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indirect heat- using aluminum tray

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eggheadbrown
eggheadbrown Posts: 61
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
I am going to try and cook chicken by hanging it through the top of my egg. I need to put something directly on the charcoal to prevent flames from burning my chicken.

If I am cooking at 600f, will I have any issues putting an aluminum tray directly on the charcoal?

thanks!

Eggheadbrown
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Comments

  • vidalia1
    vidalia1 Posts: 7,092
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    Say what??? Yes the AF will burn up... :sick: :huh:
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  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,674
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    IF you are going to be at the top of the dome cut back to 400 and go direct...
    I spatchcock all chickens at 400 direct and high in the dome. You will be higher I guess....
    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

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  • jaydub58
    jaydub58 Posts: 2,167
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    I'd also be concerned that, before the AF burns up, all chicken grease that lands on the pan, will burn there.
    That could get a bit stinky!
    :sick:
    John in the Willamette Valley of Oregon
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  • Austin Egghead
    Austin Egghead Posts: 3,966
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    The melting point for aluminum foil is 1220 F the same for aluminum, AF is about 97% aluminum.
    That being said.....why the 600f cook? Are you cooking a whole chicken or suspending pieces? I would think a whole chicken wont work. By the time the interior is cooked the exterior will be jerky.
    Why are you suspending the chicken?....Inquiring mind wants to know.
    Large, small and mini now Egging in Rowlett Tx
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  • Austin Egghead
    Austin Egghead Posts: 3,966
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    not to mention the chicken will smell and taste like burned chicken fat :(
    Large, small and mini now Egging in Rowlett Tx
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  • SmokeyPitt
    SmokeyPitt Posts: 10,490
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    Perhaps a silly ?...but do you have a plate setter? If so I would use that. If not, perhaps leave the grid on and put a pan on the grid.

    I'm also curious as to why the suspended, high heat chicken. I can understand why you might want to hang it. Chicken cooked high in the dome turns out nice and crispy. However, the 600 degrees might not give you favorable results!

    Rather than hang it you could search for "upside down chicken" using beer can chicken stand. Might give you similar results without so much rigging ;).

    Which came first the chicken or the egg?  I egged the chicken and then I ate his leg. 

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  • Brew'nQue
    Brew'nQue Posts: 44
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    Are you trying to cook it "Tandoor" style?
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  • eggheadbrown
    eggheadbrown Posts: 61
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    Yes I am trying to do Tandoori Style cooking.

    I was going to try and cook at 600f because of the below posts:

    http://thingelstad.com/big-green-egg-tandoor/

    http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=1085700&catid=1

    I just need something to rest on the charcoal to prevent flames at 600f. a few people recommended a flower pot, but I wasn't sure if this was any better than an aluminum tray or how it sits in the BGE.
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    at 600, the lump is around 1000+. believe it or not, at 250, the lump is around a thousand too. well, maybe not a thousand, but you get the point. dome temp is a function of how much 1000-degree lump you have going, not how hot the lump is.

    which means your thin foil pan won't last long on the lump.
    put the grid in, a foil pan, and see if you can still get the clearance you need. since folks manage to stand their chickens up with the same set-up (on a chicken sitter), you shouldn't need the extra height gained by removing the grid
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
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    The temperature of lump "at lump level" is around 1100° if it is glowing red. If the lump has a lava look, orange flowing look, it will be close to 1800° and if the burning lump has a somewhat white look, not ash, it will be above 2000°.

    Use some type of stand off and use some type of pan not foil alone or foil over pan.

    Like Mickey said above raised grid will work great. This is a 500°, raised grid, direct cook. To get some distance I load the lump just above the holes in the fire box. At this temperature the cook takes about 50 minutes to reach 165° internal.

    chick500.jpg

    I have cooked whole birds from 200° up to 500°. I will have to try a direct 600° cook to see how the bird comes out.

    I too am wondering why you are 'hanging' the chicken.

    GG
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  • vidalia1
    vidalia1 Posts: 7,092
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    OK after reading the articles I see what you are trying to achieve...the answer is still no on the AF, it will burn up at those temps if it sits directly on the coals...but I like the idea presented in the 1st article you mentioned...
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  • eggheadbrown
    eggheadbrown Posts: 61
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    I am a still a BGE beginner so I am little overwhelmed by the terminology.

    What do you mean by “put the grid in, a foil pan, and see if you can still get the clearance you need “

    I was just simply trying to replicate the two styles of cooking I posted above.

    A few things I have seen:
    In the first post, he put a small place setter directly on the charcoal in a large BGE and put the chicken through the top. This was what I was trying to copy without having a small place setter than will sit on the charcoal.

    In the other posts I have seen, people have either had a clay Skewer hold made, or stuck the skewers directly in the charcoal and rested them on a turbo grate.

    Forgetting the Aluminum tray, is there anything I can put directly on the charcoal that will not burn/melt? Again I have heard people use clay pot or saucer, just not sure how this works.
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,754
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    after trying it a few different ways i think it works best as a direct cook laying horizontal on a very raised grill. i believe they used to do them leaning at a good angle to get more in the pit, what happens though is to get the top and middle done, the bottom and outside gets dry and overcooked. im not sure how its traditionally served but cooking vertically it almost seems that you cook it, carve off the outer cooked edges to serve, and continue cooking the inner part of the big skewer of meat. you can do the same thing with smaller pieces served and cooked as kebabs. its going to smoke with or without the pan, if you want inderect, a couple firebricks would work
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • vidalia1
    vidalia1 Posts: 7,092
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    Instead of a platesetter you could use fire bricks directly on the coals.
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    you asked about hanging the chicken, right?
    you wanted to take out the grid, and put a foil tray on the coals, right?
    sounds like to wanted the tray on the coals in order to give you vertical clearance for hanging a chicken. now, i don't know why you need to hang it, but that mans it'd be vertical.

    and a vertical chicken (on a stand) will fit on the grid. you could keep the cooking grid in place, put in a foil tray (on the grid, not the coals), and hang your chicken above it. you should have enough room (i.. 'clearance')
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
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    It sounds to me as if you are trying to do a tandoor cook on a big green egg. These are not the same cooker. Have you considered what you are trying to accomplish, in the simplest of terms, and why? If you want to cook a chicken in a 600* oven fueled by lump, why don't you just use the egg as an egg?

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

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  • leeflash
    leeflash Posts: 66
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    What stephen said ;)
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