Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

Chorizo-stuffed Spatchcock Chicken - my biggest Fail yet

Botch
Botch Posts: 15,429
edited July 2013 in EggHead Forum
GalanteNate posted a video of a guy making a beer-can chicken, wherein he stuffed chorizo sausage under the skin.  I got really excited about this idea, but wanted to spatchcock instead.  I brined the bird yesterday, air-dried it in the fridge overnight, stuffed it and put it on a 275F Egg at 0800 this morning.  
 
It started to rain, so I unplugged my Poulder and brought it in the house (left the probe in the bird).  At 10:30 I went out to check the breast temp, 167.  I thermopen'd the leg, 170; perfect!  Normally, however, a chicken takes me 4 hours, don't understand why it cooked quicker this time.
 
I let her rest 30 minutes, then started cutting.  Very, very messy, and the chorizo was not what I would call "cooked".  Then, when I sliced the first breast off, it was just about raw on the inside, wtf??  The legs and wings were saved, but I ended up chucking the rest.  No idea what went wrong here.  
 
EDIT:  while waiting for the breasts to cool before throwing them in the freezer until trash day, I decided to throw them in a pan and finish cooking them in the oven.  Will report what they're like later.  
_____________

"I mean, I don't just kill guys, I'm notorious for doing in houseplants."  - Maggie, Northern Exposure


Comments

  • That sucks, I was going to try it tonight, I'm glad I logged on lol.  When I sliced into mine the chorizo was solid and pretty dried out but the breast meat was ridiculous with moister.  The drip pan had so much grease that I was worried I had run dry.  I's sure it was just a fluke.  If you try it again I would be interested to see your results.
  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,429
    Nate, go for it!  
    I just ate one of the breasts when they came out of the oven.  The meat was a bit dried out from being cooked twice, but it was the tastiest chicken I've ever eaten!  This one's a keeper, I just have to figure out how I screwed up my temperature probe.  
    Yeah, even after half-cooking it on the egg, there was a lot of grease in my baking dish.  Chorizo has a lot of fat in it, and its hard to work with when you just fry it in a pan (hard to drain the meat because it falls apart so fine).  
    _____________

    "I mean, I don't just kill guys, I'm notorious for doing in houseplants."  - Maggie, Northern Exposure


  • SmokeyPitt
    SmokeyPitt Posts: 10,490
    Just a guess...maybe maybe u didnt probe deep enuf and read the temp of the sausage and not the bird??



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

  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,429
    Just a guess...maybe maybe u didnt probe deep enuf and read the temp of the sausage and not the bird??

    That's kind've what I was thinking, but the leg was 170 and had no chorizo over it...  :|
    _____________

    "I mean, I don't just kill guys, I'm notorious for doing in houseplants."  - Maggie, Northern Exposure


  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    You had chorizo stuffed under the breast skin, but nothing under the leg.  The leg registered 170, but the breast was severely undercooked.  Seems to me the chorizo slowed down the rate at which the breasts normally cook and you just had a bad reading in the breast (maybe you read the meat temp nearest to the rib cage?). 

    In a case like this, I'd flip it and cook some skin down.  I started flipping my spatchcock cheeken and I get a much crispier skin, helps it cook more evenly too (at least in my mind's eye, which is pretty warped).  I cook raised direct.  Indirect, and I don't think it would make much difference.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • Well i used the last of my chorizo in some red beans and rice lol but I will def give it a shot.  Skin down might be nice. Do any of you press you bird with some type of weight (i.e. I use a patio block wrapped in foil) while cooking spatchcock?
  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
    No need to press the bird with a weight.  You crack the bones (I forget which bones they are but it is obvious when you go to flatten the bird) and the bird will flatten right down.
    The Naked Whiz
  • I always use it and I honestly don't know why, it's just the way I learned to cook it lol, just wanted to know if I was alone. ;) All of the pics on here that I have seen, none had one so I figured I was.  Ill try it without next time.
  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
    nolaegghead said:  
    In a case like this, I'd flip it and cook some skin down.  I started flipping my spatchcock cheeken and I get a much crispier skin, helps it cook more evenly too (at least in my mind's eye, which is pretty warped).  I cook raised direct.  Indirect, and I don't think it would make much difference.
    Direct you flip, to get some heat on the skin side, the cook is quicker as the bird is exposed to burning lump, IMO. Usual temp is about 400 dome for me. 
    indirect I don't flip, but at 400º grid, it takes a little longer so I usually go to 450º grid for indirect. 
    The breasts are usually the thickest part of the bird, cook to 160º when the legs thighs are at 180º, when you add the chorizo, you are making the bird even thicker at the breast. I think the answer might be moderation not too much chorizo (strange words for this crowd I know).
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
    I always use it and I honestly don't know why, it's just the way I learned to cook it lol, just wanted to know if I was alone. ;) All of the pics on here that I have seen, none had one so I figured I was.  Ill try it without next time.
    At my local Nandos they use a press on spatched birds when making their peri-peri chicken. Maybe that's where someone saw it and then you copied it. No real issue if the heat is direct, but for an indirect cook on the egg, the foiled stone is shielding the chicken from the dome heat. 
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
  • Thats the other thing I have always cooked mine direct.  I think I will cook this one indirect with skin up so the chorizo can baste.  Seems logical.  We will see.
  • I love ur signature by the way, actually lol
  • Austin  Egghead
    Austin Egghead Posts: 3,966
    Botch, I always remove the keal bone when I spatch my chicken.  I think it makes the chicken cook better/more even cause it lays flat.  
    I also cook the spatched chicken skin side up high in the dome.  If cooking on the large the skin will crisp up.  On the small I don't get as crispy skin as I like, and if not stuffed, i will turn it over place near coals to crisp the skin.  Or, if I am lazy or not enough hot lump left, get the food torch out and crisp that way
    Here is a video you might find interesting

    Large, small and mini now Egging in Rowlett Tx
  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,429
    edited July 2013
    Well, now I'm pretty embarrassed.  I just realized that, in my excitement of stuffing the chorizo under the skin, I forgot to actually spatchcock the chicken!   :\">
    She was cooked on her back, indirect, the way I normally do a spatchcock.  That might explain why the legs/wings cooked faster than the breasts, there was some insulation provided by the back, plus the added thermal mass of the chorizo that Skiddymarker mentioned, and the legs/wings are closer to the edges of the platesetter.  
    d'Oh!
    Well, I have leftovers to eat tomorrow, but I know what I'm doing, again, next weekend!  
    _____________

    "I mean, I don't just kill guys, I'm notorious for doing in houseplants."  - Maggie, Northern Exposure


  • That is by far the funniest thing I have heard in a while, lol. Well at least we have an answer.
  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,168
    @Botch-Big props for helping clear up the concern.  Gotta appreciate the stand-up message here. Even if I never try this cook I applaud your honesty in helping sort out the issue. 
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.