Chicken breast question

CincyEgg

I've done chicken breasts a few times on the egg both indirect and direct and both ways don't seem to finish the chicken off the way some of the more particular people in my family like. When I do it direct, it seems like the chicken is just too close to the fire and gets some burned parts. With the indirect, it usually gets cooked well on the inside but the outside doesn't even really get grill marks, much less a good crisp to it.

personally, I prefer thighs but I'm in the minority in the house with everyone else preferring the white meat.

Does anyone have a failsafe method with temp included for chicken breasts? 

shtgunal3

I normally do breast 350-400 direct with the cooking grid raised to felt level.

CanadianAnvil

I do them at similar temps but I have an XL so have the space to move around to get the appearance and doneness I want. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

raised direct for me at 450. I go up pretty high in the dome with an adjustable rig with the stock round grid on top. Sometimes I bump it to 500 if it's not coloring up the way I like. Works well with all chicken, from whole spatch to wings, breasts, or thighs. 

YukonRon

CincyEgg said:

I've done chicken breasts a few times on the egg both indirect and direct and both ways don't seem to finish the chicken off the way some of the more particular people in my family like. When I do it direct, it seems like the chicken is just too close to the fire and gets some burned parts. With the indirect, it usually gets cooked well on the inside but the outside doesn't even really get grill marks, much less a good crisp to it.

personally, I prefer thighs but I'm in the minority in the house with everyone else preferring the white meat.

Does anyone have a failsafe method with temp included for chicken breasts? 

Brine them for a couple hours first, then go raised indirect at 350F until desired IT.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

I do almost always brine breast as well. Mostly just a dry brine for a few hours but we wet brine as well. 

YukonRon

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

I do almost always brine breast as well. Mostly just a dry brine for a few hours but we wet brine as well. 

Wet brine for me. It seems, for whatever reason, to work better for my BGEs. Any idea why?

Woodchunk

275 indirect for 45min. At the last pull them over to the 3 openings in the plate setter to brown up. These are the boneless ones

Carolina Q

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

raised direct for me at 450. I go up pretty high in the dome with an adjustable rig with the stock round grid on top. Sometimes I bump it to 500 if it's not coloring up the way I like. Works well with all chicken, from whole spatch to wings, breasts, or thighs. 

I never brine, or cook chicken that hot or that high in the dome. 400 direct at gasket level and still only so so as far as crispy is concerned. So thanks! I'll try hotter and higher next time. Still no brine though. Two outta three ain't bad.

The_Stache

375-400 direct at gasket level, skin side up (bone in) till meat reaches about 155 then flip and get some grill marks on the skin.  Pull at 165...

CincyEgg

I only have the platesetter right now but am hoping to get a woo for it next month. Is there a way to grill direct at the gasket line without one? I don't have any fire bricks either 

shtgunal3

CincyEgg said:

I only have the platesetter right now but am hoping to get a woo for it next month. Is there a way to grill direct at the gasket line without one? I don't have any fire bricks either 

Beer cans sitting on fire ring

Mattman3969

In the mini 350° direct, in the small 400-425° raised direct and in the large 450-500° raised direct.   All depends on the distance from the fire.  Chicken breast work better hot and fast.   If I'm using the hot box inside I'll cook at 475 for 18-20mins. 

SciAggie

It looks like many of us more or less agree. I dry brine, cook raised direct at 400 degrees or on the large bge. I always make sure they are nice and dry before I put them on as well. 

Theophan

Melissa Clark said something that I'd never really thought about: that part of the problem with grilling chicken breasts is that they're very uneven thickness, so it's hard to get the thickest part properly done without getting the thinner parts overdone.  It sort of rang a bell for me, given how unforgiving they are, how easy it is to get them overdone or underdone, neither of which are good.

So her recommended solution is to pound them to an even thickness, like 1/2", and then cook them hot and fast, a bit like a thin steak, with a rub or a marinade to give them a bit more flavor.

This is what I do most of the time to grill chicken breasts, now, and I think it works really well.  Here's one of her recipes for a rub, with chicken breasts cooked this way, which is now my wife's favorite grilled chicken.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

YukonRon said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

I do almost always brine breast as well. Mostly just a dry brine for a few hours but we wet brine as well. 

Wet brine for me. It seems, for whatever reason, to work better for my BGEs. Any idea why?

What does "work better" mean? 

YukonRon

Even cook, juicy not crisp on the edges.

kl8ton

shtgunal3 said:

CincyEgg said:

I only have the platesetter right now but am hoping to get a woo for it next month. Is there a way to grill direct at the gasket line without one? I don't have any fire bricks either 

Beer cans sitting on fire ring

Without the beer in them.  

SamIAm2

You need three of them!

The Cen-Tex Smoker

YukonRon said:

Even cook, juicy not crisp on the edges.

And it's not that way if you dry brine? If that's the case, I have no idea why it would be that way with one and not the other. I have not noticed a difference in the cook and both are very juicy for me.

SouthernEagle

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

YukonRon said:

Even cook, juicy not crisp on the edges.

And it's not that way if you dry brine? If that's the case, I have no idea why it would be that way with one and not the other. I have not noticed a difference in the cook and both are very juicy for me.

Can someone help me understand the wet or dry brine process?

Powak

400-450 direct at the felt. I find I can cook em to 170-175° when running the egg a little closer to 400, achieve good grill marks and Maillard affect and they're still nice and juicy. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

SouthernEagle said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

YukonRon said:

Even cook, juicy not crisp on the edges.

And it's not that way if you dry brine? If that's the case, I have no idea why it would be that way with one and not the other. I have not noticed a difference in the cook and both are very juicy for me.

Can someone help me understand the wet or dry brine process?

These are fairly crude explanations but will get you there:

dry brine is just coat with salt and stick in the fridge for a few hours (with chicken- bigger cuts, longer time. Country ham is a dry brined ham that hangs for months). This process will draw the salt in to the meat and the water in the meat will attach to the salt molecules and migrate throughout the meat to find equilibrium.

Wet brine is essentially a salt water solution that you would immerse your meat in for a period of time. This takes salt and water in to the meat. It will actually increase the weight of the meat as it actually adds water. 

A wet brine definitely add juiciness in the form of getting additional water in to the muscle.  In some cases (like chicken breast or fish) when the meat is very mild, adding more water can actually water down the flavor even more. That's why I like to dry brine most chicken and fish. I dry brine steaks too, even the night before. 

If you dry brine, you should use either use the normal amount of salt that you would season with, or you can coat the whole thing in salt then rinse that off and dry very well before you throw on the grill. You normally do not need to season with anymore salt after you brine

CanDid

When my dealer delivered my egg he told me to pick whatever meat I wanted and he would grill it for me as an "orientation" for a new egg user. I picked boneless, skinless chicken breast as they have always been the most difficult protein to master on my Weber.

I pounded the thick part of the breast out (a must) and used EVOO and a herb dry rub on two and Duke's mayo (yes mayo as a binding agent, try it) and head country dry rub on two. Left chicken on the counter as he started the fire and stabilized the temp at around 360 degrees. He threw them on the grill, direct w/ grate at firering level for approximately 7 min. each side (pulled them at 160 IT-thermapen).

It was the most tender, juicy chicken breasts I had ever eat in my life! I have yet to replicate the same results, but I'm get closer every time.

fishlessman

i have better luck with whole breast, not split, better skin and more juicy. think spatchcock with legs and wings removed. split at table or split and sauce. i mostly just cook them direct, raised direct at 350 dome but sometimes in the mini direct close to the coals

northGAcock

CincyEgg said:

I've done chicken breasts a few times on the egg both indirect and direct and both ways don't seem to finish the chicken off the way some of the more particular people in my family like. When I do it direct, it seems like the chicken is just too close to the fire and gets some burned parts. With the indirect, it usually gets cooked well on the inside but the outside doesn't even really get grill marks, much less a good crisp to it.

personally, I prefer thighs but I'm in the minority in the house with everyone else preferring the white meat.

Does anyone have a failsafe method with temp included for chicken breasts? 

You don't distinguish as to bone in or out. I use indirect for bone in chicken....but honestly prefer the dark quarters for this cook. I agree with others that pounding to a standard size for boneless.....but very seldom cook these.