Rotisserie Chicken - First Attempt, Got Some Questions

[High Q]

I got a rotisserie ring and all the fixings recently from Cajun Bandit and gave it a go tonight on the Weber Performer.

I marinaded a 4 1/2# bird for approximately 8 hours in the El Pollo Loco marinade I got off this thread (El Pollo Loco). I've eaten my fair share of pollo a la brasa while travelling in South America and we really like that flavor.

First, I set up the fire. I filled each of the baskets with Kingsford. I then took half the briquets from each basket and put them in the chimney to start.

The chimney fired up. You can see the baskets with the rest of the briquets in the background. I pushed the briquets in the baskets to each end so I could dump the hot coals in the middle - kind of a mini-minion.

Once I got the coals fired up, I dumped half each back in the baskets. I did not use a drip pan. I'll burn the residue out of the bottom of the kettle tomorrow when I cook some burgers.

While the coals were firing, I got the bird set up on the spit.

To secure the bird, I turned the wings around and slit a pocket in each side of the breast to hold the drumsticks so nothing would flop around while on the slow roll. The bird:

The drumstick slot:

The lid temp ran up to 350 pretty quickly and I closed the vents down to about 1/4 open so it would stay in that neighborhood for the rest of the cook. After 30m, I opened the lid and marinaded with a mixture of melted butter and pineapple habanero jelly (Texas Pepper Jelly).

Got to 350 on the lid quickly:

I set the rotisserie counterweight in line with the birds back to counter balance the weight of the breast. It rotated flawlessly throughout the cook. A photo of the counterbalance:

I didn't keep a close eye on the time but when the drumsticks started wiggling right, I pulled it off, let it rest and carved it up. Total cook time was between 1h 15m and 1h 30m. Here's a couple of shots of the last rotation. If you scroll through fast, you can see it move!

I took all these pictures of my setup as I had planned to put together a primer on rotisserie cooking. I did a lot of thread reading getting ready for this cook and didn't see many posts that covered the real basics (fire setup, bird binding, etc.). Maybe once I've conquered this method, I'll follow through with that post but this cook left me with a couple of questions.

Though the bird was eaten readily and everybody was happy, I can't say I was thrilled with the outcome. Much of the flavor from the rub and the marinade gets imparted on the skin. Once the bird rested and I carved it, the skin slid right off and got left on the platter. Next time, I may try leaving several coals directly below the bird to get some crisp on the skin, or maybe I'll try to spread the coals out toward the end of the cook to get a more direct heat cook. Does that sound plausible?

The meat was very moist but I wasn't overwhelmed by the flavor. I punctured the bird with a meat fork before putting it in the zip loc and then the refrigerator. I was happy with the moisture so that part went well. I let the bird rest 15m before I carved it. It turned out a lot of juice when I started cutting, makes me think I should have let it sit a bit more.

I could use a primer on carving a chicken. I get the drums and wings off in a presentation quality cut but when I carve the breast, it starts to looks like Nightmare on Elm Street, don't even ask about the thighs and the back - shred o lator.

The Weber was still running at 350 an hour after I took the bird off so the coals, set up and firing method worked out fine. I could have run it up around 400 for the entire cook with the same setup (I ran the vents wide open at the end to see how how it would get, it got to 400 and stayed there).

I'll keep working on this. I would appreciate any insights from the more experienced among us.

 

[tjv]

I spun a few birds couple years ago on the medium egg. Couple thoughts from my experience.

Best results came from a partial direct set up where a quarter of the bird would spin over open heat. The other three quarters bird was protected with fireplace bricks. This provided heat to render the skin as the bird rotated in and out of the direct heat.

I cooked at over 400 degrees. If you visit grocery stores that spin birds, ask what temp and time they do them. I found most were around 400 and to 180 degrees internal temp. At higher temps, the you can overshoot your target internal temp with minimal impact on juiciness. My spins usually went 1:15 or so.

need to skewer the bird on both ends, tie the legs and toothpick the wings, so all stays tight as the bird spins.

best way i found to learn how to trim a bird is spatchcock one, cook it and lift it by the legs and watch the dark meat separate from the white cleanly. shows you where to trim white from dark. Also, twist the legs and wings to learn joint location. spatchcocking one also provides a good look at how the breast halfs are connected and how little use there is for the back bone.

Good chance if you let the bird rest the skin may soften, especially if you cover the bird while resting. Covering is great for juiciness and tenderness but the trapped moisture kills crisp skin.

go easy on sugar based rubs and sauces while spinning as the sugars will burn at the 400ish temps.

you just need to practice on cook temp vs. bird height from heat to get the spinning process down. I would see if you can rig up a partial direct (25%) and indirect (75%) set up as oppossed to having the heat along the sides. Bird is never really over the heat when heat is along the side.

spinning birds is fun. enjoy

below is one of my early efforts......tom

 

[bigabyte]

Looks delicious! Love that crisped up looking skin!

 

[mikeTRON]

Wow those are amazing looking :-D

How much fuel do you go through to cook one chicken?
Also how many chickens can you cook on that one spit at one time?

 

[High Q]

I cooked my bird with about one chimney full of briquets. I fired half in the chimney and dumped the fired briquets on the unfired ones in the basket. That fire could have easily burned two hours which is more than enough for the bird.

I measured last night and I could get two larger birds (4-5#) on that spit and still keep them over/around the fire. I could fit three smaller ones though it would get tight.

Tom - Thanks for the comments. I am definitely going to try this again soon and will add some coals to get some direct heat. Likewise, i won't hold the temp down, I'll let it run knowing it will settle out around 400F with the lid on - once I get satisfied with the fire management aspects, I'll work on the rub/marinade variables.

 

[landarc]

I cheat and inject the chicken with a little of the marinade if I want more flavor in, my sister actually rubs under the skin, but I am not coordinated to pull that off. Her chicken is better than mine. It gets more flavor into the meat.

As for trimming, I use the method of removing the entire leg first, I bend the leg assembly out from the body and use a short stiff boning knife to cut from the skin side and through the joint (the little oyster just ahead of the leg is the cook's snack). This seperates the whole leg, then I can place the leg on the board, bend the drumstick up, then cut from skin side down through joint. This almost always gives me a clean cut with no pulling of the skin, two perfect thighs and two perfect drumsticks.

I then run the knife through the rib cage to remove the back, there is a joint in the ribs that the knife will slice cleanly through. This creates a clean cut at the top edge of the breast (remember chicken is on it's back at this point). Remove back, throw in pot. Turn breast so the keel bone is on the top, run the boning knife along the keel bone from the tail to the front, slide it down the side of the wish bone. If you now stick your fingers along the keel bone, you can split the entire breast clean from the bones, do same on other side. Lay breast flat on board, skin up, using a thin sharp slicing knife, make 1/4" slices through skin to board in one smooth stroke, wipe knife on hot wet towel between cuts. Breast meat will be perfect, cross grain with a bit of skin on each one.