Cooking Multiple Different Temp Items

tish

tish

Quintessential Chatty Farker
Joined
Nov 13, 2011
Messages
5,158
Reaction score
7,657
Points
0
Location
york, pa
So far, I've been firing up my Keg to do one thing at a time because I don't know how to do multiple things at once that are normally cooked at different temperatures. When I asked previously, I was told they could be done together, but it takes planning. That's all the detail I was given on the subject. Could someone give me an actual explanation of how to plan say, a chicken and a fatty? Or a pork butt and a chicken? Or a chicken and just about anything else? Notice the underlining theme here. It's gotta have a chicken involved. :roll:
 
You could do the pork butt and then cook the chicken while the butt rests - that's what I do when cooking any large cut with chicken.
 
So then you can't actually cook anything with a chicken? You have to do them one at a time. Seems a shame to waste all that space and fuel doing everything separately. :sad:
 
You either gotta cook your chicken low and slow to go with your other meats, or cook your other meats hot and fast to go with the chicken, or meet in the middle.
 
^^^ exactly. Butts, picnics, fresh hams, briskets, chuck roasts, etc. are much better after resting for 2 hours. That gives plenty of time to ramp those temps up to 350 for the chicken. Frankly, chicken is better done at higher temperatures that is normally considered best for those larger (thicker) cuts of meat.

Chicken and burgers go together well. I like my steaks medium rare, so the temps are more in the 500 range and really too hot for chicken.

Otherwise, you can cook chicken at 250-270. I wouldn't with the skin on and expect the skin to be worth a darn. In that 250-270 range most any cut of large meat (listed above) will do fine.

For example, with a 9lb butt in there, I'd smoke it at about 250-260 for say 4 hours, then foil it. In that temp range you're usually looking at about 10 hours total. At the 9th hour put the chicken on. 10th hour remove the foiled butt and place in a warmer of some kind (let it rest). 11th hour remove the chicken and start pulling the butt.
Something like that. However, frankly, I'd just add that 2nd hour to the end (like described at first).
 
tish said:
So far, I've been firing up my Keg to do one thing at a time because I don't know how to do multiple things at once that are normally cooked at different temperatures. When I asked previously, I was told they could be done together, but it takes planning. That's all the detail I was given on the subject. Could someone give me an actual explanation of how to plan say, a chicken and a fatty? Or a pork butt and a chicken? Or a chicken and just about anything else? Notice the underlining theme here. It's gotta have a chicken involved. :roll:
Click to expand...

Tish.
With any cooker where you want to cook different meats at different temps you want to set up zoned cooking.

What I mean by this is your cooker should end up with different parts (zones) of the cooker at different temps.

To do this you merely need to bank your coals on one side.
The closer to the coals, the hotter the zone.

A fatty will cook great at the coolest zone, as would a pork butt. While chicken cooks great at about 325-350.
 
Last edited:
nrok2118 said:
You either gotta cook your chicken low and slow to go with your other meats, or cook your other meats hot and fast to go with the chicken, or meet in the middle.
Click to expand...

Would going hot and fast dry out the other meats?
 
tish, honestly, chicken is for grilling. Even in competitions, I'd suggest that 90% of the chicken is grilled on fashion or another (meaning not temperatures under 300).
 
tish said:
Would going hot and fast dry out the other meats?
Click to expand...

Depends. Usually they end up more fat laiden. Particularly butts/shoulders. They go through the "stall" very fast, and that's when you're rendering fat. The longer in the stall, to some degree, the more fat rendered and the better.

Mind you, there are plenty of folks who are pretty good at cooking larger cuts of meats in that 300-350 range. I haven't been successful there.
 
tish said:
So then you can't actually cook anything with a chicken? You have to do them one at a time. Seems a shame to waste all that space and fuel doing everything separately. :sad:
Click to expand...

Sure you can. I do it all the time.

Put your chicken near the coals and your other stuff on cool side of grill. You can even layer it (IE: in my UDS I have two grates, one closer to fire, and one close to lid - just make sure poultry is always on bottom)

On weber or in your case bubba keg, used zoned cooking like shown in my other response. :thumb:
 
SirPorkaLot said:
Tish.
With any cooker where you want to cook different meats at different temps you want to set up zoned cooking.

What I mean by this is your cooker should end up with different parts (zones) of the cooker at different temps.

To do this you merely need to bank your coals on one side.
The closer to the coals, the hotter the zone.

A fatty will cook great at the coolest zone, as would a pork butt. While chicken cooks great at about 325-350.
Click to expand...

Looking at your diagram, how would I know when to put the meat on the grates in the appropriate place? If it's 400* over the coals, and 250* on the other side, what's the Keg's thermometer going to read? 400*, 250*, or something in between?
 
Lake Dogs said:
Depends. Usually they end up more fat laiden. Particularly butts/shoulders. They go through the "stall" very fast, and that's when you're rendering fat. The longer in the stall, to some degree, the more fat rendered and the better.

Mind you, there are plenty of folks who are pretty good at cooking larger cuts of meats in that 300-350 range. I haven't been successful there.
Click to expand...

What's the "stall"? I don't know what that means.
 
tish said:
Looking at your diagram, how would I know when to put the meat on the grates in the appropriate place? If it's 400* over the coals, and 250* on the other side, what's the Keg's thermometer going to read? 400*, 250*, or something in between?
Click to expand...


Your friend here is a dual probe thermometer like a maverick.

Insert each probe into a potato and put the potatoes on the grate at different areas of your cooker. You will quickly learn what temps are where.
The thermo on the dome is measuring ambient temp at the dome, so it will be the temp close to the dome (likely ~25 degrees different than grate temp)
 
Also: If you are doing zoned cooking in a cooker like the keg, you only need a very small amount of charcoal. Too much and your lowest temp will be well over 300
 
LOL at typing at the same time....

The stall is when larger cuts of meat hit right at about 165+-. There's a range from 160 to 170 where the meat takes the fats and renders them into juice. To a degree, the longer in the stall the more fat that's rendered so the better overall results. This is one reason that folks think that lower, to the extreme, is better. I've found that for me the 220-230 range or lower doesnt work well at all for other factors. For me, the 240-270 range works great. The meat still goes through the stall slow enough to render most all the fats and yet still stay moist. The higher the temperature the shorter the window of the stall, so the less fat that's rendered.
 
Lake Dog makes a good point...
These run 2.00-3.00 each and work great (as long as you clean the smoke off the glass after each cook)

XuU2zrdPUXBR4g-T0l2F09RNcwp48pyRvj5U1rq0LkN_4jTYBhYsnjlUMbh-v6HCb7dXw3kEtQ2xHcN7D_am-RsH7LchwOdgco7O71POIjldJNteNQHgP1MUDBe5-oSKjAmpYlf4fEgaJrrSU-grGFC1gC4MXT5xH8_50uiRF0xAdK2BrwBp-DR3IbUuJm3gwgahfgQAFapT6MxGgraS7ATYKou9cZuzgbTvs2NcDKWS5B3MF4JsTQXDTaIgdpn34gSMFLQ3RykyTaWZ28iGAgFAvP409gBhHU3fgkWVkSUzCw
 
^^^ yep, definitely clean the glass after each use. You'll learn your zones very well with a few of these.

I do also have 2 Maverick ET's. I use them all. Mind you, I have a long smoker, so I put one up front and the other towards the back. Everywhere in between is just that, in between. On my smoker if I'm not working a fire flair up there's usually a 30 degree difference front to back. Others can have a much more varied temperature range...
 
Well, I put enough lump in the bottom of the Keg to cover the whole metal thingie at the bottom, just making sure to not cover up the little air holes. Then I stuck one of those little firestarter things under one or two coals at the back wall. I've fired her up 4 times so far and still haven't added more lump. The Keg seems to hold temps really well, and is very frugal with the lump, so I think I'm good there. :-D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

W
Noob-ish Stick Burner Question
Replies
10
Views
728
Seefyre
Seefyre
V
Kingsford Cumin Chili Briquettes w/Mesquite II
Replies
4
Views
1K
Newglide
N
S
I tried my new Meater 2 plus alongside my old Meater plus.
Replies
10
Views
2K
Itsdone
I
S
Garlic Bombs! :)
Replies
15
Views
558
Bluebird
B
cayenne
FIRST COOK on the new Offset Smoker!!! Pictures and comments...
2
Replies
22
Views
873
Bury Me In Smoke
B
Back
Top