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first cook: not a success

jcv
jcv Posts: 39
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Well, my 1st cook wasn't really a success. I cooked a 5lb chicken - here's a thread
I started on it: CLICK HERE

It cooked for around an hour and 45 minutes and my meat thermometer SAID it was done :whistle: I brought it in and started carving it up and the breast meat was fine... everything else was bloody :(

The meat that was done was very good and the potatoes and onions were great.

Don't you think 2.75 hours at 400 deg dome temp should be enough?

Also, I see therma pen is really expensive... I can get a Polder instant read digital thermometer at a local store for 15 bux - are these any good?

Thanks in advance
Jay
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Comments

  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
    Breast meat always cooks faster than Thighs and legs,

    To compensate for this place a zip lock bag full of ice on the breast meat for 30 minutes before cooking. This will cool off the white meat enough to allow it to finish about the same time as the dark meat and not dry out.
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    Yup, Thermopens are expensive about $90 new or about $50 for a referbished (which is the way I will go next or if I need a second one).

    I was like you, thermopens are expensive when I asked the fourm and was told to get a thermopen ONLY.

    So, over time I bought 7 or 8 other inexpensive thermometers. Spent more money than I would have if I just got the darn Thermopen.

    If you are going to cook and be picky about your cooking then get a Thermopen. You can do it now or like me, you can fuss around with all kinds of other thermometers and then get a Thermopen. At some point in time you WILL get one.

    I would expect there are a lot of people that have either purchased a Therompen or have gone throught the same experience me.

    GG
  • BENTE
    BENTE Posts: 8,337
    you might want to look at your thermometer it may not be calibrated here is a how to link

    http://www.nakedwhiz.com/ceramicfaq.htm#calibrate


    and buy a thermopen now or buy one later you will want one if you ever see one of them in action... i was like grandpas grub using something inferior. i used a maverick to spatchcock a chicken and the temp went nuts and is unreliable now... it is really a expensive timer now... now for the stupid part i did this twice :blush: before i finally quit doing that... i now have a thermopenm and it is the greates invention since the egg ;)

    happy eggin

    TB

    Anderson S.C.

    "Life is too short to be diplomatic. A man's friends shouldn't mind what he does or says- and those who are not his friends, well, the hell with them. They don't count."

    Tyrus Raymond Cobb

  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    From looking at your previous post about an hour at 400° should have it cooked good.

    If you cooked it for 1:45 at 400° I would expect things would be very well done to way overdone.

    It seems anyway I cook whole chicken, spatchcock, vertical or whole 1 hour at 400° dome gets the bird done mighty good.

    Some folks have said cook at 500° for an hour and it turns out fantastic. I haven't tried that heat for an hour but I am going to.

    GG
  • Buckethead
    Buckethead Posts: 285
    One thing you may want to try next time, a smaller bird. A five pound bird is about two pounds larger than a target bird for being designated as a fryer. 3 lb is your best bet that will be better to cook and eat. The industry has been driven to a larger bird. Not the best to eat but adds pounds to each sale.
    Doug
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    chickens are grown so quickly and slaughtered so young these days that bones are purple andso soft that the leach marrow. if you take the temp and the meat thermo says it's 160/165, then it's technically safe ("done").

    most folks take legs (dark meat) to 180 or more for mouth feel, not because it's unsafe below that temp.

    i cook my chicken breast meat to 155, it'll get to 160 on the platter by itself.

    there's a big issue in the fast food industry, because the "visual" standard of whether something looks done just doesn't hold up anymore. they are serving chicken at 190 that looks under cooked. cooking it to where their consumer "thinks" it is done dries it out.

    someone needs to engineer a new chicken
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • johnvb
    johnvb Posts: 46
    For father's day, I did a couple of small chickens, 3# each, on vertical stands. It was my second cook on my new egg and I had the opposite problem.

    I set up my Maverick ET73's food sensor in one of the thighs, but I wasn't sure whether I should time out the cook as per each chicken (3#), or the total of both (6#). I was cooking between 375 and 400 degrees.

    Before I knew it, the ET said my meat was 180, but it just seemed like the time hadn't been long enough. So I took my Thermapen and checked the breasts, they were only 140. So I moved the ET sensor over to the breast, and left them cookin til it read 175.


    The chickens turned out fine. Only thing I can figure is I was sensing the bone temp in the thighs, maybe because of the small size. Moral of the story, glad I got the Thermapen.
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    Interesting, not sure if I agree but something to think ponder.

    http://www.hi-tm.com/Documents/Bloody-chik.html

    GG
  • Dawgtired
    Dawgtired Posts: 632
    That's the first I've seen regarding the 500 degree cook. Is that to crisp up the skin?

    If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.

    Ronald Reagan

  • lowercasebill
    lowercasebill Posts: 5,218
    sorry to hear that do not dispair below is my first chicken on a rack above a ½ steam tray pan $7.99/30 @ co$tco [get some] cooked same way as oven started at 400+ reduced to 350° till the thingy popped [thermopen was on order].

    chicken.jpg

    i am in the minority here but i cooked direct for 2 years before buying eggcessories. my take on your chicken is ..it is double indirect sitting down in the pan and sheilded from the heat by the veggies. i suspect your egg was not stabilized at 350-400° before you started so you got no reflected heat in the beginning [just a thought]

    put an oven stuffer roaster on a rack like my pic or spatchcock a bird and have a good meal . you need a success to start.

    thermopen.... i watched a competion cook [phd professor as well] at the fest where i bought my first egg. he said buy a thermopen. [period] i did . it made me a better cook and a better egger.
    i never regreted my purchase.
    also the chicken in the pic was so moist my sons were afraid to eat it. now they do not want oven roasted nor will they eat steamed asparagus, only grilled on the egg.
    bill
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    Got no idea. I wasn't too sure about doing 400° for an hour.

    Not sure what to expect at 500° for an hour. There was 4 or 5 folks talking about it in a post a month or so ago.

    I forgot about the post until jcv's post.

    GG
  • Eggtucky
    Eggtucky Posts: 2,746
    stike wrote:

    someone needs to engineer a new chicken

    stike..they have...it's called 'free range'...and if you ever go to a meat market and get these kind of chicken you'll never go back to the local supermarket chicken...
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i get my chicken from a little grower up the road. dunno if it's free range, but it ain't stupormarket
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Eggtucky
    Eggtucky Posts: 2,746
    'stupormarket'...lol..I like that! :P
  • Tiburon
    Tiburon Posts: 42
    Did you cook this bird indirect? I had a problem with a turkey a couple of years back. The top part up in the dome was cooked quickly. The bottom near the drip pan cooked slowly and was almost cold when the top was almost ready to serve. If you cooked over the vegetables you may have had a similar problem. Maybe rotating it once or spatchcocking would help
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    The picture (other post) looks like it is on a stand.

    That hot & that long everything in the egg should have been stabilized.

    If dome thermometer was correct and the egg held full temp, I wonder how it could have been bloody. Possibly the chicken was now rinced out but still that long of a cook...

    GG
  • Broc
    Broc Posts: 1,398
    I'm not a very good cook -- indoor or out -- and I know it. That's why I'm such a one-note-rooster. When something works for me, I timidly keep whistlin' Dixie. Here I go, singing my song --

    S-p-a-t-c-h-c-o-c-k!

    Haven't had a "bloody" mess since converting to this happy technique. 375F - 400F indirect, and yes -- I do use a water-filled drip pan... Then I remove the daisy, open the bottom vent and let 'er rip as the skin toasts.

    BTW -- I start by covering el pollo with OO and herbs, inside and out -- don't mess around with compound butter under the skin anymore...
  • Stanley
    Stanley Posts: 623
    Minority Report: I have the $15 Polder and it's great. Checked it on ice and on boiling and it was right on. Can be calibrated if it gets off. Very quick response time. I'm absolutely sure it's not as good as a Thermapen. The votes are in - you should get a Thermapen.
  • Dawgtired
    Dawgtired Posts: 632
    That's sounds like a lot of heat for a long time. My spatchcock chicken is perfect at 350 for an hour, then flipped for 15 mins. I've almost quit checking with the Thermopen before removing.

    If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.

    Ronald Reagan

  • Buckethead
    Buckethead Posts: 285
    Hi Stike
    Process known as bone conversion. Converting the marrow in the bone, resulting in nice gray bones. Time and temp is the only way to get the desired color, but many times offers up over cooked chicken. Also freezing will bring the blood to the surface of the bone while cooking. Just worthless crap you learn in an industry that deals with dead critter.
    Best Doug
  • BamaFan
    BamaFan Posts: 658
    All good info bill !
  • jcv
    jcv Posts: 39
    Thank you all for the info! I did cook the chicken indirect. I can't handle the bloody mess... even if it should be done after 1.75 hours at 400. I will spatchcock next time!
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    yeah... i understand too that the chickens grow so fast now that the bones are barely even developed, making it even worse.

    i was joking about engineering a better chicken, because that's sorta what caused the problem inna first place!
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • I am one of the 500 for an hour folks.
    5 - 7 lb bird, on a vertical stand, indirect for approximately an hour. i usually like to go over 180 but below 190 in the thigh. I hate dried out meat but I also do not like underdone rubbery meat. This method works pretty good, though 450 might work just as well with less char.
    at 500 the skin is pretty good though some of it is charred. I like it crispy but not all black. I haven't found a good method for achieving that.
  • Buckethead
    Buckethead Posts: 285
    the problem is they worked on the genitics to make a bird with more (tough)breast meat and large wings. (They can't get rid of the dark meat.)If the poultry companies could grow a bird with white meat only, they would. So what is reported is they are pumped full of roids and hormones. Not true. They just feed them 24/7 for their life cycle. Big bird, 8 lbs and up grow in 8 weeks.
    Doug
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    Bob,

    Something I have to try. Mentally I have a hard time thinking 500° is going to do anything other than a crispy critter.

    Are you doing the 500° direct, raised, indirect or ?

    When I first got my egg I did pieces of chicken 350° (I think) direct for 15 minutes /side and those came out BBQ Dark with a hint of beginning black. Mighty good. Had no idea what temp the meat was as I was cooking to time back then.

    Kent
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    Broc,

    I haven't seen a need for water in the drip pan, I usually put some spuds, onions, some sweet italian sausage (thinking about some tomato or dired tomato) and 5 - 10 before chicken is done then cover the drip pan of vegies with cheese.

    At what time do you let the temp rip and do you open the bottom vent all the way.

    Don't kid me about you not being a good cook...
    I seem to keep hearing all these large tenderloin cooks. If it wern't good they wouldn't let you play (cook).

    Kent
  • Jeffersonian
    Jeffersonian Posts: 4,244
    The Polder and the Thermapen will get you the same reading, it's just a matter of how quickly they'll do it and how easy it is to get the probe to its proper read depth. The Thermapen is very fast compared to the Polder and doesn't need to be inserted several inches into the meat. This makes it perfect for opening the dome, taking a reading, and closing it.
  • Kent, I do it indirect but it's also usually a 6+ lb bird and it does get black on the top end. Also, while it's close to an hour, sometimes it's more, sometimes less depending on the size. Sorry, I don't have any photos. If you are uncomfortable with 500, try it at 450. It might work better!

    I used to have great success cooking (vertical) chicken low and slow (direct). The thing was, it takes a lot longer and I don't have the time. The 500 bird is the simplest method I've found for roasting an excellent chicken. I still check with the Thermapen because even at an hour and change, a big bird might not be done to my liking.

    I still have to try your method of cooking the veggies underneath. I did it with red potatoes under a leg of lamb and they came out great, but I haven't tried it with chicken yet.
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    Bob,

    Thank you. I am not concerned about cooking at 500°, I am just worried aobut the poor bird :unsure:

    I get a great tastig chicken at 1 hr @ 400° then I think if I go to 500° for the same time... it is something I just need to try. So I will do.

    On the vegies under the bird, red's are great as are quartered bakers, just any potato. I do put in some EVOO as well as mix in some onions, mild italian sausage and then that wonderful cheese at the end. The vegies taste as the good as the bird.

    GG