Dekade's Southern Comfort Chicken & Tons of Information

What I am going to tell you in this post has resulted in the best chicken I have ever had. Ever. In fact I had to name it. Thus, Dekade's Southern Comfort Chicken. Why DS double C? Because - I live 50 miles southeast of Chicago and this chicken made me feel like I was down in the warmth of the south somewhere having some great southern comfort food with sweet tea and cinnamin apple sauce.

However, only 25%, maybe, of the credit goes to me. The rest is the result of the greatness of this BGE forum. So let me tell you how I got to the greatest chicken I have ever had. First, the thanks list.

1. Over the last two month's - one item at a time - I have bought some things to upgrade my LBGE
2. Many thanks to RRP for the Rutland gasket concept; performance is outstanding
3. Many thanks to Jonathan at Saint Louis Charcoal for a 1/16" thick Cotronics gasket that I put around the inside of my daisy wheel; and the 733 Maverick unit
   
4. Many thanks to The Ceramic Grill Store for the Adjustable Rig R & B; Wow! Total quality!
5. Many thanks to Thermoworks for the outstanding Thermapen (saved this chicken) and the handy dandy TimeStick
6. TONS OF THANKS to the forum for discussions about cornstarch and refrigerator drying chicken; wanted crispy skin; GUARANTEED - IT WORKS!!!
7. TONS and TONS and TONS of thanks to the BGE Forum in general!!
   

Now for the cook. "First" cook using all my new toys.

1. Spatchcock styled cut on the chicken. A 5.5 pound fryer
   
2. Wiped it and wiped it and wiped it again until bone dry.
3. Powdered all exposed surfaces with Cornstarch; probably what would be termed as a medium heavy coating; Not SOLID white.
4. Put in refrigerator for 24 hours
5. Royal Oak lump charcoal to just barely above the bottom of the fire ring
6. Put into place the Adjustable Rig only - no pizza stone - direct cook - LBGE stock grid on top of Rig - a 'high in the dome cook'
   
7. Fired up and waited for LBGE to settle out at 400 degrees; Once the temp was at 200 degrees I added 3 chunks of Hickory wood
   
8. While waiting got the chicken out of the fridge (after 26 hours)
9. Laid the chicken on the skin side with the underside facing up.
10. Sprinkled medium coating of Willingham's Wham Original Mild Rub and rubbed it in good without smearing the cornstarch; NO Willingham's on the skin side - not yet anyway.
    
11. (I believe the Willinghams and the Hickory worked so well together that it made this recipe a total success)
12. 400 degrees on grill dome thermometer
13. Placed chicken skin side down on stock LBGE grid
14. Cooked for 25 minutes; TimeStick reminded me with a nice loud beeping that 25 minutes was completed
    
15. Turned over chicken so that skin side was now facing up.
16. Sprinkled on medium coating of Willingham's Wham Original Mild Rub on the skin up side; Did NOT rub in - fire was to hot
17. Closed the lid and set my TimeStick to beep at 55 minutes
18. Let the temperature in the dome rise to 425 degrees
    
19. At 40 minutes Thermapen told me breast was 167 degrees and legs were 200 degrees
    
20. Removed chicken and placed it on the kitchen table; Absolutely picture perfect.

Then I cut into the juiciest breast meat that I have ever had. EVER. Pan Fried or specialty restaurant or whatever. BEST - EVER. The taste was absolutely delightful. Nothing was dominating - hickory or rub. Everything blended exactly perfect!!!!!!! The skin was crispy beyond crispy. Perfect.

This is my 7th year of owning the LBGE. I have never conquered crispy skin. I have always had to use BBQ sauce to get grilled chicken to taste good. Not any more. I doubt if I will EVER AGAIN use BBQ sauce on chicken. Definitely NEVER on Dekade's Southern Comfort Chicken.

I hope someone else enjoys this chicken as much as I did/do!!!!!