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Chicken doneness

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MJQ8
MJQ8 Posts: 43
edited October 2012 in Poultry

This past weekend I used our new BGE for the first time and made 2 beer can chickens at the same time. After about an hour and 20 minutes, I checked each chicken in different spots with different thermometers. I got readings of 170-175 degrees. When I cut into them the juices ran clear. My wife though noticed the chicken still looked pink in some spots. Is this normal based on those indcators? Any suggestions as to cooking two birds at once? How much longer can they continue to cook on the egg without over cooking?

 

Thanks for your insights.

 

Mike

 

 

Any cook you can walk away from is a good one.
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Comments

  • Nature Boy
    Nature Boy Posts: 8,687
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    Howdy Mike.
    Chicken cooked in wood/charcoal smoke will often have a pink color. But still, the dark meat in the thighs and legs is best cooked and tastiest when it is 185 or higher. The breast is best in the 160s. Cooking two birds at once should not make much difference. 

    Generally, for whole birds, I will cook the thighs to 185, even if the breast gets over 160.

    Not sure how much that helps, but it's all I gots!
    Cheers
    Chris
    DizzyPigBBQ.com
    Twitter: @dizzypigbbq
    Facebook: Dizzy Pig Seasonings
    Instagram: @DizzyPigBBQ
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  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
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    Search spatchcock....you won't be sorry.
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
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  • Austin Egghead
    Austin Egghead Posts: 3,966
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    Here is an interesting read:

    Large, small and mini now Egging in Rowlett Tx
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  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
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    Austin Egghead said:
    Here is an interesting read:


    Good argument to buy fresh (not frozen) chickens. 
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
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  • travisstrick
    travisstrick Posts: 5,002
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    Austin Egghead said:
    Here is an interesting read:

    Oh lawd.
    Be careful, man! I've got a beverage here.
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  • Austin Egghead
    Austin Egghead Posts: 3,966
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    I buy air chilled when available, they are a bit pricey, but I think they taste better.  The problem with chicken is storage at the market.  You can pick up a bird that is labeled fresh and it is frozen from cold temp in the meat case.  

    I use to have Foster Farms and Perdue as customers...and I prefer to buy those brands when I can find them.  
    Large, small and mini now Egging in Rowlett Tx
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  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
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    I don't mind the blood.  Cook to temp.  SWMBO is gonna whine about it though.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
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  • Fred19Flintstone
    Fred19Flintstone Posts: 8,168
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    Yeah, this will help next time I have this problem.  Here's how it will go: I will show her the article and then...

    "See?  It's not my fault AND it's safe to eat!"

    "Shut up and put these back on the Egg or in the microwave.  I don't care which, just do something because I'm starving!"

    Flint, Michigan
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  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
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    Fred19Flintstone said:

    Yeah, this will help next time I have this problem.  Here's how it will go: I will show her the article and then...

    "See?  It's not my fault AND it's safe to eat!"

    "Shut up and put these back on the Egg or in the microwave.  I don't care which, just do something because I'm starving!"

    That's exactly how I see it going down :)
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
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  • MJQ8
    MJQ8 Posts: 43
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    Thanks everyone for your input...And for the record, that is how the conversation happens in our house as well...
    Any cook you can walk away from is a good one.
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  • Optiontrader
    Optiontrader Posts: 174
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    Fred19Flintstone said:

    Yeah, this will help next time I have this problem.  Here's how it will go: I will show her the article and then...

    "See?  It's not my fault AND it's safe to eat!"

    "Shut up and put these back on the Egg or in the microwave.  I don't care which, just do something because I'm starving!"

    I think our wives are cheating on us.  We're all married to the same woman.
    Brighton, IL (North East of St. Louis, MO)
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  • SmokeyPitt
    SmokeyPitt Posts: 10,490
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    Yeah- it can definitely still have some pink.  I made "the chicken" once following AZRP's recipe for quarters.  350, 90 minutes, high in the dome.  It still had some pink and it was at least 195.  This is one of the main reasons I got a thermopen :).  "Look honey...this is a $90 friggin thermometer...it is done!". 

    ...as she heads to the microwave with her chicken.


    Which came first the chicken or the egg?  I egged the chicken and then I ate his leg. 

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  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
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    Broken record here but it works. I stopped doing spatchcock several years ago when I thought of doing this. The dome is higher in temp...the dark meat needs hotter temp...there is more fat in the rear end...melted fat runs downhill.

    DSC_0021

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

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  • Fred19Flintstone
    Fred19Flintstone Posts: 8,168
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    Little Steven said:

    Broken record here but it works. I stopped doing spatchcock several years ago when I thought of doing this. The dome is higher in temp...the dark meat needs hotter temp...there is more fat in the rear end...melted fat runs downhill.

    Melted fat runs downhill?  Must be a Canadian thing.  In America, something else runs downhill and you don't want any part of the smelly substance.  How about that for family friendly, eh?
    Flint, Michigan
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  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    edited October 2012
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    Hahaha. Serious though this produces better chicken than any other method I have tried. Chickens is cheep (int) give it a try

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

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  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
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    Concept is sound, beer can chicken works on a gasser because the temp at the grid is often warmer than up closer to the cover, they are far from a controlled air flow arrangement. 
    Once I discovered a good set of shears, I now just "part out" the bird, basically quarter it. Usually indirect, so the breasts are in the centre, the legs/thighs directly over the hot lump on the outside. Side benefit is more rub/sauce. 
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
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  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
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    Skiddy,

    Give it a try man. I pretty much get a 20* difference between the thigh and breast. You may have to turn the stand so the breast faces the rear of the egg to get the skin crispy. I use the BGE stand and now a Staub thing. You may have to clip out an inch or two of the backbone to get it

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

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  • Z_Eggineer
    Z_Eggineer Posts: 576
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    Optiontrader said:

    Fred19Flintstone said:

    Yeah, this will help next time I have this problem.  Here's how it will go: I will show her the article and then...

    "See?  It's not my fault AND it's safe to eat!"

    "Shut up and put these back on the Egg or in the microwave.  I don't care which, just do something because I'm starving!"

    I think our wives are cheating on us.  We're all married to the same woman.

    Cracking me up!
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