OT - Rotisserie Chicken

Carolina Q

On my old kettle. Bought this rotisserie motor and spit for $30 at Lowe's and all I had to do to make it work on the kettle was to screw the motor bracket onto a board that then slides into the Weber handle. Throw some charcoal and smoke wood in there and sit back with a glass of wine and watch it spin. Better than spatch on the egg? Nah. But just as good and it's something different. And it's exciting! Watching an egg dome, even though you know what's happening under it is, well, boring. With this, I get to watch it spin!!! How cool is that?!

This cook took THREE hours though. Also, a ton of charcoal and multiple trips to the smoke wood stash.  I guess the open dome is the reason for both. I can fix that if I'm willing to cut a notch in the dome so it will fit down over the spit at the motor end. I was trying to replicate an open fire cook, like a campfire. Used cherry, white oak and maple. Went thru a LOT of smoke wood! Used mostly Kingsford, but I did throw in a batch of RO lump at one the the refills.

Used a new rub recipe, called Smoky Red. From the guy who started Dinosaur BBQ. Excellent flavor, maybe better than any of the others I've tried!! Served with peas, corn and sliced tomato. A delicious meal!!! Thanks for lookin'.

johnnyp

Looks good from here.  3 hours though? Yikes 

Carolina Q

johnnyp said:

Looks good from here.  3 hours though? Yikes 

yeah, I was more than ready to eat!! well rewarded though, very juicy and full of flavor. A spatched bird on the egg would have been just as good - and done in 45 minutes. But this was a fun cook.

wbradking

Looks like you have the charcoal moved off to the sides for an indirect cook.  Maybe next time build the fire directly underneath to speed things up?  In any event it looks delish.

Mickey

@Richard Fl hooked up an Egg with rotisserie. I know as I gave him motors when he built it several years ago.  

johnmitchell

It looks like you turned the chicken on the spit some time during the cook, or am I wrong...  The end result looks fantastic.. My kind of cook 3 hours drinking wine .. Nice little invention..

Carolina Q

@wbradking said:

Looks like you have the charcoal moved off to the sides for an indirect cook.  Maybe next time build the fire directly underneath to speed things up?  In any event it looks delish.

I actually moved some of the coals directly under the bird at some point, but it was pretty late in the game. Next time, I'll start that way. I may cut a notch in the kettle lid too, to allow it to fit over the spit. That will retain heat and smoke and no doubt speed things along. It was pretty breezy during this cook too so that didn't help either.

In any event, it WAS relish! Thanks.

Carolina Q

@Mickeysaid:

@Richard Fl hooked up an Egg with rotisserie. I know as I gave him motors when he built it several years ago.  

I did this on the egg 2-3 weeks ago. A bit more involved getting the motor mounted. What I did requires egg mates. If no mates, I'd have had to think of some alternative. The board you see screwed to the motor bracket was actually done so I could mount it to my egg. Only afterward did I discover it fit perfectly on the kettle.

The main thing I didn't like about using the egg was the smoke that left a film on the dome. Cleaned off easily enough with Simple Green and a scrubby, but that was just something else to have to do. Would be interesting to see how Richard did it.

BTW, my rub called for chill powder... the ancho continues to be much appreciated! Thanks!! 

Carolina Q

johnmitchell said:

It looks like you turned the chicken on the spit some time during the cook, or am I wrong...  The end result looks fantastic.. My kind of cook 3 hours drinking wine .. Nice little invention..

Nope, I didn't turn it. But you're right about the three hours drinking wine!

Carolina Q

@Mickey, I found Richard's rotisserie egg. It was an old clay kamado that he restored. It already had notches cut into the base for the spit. I'm not doing that!

http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&Itemid=55&func=view&catid=1&id=1297150

bgeaddikt

Kingsford? I thought that gave a chemical smell, if not then i switched to natural lump for no reason!

Mickey

Carolina Q said:

@Mickey, I found Richard's rotisserie egg. It was an old clay kamado that he restored. It already had notches cut into the base for the spit. I'm not doing that!

http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&Itemid=55&func=view&catid=1&id=1297150

I'm 68, that was several years ago. Cut me some slack

Carolina Q

Mickey said:

I'm 68, that was several years ago. Cut me some slack

 Gettin' old ain't fer sissies is it? I was hoping Richard had come up with a home-brew Joetisserie. Oh well.

Carolina Q

bgeaddikt said:

Kingsford? I thought that gave a chemical smell, if not then i switched to natural lump for no reason!

Before I bought an egg, I used Kingsford for every charcoal cook I ever did, going back to the 60s or so. When I bought the egg, I discovered that is apparently unacceptable. I really don't know if it harms the egg, but I do know it makes a ton of ash. For that reason alone, I don't use it in my egg. 

Judging by the stacks of briquette bags in stores everywhere, I have to believe that the vast majority of the people who cook with charcoal use briquettes, not lump. Smells and tastes fine to me. And to them I assume. But no one else on here will admit to that.

lousubcap

@Carolina Q - I will admit that using the good old Kingsford briquettes will turn out a great tasting product.  But as you note it does produce a lot of ash.  Whatever you do-don't mess with the Matchlight-tried that once when it first hit the market, some 20-30 years ago.  Never could get rid of the lighter fluid taste it imparted to anything cooked on it.  

Carolina Q

lousubcap said:

@Carolina Q - I will admit that using the good old Kingsford briquettes will turn out a great tasting product.  But as you note it does produce a lot of ash.  Whatever you do-don't mess with the Matchlight-tried that once when it first hit the market, some 20-30 years ago.  Never could get rid of the lighter fluid taste it imparted to anything cooked on it.  

Not to worry. I've never used Matchlite. For the weber, I usually use my chimney starter. Place one starter cube on grate, light with Mapp , then place chimney over it. Used to use newspaper, but this is better.

I don't use the chimney for the egg though.

caliking

What about making a ring out of aluminum flashing? Cut notches for the spit rod. Make it high enough and you can set the Weber lid right on it. That's how the Weber rotisserie ring is set up. 

Carolina Q

caliking said:

What about making a ring out of aluminum flashing? Cut notches for the spit rod. Make it high enough and you can set the Weber lid right on it. That's how the Weber rotisserie ring is set up. 

Thanks, I've considered doing just that. This was far easier, but three hours is a LONG time for a chicken!  

HeavyG

Carolina Q said:

bgeaddikt said:

Kingsford? I thought that gave a chemical smell, if not then i switched to natural lump for no reason!

Before I bought an egg, I used Kingsford for every charcoal cook I ever did, going back to the 60s or so. When I bought the egg, I discovered that is apparently unacceptable. I really don't know if it harms the egg, but I do know it makes a ton of ash. For that reason alone, I don't use it in my egg. 

Judging by the stacks of briquette bags in stores everywhere, I have to believe that the vast majority of the people who cook with charcoal use briquettes, not lump. Smells and tastes fine to me. And to them I assume. But no one else on here will admit to that.

I'll never understand the knock against Kingsford briquettes. I guess it might stem from those folks that heap up a pile of bricks and then pour a gallon of starter fluid on them and light it off. If you don't wait until all the bricks have a gray coat of ash on them then then that would indicate that all the starter fluid hasn't burned off yet.

If used and lit properly there is no petroleum aroma/flavor when using Kingsford bricks. Most folks I know light bricks in a chimney sans any type of starting fluid so that concern isn't even an issue right from the start.

Take a look at what a lot of smokers that cost more than twice what an XL use - Kingsford. I was recently in the market for a new smoker and was considering an insulated vertical cabinet smoker from Lone Star Grillz. Their "Mini" is designed to hold  20 pounds of Kingsford bricks and chunks of whatever flavor wood one chooses. It will hold 225° for 18-24 hours with a load of bricks.

A lot of drum smoker users use Kingsford. A lot of bbq competitors use Kingsford. Award winning BBQ Champion Harry Soo uses Kingsford in his trusty old 18" Weber Smokey Mountains in competitions. I remember reading a few years ago about one of his amazing cooks - he was given a genuine, flown in from Japan, grade A5 Wagyu full packer brisket. A hunk of meat that would normally sell for about $2500. What sort of fuel did he use for such an amazing/expensive/rare piece of meat? Good old Kingsford Blue bag bricks. 

As has been noted the one downside to using bricks in a kamado is the amount of ash they leave. So you have to clean out your kamado more often. Is that really such a burden??

The whole notion of Kingsford bricks leaving bad fumes in the ceramics or off flavors in ones food is just BS. That notion ranks right up there with myths like "searing seals in juices".

pgprescott

HeavyG said:

Carolina Q said:

bgeaddikt said:

Kingsford? I thought that gave a chemical smell, if not then i switched to natural lump for no reason!

Before I bought an egg, I used Kingsford for every charcoal cook I ever did, going back to the 60s or so. When I bought the egg, I discovered that is apparently unacceptable. I really don't know if it harms the egg, but I do know it makes a ton of ash. For that reason alone, I don't use it in my egg. 

Judging by the stacks of briquette bags in stores everywhere, I have to believe that the vast majority of the people who cook with charcoal use briquettes, not lump. Smells and tastes fine to me. And to them I assume. But no one else on here will admit to that.

I'll never understand the knock against Kingsford briquettes. I guess it might stem from those folks that heap up a pile of bricks and then pour a gallon of starter fluid on them and light it off. If you don't wait until all the bricks have a gray coat of ash on them then then that would indicate that all the starter fluid hasn't burned off yet.

If used and lit properly there is no petroleum aroma/flavor when using Kingsford bricks. Most folks I know light bricks in a chimney sans any type of starting fluid so that concern isn't even an issue right from the start.

Take a look at what a lot of smokers that cost more than twice what an XL use - Kingsford. I was recently in the market for a new smoker and was considering an insulated vertical cabinet smoker from Lone Star Grillz. Their "Mini" is designed to hold  20 pounds of Kingsford bricks and chunks of whatever flavor wood one chooses. It will hold 225° for 18-24 hours with a load of bricks.

A lot of drum smoker users use Kingsford. A lot of bbq competitors use Kingsford. Award winning BBQ Champion Harry Soo uses Kingsford in his trusty old 18" Weber Smokey Mountains in competitions. I remember reading a few years ago about one of his amazing cooks - he was given a genuine, flown in from Japan, grade A5 Wagyu full packer brisket. A hunk of meat that would normally sell for about $2500. What sort of fuel did he use for such an amazing/expensive/rare piece of meat? Good old Kingsford Blue bag bricks. 

As has been noted the one downside to using bricks in a kamado is the amount of ash they leave. So you have to clean out your kamado more often. Is that really such a burden??

The whole notion of Kingsford bricks leaving bad fumes in the ceramics or off flavors in ones food is just BS. That notion ranks right up there with myths like "searing seals in juices".

It's not that at all. Briquettes contain huge amounts of filler materials which are particularly not conducive to Kamado style cooking. The ash produced from the briquettes is very high in comparison to lump. Ash is the killer of airflow in Kamados. Other cooking methods, not so much a big deal except there might be some nasty things in the filler, truth be told.