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Chicken Fire

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'Q Bruddah
'Q Bruddah Posts: 739
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Into every life a little rain must fall. I am not sure exactly what happened but maybe it was several things. I had a chicken fire.

I bought some new lump, Lazzari Mesquite. I loaded some into the egg on top of old lump. May have had too much lump. Plate setter legs up. Another possible problem was the drip pan was set directly on the plate setter, just before meat. Grid on top of that. Fire did not want to settle down to a "clean" burn. I waited a little more than an hour.

I put whole chickens on at 400° dome and everything was fine for a half hour. Then there seemed to be fire underneath and in the drip pan everytime I opened the lid. The chicken skin got black and smoky from the fire and not brown from the heat. I finally got the breast up to 165° and all the juices ran clear. I pulled in a hurry. It started to rain since we already had two days of sun. The birds did not look the least bit appetizing. They were barely edible and nobody complained but I was not particularly happy with the result.

I am a big boy and this is all on me, it is not the egg's fault. The egg didn't do anything wrong. I am keeping the egg. I would just as soon not to have it happen again.
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Comments

  • Little Chef
    Little Chef Posts: 4,725
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    Q - You do too much nice stuff to let one bad cook do you in for Eggin!! :laugh: Have you used this brand of lump before? Some can be really nasty...We got some Royal Oak from Paraguay that looked like the 4th of July every time we tried to use it. (It ended up at the curb) We like Royal Oak, but we pay attention to the country of origin now.

    It is a good practice to always use your green feet (or at least some sort of spacer...wadded up foil, etc) between the drip pan and the setter. No doubt this helps reduce burning in the drip pan.

    The "fire underneath"...meaning the coals still flared up?? Sounds like flare-ups from remaining VOC's??? What temp were you burning the Egg at for the hour while waiting? Could the fire have been starved for oxygen?? Smouldering while closed, then flared up when opened?

    Sorry the cook was a bust....trust me, happens to ALL of us!!
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  • 'Q Bruddah
    'Q Bruddah Posts: 739
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    LC, they will have to pry my egg out of my cold dead hands.
    I was shooting for 400° but it was over 350° for most of the hour. I was warned that the mesquite might overpower the chicken but I am not convinced it was the lump's fault either. I have never used it before but it comes from a restaurant supply and they sell a ton of it.
    I remember when I joined the forum in ('08) all I read was one superb cook after another. I was suspicious. Now I know from personal experience that most cooks do turn out wonderful. I'll take my mistakes as long as I can learn from them.
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  • Ripnem
    Ripnem Posts: 5,511
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    Bruddah,

    Sounds like your drip pan was dripping/spilling into the fire, at a steady flow and when you gave it air, it flare.
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  • Jai-Bo
    Jai-Bo Posts: 584
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    =Ripnem wrote:
    Bruddah,

    Sounds like your drip pan was dripping/spilling into the fire, at a steady flow and when you gave it air, it flare.

    That'd be my guess fer the flame up.....When I am doing a quick cook, I usually don't load up my box unless I need 500+.
    I guess it was a bad week fer chicks!!!! My thermometer jacked up on my end and I cooked a couple of mine to long!!! The skin was horrible but meat was saved a bit.....
    Hunting-Fishing-Cookin' on my EGG! Nothing else compares!
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  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
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    Lick your fingers and count your blessings. Recently I had a cook that didn't turn out so well so your not standing alone.

    Sounds to me your egg was never stabilized and you were fighting lump issues possibly draft issues. Then you were fighting flare ups...was your chicken dripping in the coals...get another successful cook under your belt and you will feel better. Tim
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,767
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    mesquite and chicken may just be too much, its a more bitter smoke to me, i use it very sparingly. was thinking about that brisket cook, you later said the probe was inside the egg less than an inch, that will make the gage read low as well, the ceramic will affect how the sensor reads and why its not recommended to get the shorter 2.5 inch tel tru gage. if your getting flare ups, it helps to shut the lower vent completly while the dome is open
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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