perfectly. The skin was crisp. the temp was right. All was good. The bottom 1/4 of the bird was not done however. The temp was only 135. The skin was not cooked at all. For some reasn it seemed that the heat was not reaching the bottom of the bird. It never did get above 150. I had to cut off part of the breast on both sides.

This is strange considering the heat source is at the very bottom of the cooker and the flame was good the entire cook.

I will let ya'll know what I find out when I e-mail CharBroil.

Click to expand...

Hiya - I write the newsletter and web log called Sizzle on the Grill - www.sizzleonthegrill.com sponsored by Char-Broil. The users forums has one board dedicated to The Big Easy - and many of the users have expressed similar cooking problems. The simple solution appears to be to raise the meat up from the bottom and make sure nothing (like a pan, foil, etc.) is in the bottom of the basket.

The flame, as you point out, is at the bottom of the unit...but it generates heat on the sides of the unit which generate infrared --- btw, that's a lower btu burner generating more cooking energy, but I digress --- and no heat is actually coming from the bottom of the unit.

The infrared energy has to hit the meat from all sides, when it hits the meat the infrared is converted to heat energy on the surface of the meat.

Another trick is to simply reverse the bird in the cooking basket --- not an uncommon thing to do in any grill, smoker, etc. --- to ensure even cooking.

Check out the forum and see if any of the comments, tips, tricks, etc. there are helpful to you.

CB