Finishing rotisserie turkey in oven for crispy skin?

SmokyBear

Hey, everyone..thinking about doing rotisserie turkey for Thanksgiving but still haven't been able to master crispy skin even on my rotisserie chickens so am wondering..

If I did some amount of the cook on the (ahem) "black egg" (OK, KJ) with rotisserie at 325 and then put the bird into the oven to crisp up, what point would I pull it?  And what oven temp for how long?

I've tried this before with 5 lb or so chickens and still have never been able to get consistently crispy skin - put into the oven on "broil" for a few minutes after taking off the rotisserie thinking that'd crisp us the skin nicely.  Nope!  I've also tried all the suggested tricks - dry the bird out in the fridge before hand, separate the skin from the meat, cover with a mix of baking powder and my rub, etc.  NOTHING has worked consistently for rotisserie chick, and I'm pretty sure I only tried rotisserie turkey one time before - also with no crispy skin.

Would appreciate any and all help so that I don't have to go with wife's suggestion to just cook the bird in the oven (yikes!)..

Thx..

cookingdude555

I havent done this with chicken or turkey, but I have done it when I sous vide meats, or even pizza that is cooked on a kamado and suffers from heat imbalance from bottom to top.  I have used a torch or a weedburner in these cases.  I have done it to chicken wings as well.  Just a thought to throw in the mix.

Wings cooked on my pellet grill, torched after ..

Photo Egg

The ceramic cooker holds heat and moisture. It's what makes it so forgiving but also a downfall for getting things crispy if you keep the dome closed.
Build a smaller fire and push the lump to the back side of the firebox.
Keep the lower vent closed and the dome open. You are pretty much controlling the heat level by adding a couple pieces of lump as needed while you are cooking. It will render more fat from the skin this way.
Yes, this means you really have to keep and eye on the fire and actually be a cook for a day. This means you can stand outside drinking beer and avoid the family that you really don't want to be with anyway...lol
If the fire starts getting too hot, close the dome.
This is the same way I cook turkeys on Weber Kettle grill using the rotisserie.
Should be no different on the Egg.
If you are trying to get dry deep fried crispy skin, it's not going to happen. Although the CharBroil Big Easy was pretty close.
 

fishlessman

heres a thought, start with the bird hanging breast side down with butter or duck fat under the skin so the fat drips under the skin on the breast side. it should help pull the skin away from the moist meat. when the skin starts to setup and get brown, turn on the rotisserie and finish it up. i think that may help, it works with whole chicken breasts starting with the breast skin down, the trick is to get the skin off the breast moist meat

SmokyBear

Thanks, guys..definitely some good suggestions..

If anyone's ever tried to "finish" in the oven after doing most of the cook on the Egg, would love to hear your experiences also..

Canugghead

IMO constant spinning self baste the bird and prevents skin crisping. Here's something I thought about a while ago, to crisp up near the end ...  turned off the motor, the lack of rotation may allow the side(s) facing the heat source to crisp up? watch closely, as soon as the side(s) facing the heat source is dark/crispy, turn the motor on and off for a 1/4 turn or whatever, and so on until whole bird is crispy?   Never tried it but something on my experiment list.

Mattman3969

Maybe a dumb question but are your spinning the birds direct or indirect?   How about a temp of 425 or so?   Just shootin ideas.  

vegas slim

thinking of getting my brother a rotisserie for his egg for Christmas,,do you use yours often? thank you

Shiff

I've never done a rotisserie chicken, but I do cook whole chickens indirect at 400 or so (raised grid) and they are almost always crispy.

Botch

cookingdude555 said:

I havent done this with chicken or turkey, but I have done it when I sous vide meats, or even pizza that is cooked on a kamado and suffers from heat imbalance from bottom to top.  I have used a torch or a weedburner in these cases.  I have done it to chicken wings as well.  Just a thought to throw in the mix.

Wings cooked on my pellet grill, torched after ..

I was gonna suggest trying a crème brülee torch or even a Bernz-O-Matic, but wow a weedburner!  That'd be fun!  
Sadly @cookingdude555, the pic of your cooked/torched wings didn't display, I'll have to try again on my newer computer; that sounds interesting.   

SmokyBear

Mattman3969 said:

Maybe a dumb question but are your spinning the birds direct or indirect?   How about a temp of 425 or so?   Just shootin ideas.  

Direct.  There's no room in the, er..Egg..to have indirect unless there's some funky setup that I haven't thought of.

Canugghead

Agree there's no room for platesetter unless you're spinning something skinny.

Here's a funky setup in my XL, kind of like off-centre direct or kettle style indirect... no burning grease and no platesetter blocking the infra red.

SmokyBear

That's creative..I'll try it out but only have a Large (vs XL) so not sure there's enough space to make it all work..

jtcBoynton

Hey, everyone..thinking about doing rotisserie turkey for Thanksgiving but still haven't been able to master crispy skin even on my rotisserie chickens so am wondering..

The purpose of a rotisserie is to self baste the meat.  Basting is done to keep the surface of the meat moist.  Moist surface is the opposite of crispy.  If you want crispy other methods will work better.

cookingdude555

Botch said:

cookingdude555 said:

I havent done this with chicken or turkey, but I have done it when I sous vide meats, or even pizza that is cooked on a kamado and suffers from heat imbalance from bottom to top.  I have used a torch or a weedburner in these cases.  I have done it to chicken wings as well.  Just a thought to throw in the mix.

Wings cooked on my pellet grill, torched after ..

I was gonna suggest trying a crème brülee torch or even a Bernz-O-Matic, but wow a weedburner!  That'd be fun!  
Sadly @cookingdude555, the pic of your cooked/torched wings didn't display, I'll have to try again on my newer computer; that sounds interesting.   

Trying picture repost