Tonight\'s cook, as promised, ET-73\'s 1st use

mojo

I just received a Maverick ET-73 and thought I'd give it a go tonight with something simple and fast, a spatchcock chicken. I know that's not the intention with this device, but I wanted a quick opportunity to give it a trial run along with a high probability that one or more alarms would sound, again for testing purposes. So after asking a few questions about the device Grandpa's Grub requested that I photograph the cook. So here it is. It's not fancy, it wasn't superb, but it was darn good and it gave me a chance to test out the Maverick. A great side note is that the chicken skin was the best I've made thus far! It was crispy and delicious, not rubbery like all of my previous attemps. I'll share how I did it below.

I prepared my large with the platesetter and got it up to almost 400 degrees. Every spatchcock recipe I've read call for direct cooking, but I wanted to make GG's mixed veggie pan so I went indirect. Since I was cooking indirect I guessed that I would have to cook at a higher temp. Was this correct? At any rate, while the Egg was heating up, I cut up some onion, red pepper and green bell pepper. I also boiled some red potatos and a sweet potato, but only partially cooked them. I figured they would need more time to cook on the Egg than the veggies, which is why they were partially cooked before being cut and added to the veggies. All of these were placed into a foil pan that I greased with butter to prevent sticking. They were topped with EVOO and DP's Shakin' the Tree.



The bird was seasoned with Bad Byron's Butt Rub. Here's the bird on the Egg with the veg beneath. The bird's drippings went into the pan to further season the veggies. This of course changed the profile of the meal from healthy to fairly unhealthy.



Here's the Maverick, doing its thing.



Once the Maverick indicated that the chicken was done I removed the veggies and the platesetter and flipped the bird skin down. I opened up the Egg and got'er up to about 475 for 3 minutes, then removed the bird. The skin was so crispy I couldn't believe it.



Here are the cooked veggies.



While they were off the Egg waiting for the direct portion of the chicken cook the veggies were sprinkled with some grated parmesan and shredded Mexican cheeses and covered with aluminum foil to melt the cheese.



Here's my plate (my first one, anyway).




And now a brief review of the ET-73. I really dislike the fact that the back door has to be removed to turn the transmitter on and off. I also don't like the fact that, when setting temperatures for alarms, there's no way to select a lower number; one must continue all the way up and continue on to the lowest value, then ascend numerically to the desired number. Both the meat probe and the pit probe measured around 10 degrees higher than my Thermapen and the BGE dome thermometer, respectively. I overcame this by setting the meat temp alarm 10 degrees higher than actually desired, so in this case, 175 degrees. Other than those shortcomings, I really liked being able to sit in the house and play with my daughter without worrying about the Egg's temp while the food cooked. Even though it was only a 1 hour cook it gave me a level of comfort I haven't yet experienced with BGE cooking, and I'll be using the Maverick often!

loco_engr

Good looking cook!

Hoss

The more you use it the better you'll like it.I have three,go ahead and order the upgraded probes you'll be glad you did.The only reason I can think of that they made the transmitter so you have to take the back off was an attempt to make it IDIOT -PROOF.You have to turn on the reciever first then the transmitter.So the reciever is easy to turn on but you have to go to a little trouble to turn on the transmitter.Sometimes it's a reminder if you have several AB's.Also if you are using multiple units it helps.

Bash

Hoss,

Thanks for that tip. I always knew you had to turn one on first, but I never could remember which one. Now I will remember. Easy on first, then pain in the butt on second.

Richard

Hoss

That's how I remember!

bryansj

You said that the pit temp was 10 less than the dome temp. Did you place the ET-73 probe at the dome and check there? The pit temp and dome temp are different so you can't really compare those two.

The food temp would probably be difficult to compare as well. Might want to try to boil some water and insert the ET-73's food probe (and even the pit probe) and check against the Thermapen. That said, I may just do that myself when I get home...

rsmdale

Nice chicken dinner Mike,the 73 will pay for itself in sleep hours on your lo-n-slo.

GOOD EATS AND GOOD FRIENDS



DALE

mojo

bryansj wrote:

You said that the pit temp was 10 less than the dome temp. Did you place the ET-73 probe at the dome and check there? The pit temp and dome temp are different so you can't really compare those two.

The food temp would probably be difficult to compare as well. Might want to try to boil some water and insert the ET-73's food probe (and even the pit probe) and check against the Thermapen. That said, I may just do that myself when I get home...

Thanks for the comments. I should have been more specific. The "pit" probe was clipped right onto the BGE dome thermometer, so both were measuring at the same location. I used the term "pit" temp because that's the nomenclature used in the Maverick manual. So with the DOME probe located adjacent to the BGE thermometer, the Maverick's probe measured hotter than the BGE thermometer by around 10 degrees. And yes, I calibrated the BGE thermometer with boiling water a few months ago when I got it. I'll still go ahead and check the BGE thermometer, Thermapen and Maverick probes with boiling water and see what I come up with, although the BGE thermometer is the only one of the 3 that I can calibrate myself.

Hoss - What's better about the updated probes, and do I just order them online?

fishlessman

the maverick is a love hate relationship. love the way it works, hate the way it sets up. :laugh: 10 degrees is close enough for how its used, finish temps are beteer with the thermapen, the maverick is just to get you close.