Indirect Chicken

Diego

I just cooked a whole chicken ("flattened" with the bones removed) at 400 degrees with the plate setter. It turned out really well...very juicy with a nice browned skin. My only complaint is that the skin, although it looked fantastic, was not crisp. Any suggestions for how to cook a chicken indirect and still get a crispy skin?

EggRacer

Cook it skin down and direct for the first 20 to 25 minutes. Then finish it skin up and indirect. Or just cook it direct all the way if your have the grill at or above the felt line.

FlaPoolman

Try it direct or bump the temp to 450. If going direct (which is the way I like it) try this one.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/spatch.htm

Unknown

They say putting corn starch on the skin crisps it up. Someone recently posted how they do a whole chicken indirect at 500 degrees for 1 hour. I tried that, and it was great, the skin was crisped to perfection. But be warned, you will burn a great deal of lump. Also, you need to have a clean egg and plate setter because all that nasty black stuff from previous cooks will burn off and stink up your chicken.

StumpBaby

"because all that nasty black stuff from previous cooks will burn off and stink up your chicken"

Ummm...I don't mean to be a tick in your vaseline but..

doesn't that depend on how close you and your "chicken" stand to the egg?

StumpBaby

Unknown

ummm..., yeeahhh..., ok

tjv

I do the same as you outlined, maybe a tad shorter on time with skin side down. My problem is I'll grab the bird by the legs to flip or move and dang if I don't separate white from dark meat 50 percent of the time.......LOL

Barbes

Bring the heat up.

As others here have written, a whole chicken done indirect at around 500 is a wonderful thing. We turn out to be walking in the footsteps of very sophisticated cooks:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4401342

(I've never managed the three-day prep, but it's good anyway)

and

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/MY-FAVORITE-SIMPLE-ROAST-CHICKEN-231348

All these recipes agree on simple spicing and getting the chicken bone-dry before cooking. I do these a lot on the egg. The high heat does something fundamentally different and good: try it.