Chicken Disaster

ExtremeModerate

Hello fellow EggHeads!

Did my first brined chicken on the (2 week old, large) egg yesterday and frankly, it was terrible. It looked beautiful, and tasted good, but it was tough as nails. We weren't even done with dinner before I had it the remains boiling for soup.

It was a large bird, so that might be the biggest problem. I brined it with 1/4 c salt, 1/4 c brown sugar and some herbs for nearly 24 hours, with a 30 min soak in fresh water. Cooked it indirect on the v-rack at ~300 for about 2 hours (175 deg in the thighs, 165 in the breasts).

Any suggestions? I figure I'll try fewer variables next time with a smaller bird and skip the brine. Was my temperature OK?

I've had a small egg for years, so I'm not entirely new to the process, but I've never had great luck with chicken on it so I stopped trying years ago and stuck to fish, beef and pork. Now that I've got the large model and a plate setter for indirect cooking, I'm determined to figure this out.

Thanks.

Fidel

I'm guessing the large bird was your issue.

guzzijason

I'm also guessing the size of the bird. I generally do chickens that are 4 lbs (or less). Also, I generally do my chickens at a higher temp, for shorter time (like, 450 degrees or so), but I'm not sure if that matter.

Also,if you are lucky enough to have a source for fresh (never frozen) chickens, buy them. I find that frozen birds are easy to dry out. I never brine fresh chickens.

__Jason

LunaC

spatchcock at 375 for around 45min...perfect everytime direct on egg or kettle. rotisserie tender every time *without* brining even. i cant recall a bad bird in the last 8 years

Jersey Doug

LunaC wrote:

spatchcock at 375 for around 45min...perfect everytime direct on egg or kettle. rotisserie tender every time *without* brining even. i cant recall a bad bird in the last 8 years

Agreed. I suspect that once you've spatchcocked a 3-4 lb. chicken (I do them 350º direct on a raised grid for an hour) you won't bother cooking them any other way again.

Brining in itself shouldn't be a problem. I've been cooking kosher chickens lately. They cook just as well as supermarket birds and, frankly, taste even better than a hand raised free range chicken a friend gave us.

lowercasebill

in reference to your brine.. how much water did you use ???? ..
my suspicion is an big bird maybe tough to start with .and perhaps a brine too concentrated for the amount of time . you sucked too much water out of it.??. so it would be dry at those temps.. cooking it to a higher temp to melt the collagen might have helped .. if you have not done so already check out ~thirdeye~'s site on brining
i cook my chickens betweeen 350° and 500°.. 300° or less only for thighs [sometimes]
good luck next time . and as suggested try a spatchcocked bird instructions at the naked whiz ..
bill

DavidInDurham

I agree with some of the others. Next time spatchcock the bird (4-5 lb). I cook mine at 350F for 45-60 minutes. I start them out skin-side down, and I flip them about 20 minutes into the cook time. When I flip them over, I brush the skin with olive oil or melted butter to help crisp up the skin. I have literally done hundreds of birds this way and friends always rave about how good they are.

I also brine some of my birds. I add salt till the water tastes like sea water. I leave them in the brine for only about an hour. I rinse and dry the birds off after the brine, but I don't soak them in fresh water.

The best advice, however, is to not give up hope. Nobody was born knowing all this. We all go through a learning curve.

Grandpas Grub

 

Haven't read all the responses so I might be repeating.

All sounds great except for the size of the bird. I have done a lot of chicken and I found a big one and it was the worst I have ever done. I didn't like it at all.

Go to a smaller bird and follow the same procedure and you will then know if it was just the bird size. The birds aren't expensive so a test to really know would be worth the cost and effort.

Your temperatures and methods all sound fine. At your temperature 2 hours sounds a bit long but if the breast was 165° then that was the correct time.

There are a lot of ways to cook chicken and have them come out great.

I cook indirect and direct anywhere from 225° dome to 500° dome. I prefer 400° to 450° direct for about 1 hour. I always pull at 165° breast and thigh.

GG

ExtremeModerate

That's terrific advice from everybody.

Looks like I'll spatchcock (I swear I've never heard that term before today, but I know all about broiling butterfly chickens in the oven) a much smaller bird or two next time at a much higher temperature and skip the brine.

And for the record, a properly smoked but extra tough chicken makes a spectacular soup. Especially with fresh vegetables from the garden added.

Thanks again for all the help.

Misippi Egger

Way to go - salvage a disappointing cook into some great soup!