spatchcocked two birds last night, threw them on the kamado after it reached about 550 to sear and crisp up the skins a bit, then flipped them to cook skin side up. Fire starting takes less than a minute and I got to 550 in about 15 minutes - getting it back down to hover in the 425 range was NO problem.
i lightly oiled the birds with some olive oil and then heavily salt, peppered and dry rubbed with freshly toasted and ground cumin, coriander seed, whole arbol chiles and dried oregano and thyme.
I put the meat thermometer in the thigh, closed her up and shut her down to a temp hovering in the 425 range. When the bird temp was reading about 155 I put on the corn (soaked husks on). When the thermameter beeped me at 175 I went to pull off the birds. Slipped the thongs under the breasts to lift off the birds and the thigh quarters just fell right off.
I had to post this to GREATLY encourage the use of fire vs. gas, and quite frankly...GET A KAMADO GRILL, I don't care what brand or what it's made of (I have a budget friendly steel one and obviously I'm pretty thrilled with it - it is a new toy this summer).
This was the best chicken I have ever eaten in my life. Skins were crisp and golden but not burnt anywhere, the juice was running down all of our arms regardless of whether you were gnawing on dark or white meat and the flavor was out of this world. I am scared I won't be able to replicate what I created last night because it was poultry perfection. I am drooling right now just thinking about it.
I also think its worth springing for organic free range birds because the taste is palpably better IMO.
i lightly oiled the birds with some olive oil and then heavily salt, peppered and dry rubbed with freshly toasted and ground cumin, coriander seed, whole arbol chiles and dried oregano and thyme.
I put the meat thermometer in the thigh, closed her up and shut her down to a temp hovering in the 425 range. When the bird temp was reading about 155 I put on the corn (soaked husks on). When the thermameter beeped me at 175 I went to pull off the birds. Slipped the thongs under the breasts to lift off the birds and the thigh quarters just fell right off.
I had to post this to GREATLY encourage the use of fire vs. gas, and quite frankly...GET A KAMADO GRILL, I don't care what brand or what it's made of (I have a budget friendly steel one and obviously I'm pretty thrilled with it - it is a new toy this summer).
This was the best chicken I have ever eaten in my life. Skins were crisp and golden but not burnt anywhere, the juice was running down all of our arms regardless of whether you were gnawing on dark or white meat and the flavor was out of this world. I am scared I won't be able to replicate what I created last night because it was poultry perfection. I am drooling right now just thinking about it.
I also think its worth springing for organic free range birds because the taste is palpably better IMO.
