Spatchcock: To flip, or not to flip

Stanley

Planning to cook my first spatchcock chicken today. I've read a bunch of versions, and I'm leaning toward direct on a grill extender at 375° dome, chicken skin dried as much as possible (won't have the luxury of letting it set in the fridge 24-48 hrs), rubbed with...

There's my first question. Tsunami Spin? Shakin' The Tree? Raging River? Along the same lines, do I rub with OO first?

Then there's the flipping question. Most seem to just do skin side up the whole time, but the recipe on the BGE site suggests skin side down for the first 15-20 min.

Open to suggestion. Thanks.

Essex County

I do the opposite. I flip for the last 10 minutes or so. It crispens the skin. But it's a little tricky. If the bird is pretty much cooked, it can fall apart during the flip. On the other hand, so what?
Paul

The Naked Whiz

I like Tsunami Spin best of all the DP rubs. It's just my taste for middle eastern/Indian spices, I reckon.

There is no real need to flip the bird. See how the skin is doing and you can always flip it at the last 10-15 minutes if you like. One secret to crispy skin it to spatchcock the bird and then let it sit in the fridge uncovered for 24-48 hours to let the skin dry. It will look a little funky as the skin dries out and becomes somewhat transluscent, but it makes for lovely crispy skin.

WooDoggies

I like to cook with the skin side down to get a good color and crisp to the skin and then flip.
We used to use olive oil first but I don't think you need it for the rub to stick to the skin. Besides, I think the smoke "sticks" to the oil and makes for an overly smokey flavor. Just sprinkle on and press the rub into the skin... it should hold just fine.

You can't go wrong with any of those rubs but Shakin' The Tree is our current favorite on about everything. :~) Good Luck!

john

Grandpas Grub

Stanley,

What is nice with the egg is that it cooks from all sides.

I set the dome temp for 400° and let the bird cook indirect for 1 hour. In one hour I open the dome, thermopen and pull.

Did a whole chicken last night on the small same method. Golden brown and tasted wonderful.

The egg cooks from all sides. Unless I want grill marks I don't see much reason to turn the food when the egg is at the correct temp.

Next chicken here is going to be cooked at 500° for one hour. There has been some good reports in the post lately on the results.

Kent

Cpt'n Cook

I did a good sized spatchcocked bird last night. 400 indirect, I think I used Jamaican Firewalk mon. I always do chicken at least 400. I never check the temp of chicken, I pull when it looks great.

I shouldn't eat the skin but can never resist.

Will post pic later today.

Cpt'n Cook

Didn't flip btw.

Grandpas Grub

I think the chicken at 400° is the only food item I cook to time. The results are always great.

There has been a lot of chatter lately about 500° for an hour on the forum. So I have got to give it a try.

When cooking at 400° or 500° for one hour, mentally, I have a hard time thinking the bird will come out at the same done temp with both heats. Folks are saying 500° for 1 hour is great. The only way to know is to give it a try.

GG

Egg-N-Tino

Stanley,

No flipping and get the dome to stay at 400. I do about one a week without any problems. No flipping and no extra smoke. My seasoning of choice for the birds lately has been DP Raging River. Gives the meat a bit of a maple flavor, but not overpowering. I still rub down the bird with EVOO, but not a big concern.

Elevated grid
Dome @ 400
Bird rubbed down and on the egg for 1 hour

Check temp in the breasts and look for 160 - 165 and your done.

Hope it all works out,

SoDakEgger

IMHO, spatchcocked chickens seem to be one of those things that are hard to mess up. I've done them a couple of different ways and all were pretty much successful. I've done them on a raised grid over direct heat, around 400 degrees. Sunday I did one over indirect heat, no more than 350 degrees. Because the egg keeps the food moist, a person would probably have to exert some effort and a lot of heat to dry out a bone-in, skin-on chicken.

One thing that seems to make a difference is the bird itself. If you go get one of those bagged fryers that are sealed up with all the chicken's "juices" plus 8-10% of some solution, it's going to take more finesse to get a nice crispy skin. On the other hand, when I buy "Smart Chickens" which are processed differently and are not sealed up with all the liquid, those get crispier. This goes to TNW's point above- start with drier skin and you are more likely to get the crispy results desired.

One of these days I am going to try a chicken on the egg in the manner suggested in a Laurie Colwin column in an old copy of Gourmet magazine. (This was back before Gourmet was taken over by a bunch of idiots . . . but that's for another post, someday. Maybe.) Laurie Colwin's method calls for roasting a chicken and vegetables at 300 degrees over the course of three or more hours, basting every half hour. I've done this in an oven, always to a good result. I think it would be awesome in the egg.

Big Easy Egg

Did this one a few days ago with Tsunami Spin, it came out fantastic. I did it breast down for 20 minutes then flipped until 160 degrees. I think my next one I want to try no flip for a change.

Jimmy
Come visit NOLA

East Cobb Eggy

I would have the skin side up for the entire cook.

The problem with cooking chicken direct is charring it up too much.

When you have the skin side up, pretty much the inside of the chicken is the only thing exposed to the flame.

Greg