....and it was burnt!

My first attempt at BBQ was a chicken on a rotiserrie using lump charcoal. I
had a difficult time keeping the temp regulated. It bounced between 225 and
325, according to the thermometer in the grill lid. I cooked the chicken (4
lbs) for 1 1/2 hours. The outside was charred black but the meat was still
relatively juicy and tasted good. I had noting on the chicken but some salt and
rubbed it a bit with some vegetable oil.What did I do wrong?

"Tranch749" > wrote in message
>
> My first attempt at BBQ was a chicken on a rotiserrie using lump charcoal.
I
> had a difficult time keeping the temp regulated. It bounced between 225
and
> 325, according to the thermometer in the grill lid. I cooked the chicken
(4
> lbs) for 1 1/2 hours. The outside was charred black but the meat was still
> relatively juicy and tasted good. I had noting on the chicken but some
salt and
> rubbed it a bit with some vegetable oil.What did I do wrong?

The temperature you saw was comparable to oven temperature. With charcoal,
radiation is important also. Not only was the chicken in the hot
environment, like roasting, but radiation from the coals was hitting the
side exposed to the coals. The closer, the hotter.

Try it with a little more distance from the coals. Either raise the spit or
put the coals towards the back somewhat. You can do away with the oil also.
That may have contributed towards the blackening. The time sounds about
right. Usually about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours is going to give you a good bird.
Ed

http://pages.cthome.net/edhome

(question concerned a chicken rotisseried over lump that had charred
black skin but good meat)

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
> Try it with a little more distance from the coals. Either raise the spit or
> put the coals towards the back somewhat.

That's worth repeating, and in my experience answers the question.

As an aside, I like to rub them generously with lemon juice before cooking.

I put the coals in two piles, on either side of the coal grate, more
or less parallel to the axis of the spit. I put a strip of aluminum
foil along the meat grate, under the spit and parallel to it. That
way, there is no direct heat under the bird and it doesn't burn. I
had the same experience as the OP the first time I rotisseried a
chicken, and now that I keep direct heat off the bird, it always comes
out great.

--THC

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Cormen Voice: (603) 646-2417
Associate Professor Fax: (603) 646-1672
Dept. of Computer Science Email:
Dartmouth College URL: http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~thc/
6211 Sudikoff Laboratory
Hanover, NH 03755-3510
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tranch749 wrote:
> ...and it was burnt!
>
> My first attempt at BBQ was a chicken on a rotiserrie using lump charcoal. I
> had a difficult time keeping the temp regulated. It bounced between 225 and
> 325, according to the thermometer in the grill lid. I cooked the chicken (4
> lbs) for 1 1/2 hours. The outside was charred black but the meat was still
> relatively juicy and tasted good. I had noting on the chicken but some salt and
> rubbed it a bit with some vegetable oil.What did I do wrong?


Nothing. The meat tasted good. You done good. I think all Q'ed
chicken will have a charred skin. This is sometimes referred to as the
bark.

Happy Q'en,
BBQ

bbq wrote:
> Tranch749 wrote:
>> ...and it was burnt!
>>

Bet it was burnt from fat fires from being directly over the coals.



--

Duwop wrote:
> bbq wrote:
>> Tranch749 wrote:
>>> ...and it was burnt!
>>>
>
> Bet it was burnt from fat fires from being directly over the coals.

That's my thought too, Dale.

Jack Curry

On Sun, 27 Jun 2004 16:09:57 GMT, "Jack Curry" <Jack-Curry deletethis
@cfl.rr.com> wrote:

>Duwop wrote:
>> bbq wrote:
>>> Tranch749 wrote:
>>>> ...and it was burnt!
>>>>
>>
>> Bet it was burnt from fat fires from being directly over the coals.
>
>That's my thought too, Dale.
>
>Jack Curry
>
Is this a good time to bring forward the spatchcock method.? For 4lb
bird I go at 350ish for about 40 minutes. No charring cooked
throughout and yet moist. Some times I brine and sometimes not -
depends on the bird.

Harry

Harry Demidavicius wrote:
> <snip>Some times I brine and sometimes not -
> depends on the bird.
>

What do most of them choose?

Harry Demidavicius wrote:
> On Sun, 27 Jun 2004 16:09:57 GMT, "Jack Curry" <Jack-Curry deletethis
> @cfl.rr.com> wrote:
>
>> Duwop wrote:
>>> bbq wrote:
>>>> Tranch749 wrote:
>>>>> ...and it was burnt!
>>>>>
>>>
>>> Bet it was burnt from fat fires from being directly over the coals.
>>
>> That's my thought too, Dale.
>>
>> Jack Curry
>>
> Is this a good time to bring forward the spatchcock method.? For 4lb
> bird I go at 350ish for about 40 minutes. No charring cooked
> throughout and yet moist. Some times I brine and sometimes not -
> depends on the bird.
>
> Harry

Agree, Harry. I brine and look for 165 in the breast. Sometimes it's an
hour, sometimes longer...depends on the size of the bird.

Jack`

On 29-Jun-2004, Harry Demidavicius > wrote:

> On Sun, 27 Jun 2004 16:09:57 GMT, "Jack Curry" <Jack-Curry deletethis
> @cfl.rr.com> wrote:
>
> >Duwop wrote:
> >> bbq wrote:
> >>> Tranch749 wrote:
> >>>> ...and it was burnt!
> >>>>
> >>
> >> Bet it was burnt from fat fires from being directly over the coals.
> >
> >That's my thought too, Dale.
> >
> >Jack Curry
> >
> Is this a good time to bring forward the spatchcock method.? For 4lb
> bird I go at 350ish for about 40 minutes. No charring cooked
> throughout and yet moist. Some times I brine and sometimes not -
> depends on the bird.
>
> Harry

I have a couple of notes for the group. Some of them could be prefaced with
"Don't try this at home". I spatchcock like you others do. Sometimes brine
and sometimes not. I like to start birds skin side down over direct hot
coals
and them finish them indirect skin side up at about 350°F. Got sucked in by
a food TV episode the other day (Bobby Flay) and did one in a skillet
weighted
down with a foil covered brick. Idea was to sear the bird skin side down and

then finish in a 450°F oven. The bird tasted good, but took a good 40 min to
cook. I think that big cold brick slowed it down. I don't care about the
time,
but that sucker painted the inside of my oven with a heavy coat of oil. 450°
was to hot for the oil in the pan. It didn't burn the bird, just messed up
the
oven. On the upside, I got the opportunity to clean the oven racks, my
baking stone (12" X 18" X 1/2" Marble) and SWMBO's CI cornbread skillet.
If the whim strikes me, I do the BBQ Pit grills in there as well.

--
M&M ("Happy 'Q'in and whatever")

That's eactly what was wrong! I had the coals directly under the chicken while
it was cooking. Thought that was the way to cook on the rotisserie but now I
know I have to use indirect heat. I'm going to have to stop at the store, get
another chicken and try again using all the information I've learned here from
all you fine people. Thank you very much everyone.

"Tranch749" > wrote in message
...
> That's eactly what was wrong! I had the coals directly under the chicken
while
> it was cooking. Thought that was the way to cook on the rotisserie but now
I
> know I have to use indirect heat. I'm going to have to stop at the store,
get
> another chicken and try again using all the information I've learned here
from
> all you fine people. Thank you very much everyone.

So, what are you planning to do with that charred chicken? Going to eat
it....

Aqua Teen Hunger Force....we hunger for more!

>So, what are you planning to do with that charred chicken? Going to eat
>it....
>
>Aqua Teen Hunger Force....we hunger for more!

Of course we ate it, and it really didn't taste that bad, after you peeled
the charred skin off.