1st cook didn't go great.

therealhaddock · July 2014

New egg arrived yesterday so tried out a roast chicken on it last night. Didn't turn out too great; I got the egg up to 350 and put the chicken in a drip tray on the stone for what I thought was going to an hour but ended up being nearly 2. Even then not sure it was totally done. One error I may have made is putting it in too quick before the temp settled. How long do you leave it to settle before you start?

NPHuskerFL · July 2014

Welcome aboard. After lifting lighting let the creosote (bad smoke) clear and for the good smoke to begin. How long really depends in the lump as each one is a lil bit different but, on average I'd say 15-45minutes. Then start dialing it in to stabilize the pit temp.

SGH · July 2014

@therealhaddock‌
Welcome aboard my friend. If I'm reading your post correct I may can help resolve the issue at hand. You said that you set the chicken in a tray and then placed the tray directly on the stone. That was your issue my friend. You should not have placed the tray, pan or chicken directly on the stone. Your set up should be as follows.
Stone or plate setter which ever you have and chose to use.
Spacer for air gap if using a drip pan. Spacer goes on top of stone piece.
Drip pan on top of spacer.
Cooking grid.
And last the chicken on the cooking grid.
If you are wanting to cook in a pan or tray you can use or omit the grid. That being said you must sit a spacer on your stone or plate setter before placing the pan or tray on the stone. The pan or tray sitting directly on the stone will get far to hot sir.
I like to over shoot my target temp by 50 degrees. If I'm going to cook at 350 degrees I preheat the egg to 400 degrees then drop back down to 350 and lock it in. This helps establish a good fire as well as removing the VOC'S. I will then hold my 350 degrees for about 15 minutes before i load the food into the egg. I have enclosed a few pics that may make the above a little easier to understand. The next time you do chicken try it without the tray. Put in your indirect piece be it a stone or the plate setter. Next put a spacer on your indirect piece. Next place a drip pan on the spacer if you chose to use one. Next your cooking grid. Put the chicken directly on the grid. No tray or pan for the chicken. Cook the chicken at 400-425 degrees until the breast registers 160 degrees internally and I promise you that you will have a excellent chicken. If you have more questions or need farther directions just ask. Myself or someone else will do our very best to point you in the right direction. Again welcome aboard my friend and good luck.

SGH · July 2014

@therealhaddock‌
I forgot to say that the above is just my opinion and what has worked exceedingly well for me. Good luck my friend.

SGH · July 2014

@therealhaddock‌
Sir I have about every accessory there is for the egg. I can take photos of any set up that you need help with. Just let me know and I will take pics of whatever you may need assistance with and post them here for you.

SGH · July 2014

@therealhaddock‌
Just a tip. Be sure that when you are preheating your egg that you have your indirect piece inside the egg preheating as well. A cold stone or plate setter will drop the temp off the egg dramatically and it will take a long time to recover. Just thought I would mention that.

SGH · July 2014

@therealhaddock‌
One last thing. Please remember that all of the above is my opinion and what works exceedingly well for me. If I can help any farther please don't hesitate to ask my friend.

SGH · July 2014

@therealhaddock‌
Here are a couple of alternative indirect set ups. All are simple but affective.

johnmitchell · July 2014

@ SGH You really are a great help to everyone..That is such great advice and you went to the trouble of posting all the pics..Thank you sir.. L-)

SGH · July 2014

@johnmitchell‌
Thank you for the kind words my friend. It's my pleasure to offer what I can. Again thank you for the very kind words.

therealhaddock · July 2014

SGH can't believe how much effort you put in to help me out! Thanks so much. Really stupid question though; you mention the spacers. Not sure what they are.....Desperate to try again and might go for something like stuffed chicken breast wrapped in parma ham or bacon. Would love to try a steak but looking at the recipes, most say 600 degrees which i think is too hot for my egg at the moment as its all brand new and shiny.

SGH · July 2014

@therealhaddock‌
You are more than welcome my friend. There are many things that can be used as a spacer to provide a air gap. A lot of folks use 3 copper plumbing TEE'S. I use the cast iron lump grate that came with egg as I have replaced it with a HighQ grate. Doesn't have to be anything fancy at all. Just something non flammable to provide a small gap between your pan and the indirect piece. You can see the cast iron disk in the following pics. This is my spacer. It simply sits on top of the stone. Then you can sit a drip pan on the spacer. By doing this you will not scorch what's inside of the pan. I hope this helps my friend.

tksmoke · July 2014

Balls, I say!! Balls of aluminum foil. Actually anything that gets the drip pan off the indirect piece (plate setter). Great advice from SGH.

However, Having said that, I would take a slightly different tack on your chicken issue. One of the all time favorites on the grilling hit parade is spatchcock chicken. To do spatchcock chicken, cut out the backbone, season, throw on direct when stabilized at 400 degrees, start checking temp at about 45 minutes, and when at 160 for breast and 175 for thigh you are D-O-N-E. Simple.and incredibly good.. Here are some photos. Search the Nakedwhiz.com site for detailed photos for taking out the backbone - oh ok, here's a link: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/spatch.htm .

Enjoy!!

TexanOfTheNorth · July 2014

Not having anywhere close to the experience that @SGH has; I'd like to make a couple of observations...

- Many find it easier to catch temps on the way up rather than overshooting by 50* and then coming back down.

- It seems like there would be quite a bit of heat transfer from the CI lump grate (used as a spacer) to your cooking pan. Not really sure how much air is able to get between the PS and the cooking pan with that set up. I use the copper plumbing tees as he also suggested.

As SGH always says, these are methods that have worked for him. I am not saying they are wrong, just offering a different point of view. Of course, if it comes to trying to decide between something the SGH posts and something that I post you should probably go with his advice.

tksmoke · July 2014

My experience of the overshoot method is like SGH - it works well up to a maximum of 450. The key is that it can not stay for long at that temp. You can't let the ceramic get heat soaked, and expect it to come down in a reasonable amount of time. However, once you learn where the correct vent position is, overshoot, open and place the meat on, and set the vent position. The temperature will drop to right around the desired value.

llrickman · July 2014

You may have already seen this but if not bookmark it for reference . I cannot thank Grandpas Grub enough for the work he put into putting this page together its been a ton of help to me

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/696661/tips-links-other-useful-information-repost

therealhaddock said:

New egg arrived yesterday so tried out a roast chicken on it last night. Didn't turn out too great; I got the egg up to 350 and put the chicken in a drip tray on the stone for what I thought was going to an hour but ended up being nearly 2. Even then not sure it was totally done. One error I may have made is putting it in too quick before the temp settled. How long do you leave it to settle before you start?

One investment that is totally worth the price is a themapen instant read thermometer

http://www.thermoworks.com/products/thermapen/?gclid=COy3sov4tb8CFQeHaQod1agA4Q

Mattman3969 · July 2014

I will get a web spanking for saying this but as of late I like to do my chickens inverted on the chicken holder thingy. This will let the juices of the thighs baste the breast and with being higher in the dome the thighs are done the same time as the breast. And of course cooked indirect at about 375-400
You can see the green feet under my pan for the airspace

NPHuskerFL · July 2014

@Mattman3969‌ There's nothing wrong with an inverted yard bird. Heck every now & then I'll do one on the sittin turkey (yes a chicken will fit on the sittin turkey---originally bought it for last Thanksgiving's Turkey and a roster, fryer and even young bird goes on it nicely). Yours looks delicious! Good eats. :-)

bettysnephew · July 2014

Little Steven turned me on to the Invertabird style of poultry cooking on this forum and it works at least as well as spatchcock and I personally think even better. The thighs and the breast seem to finish at the same time and it makes the breast juicier.

therealhaddock · July 2014

2nd cook was much better! Chicken breast stuffed with feta cheese and wrapped in Parma ham at 300 on grill for about 40 mins. Thought the ham would burn but it was perfect and the chicken was perfect. Gutted I didn't take photos but will do next time. Thursday next Cook and already can't wait!

StillSmoken · July 2014

Congrats on the successful cook ! The forum is great. These guys know there stuff.

1st cook didn't go great.

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