I guess I'm not cool

SciAggie · September 2017

So first @20stone and @caliking got me all stirred up. Then @texaswig posts his thread. What's a guy to do? I went to the store...
I picked a fryer that was bigger than I wanted - but it was all that was thawed. I built a fire, seasoned and trussed the bird and hung it by the fire.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/vu/xit7c5dqvry4.jpg

I discovered I don't know jack squat about trussing a chicken for this kind of application. I had to take it down and do it again - and then it still wasn't great.
I put some beans under the bird to catch drippings. That was a great move, but we can do that on the egg.

this is after about 1:45 minutes.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/sd/5sb60tkp638g.jpg

I finally got it done after about 2:40 minutes.

Some observations and opinions:
Cooking this way is a pain in the arse. It's cool and all, but I may be done with this method (I've done it before- just not in my hearth)

It takes WAY to long to cook. To get it done inside you have to cook it slow and that takes a lot of attention tending the fire and spinning the chicken. If I want to cook a low & slow chicken the egg does an incredible job and it's hassle free.

The skin is amazing - crisp and fabulously delicious. That's great - but - I get the same amazing skin on a spatchcock chicken cooked in the wood oven. It's the best I've ever had and cooks in a hour or less.

I love my hearth. It's perfect for paella - that's reason enough to have it. Jambalaya in the potjie pot was great. The griddle works well. The hearth is great for grilling meats and veggies. It works well slow cooking pinto beans in my olla. I'm finding that building my "mother fire" in the wood oven may be more efficient than having the fire in the hearth. Jury's still out on that.

It 's just not worth the trouble cooking chicken like this. I'll cook it on the egg, in the wood oven, or grill over coals in the hearth. I just think the string technique is too much trouble for me.

I'll have to live with not being cool.
@20stone @caliking You guys win. I bow to your greatness.

StillH2OEgger · September 2017

I don't care what you say, that's pretty cool! Don't blame you at all, however, for not making this type of cook a habit.

NPHuskerFL · September 2017

I'm thinking let the fire die down some to the point of a heavy bed of embers and fashion a hook in lieu of truss string. Or just egg it

Still I applaud your effort. Don't worry, you're still cool.

texaswig · September 2017

@SciAggie that skin does look good.

20stone · September 2017

SciAggie said:

So first @20stone and @caliking got me all stirred up. Then @texaswig posts his thread. What's a guy to do? I went to the store...
I picked a fryer that was bigger than I wanted - but it was all that was thawed. I built a fire, seasoned and trussed the bird and hung it by the fire

<big snip of a really cool cook>

It 's just not worth the trouble cooking chicken like this. I'll cook it on the egg, in the wood oven, or grill over coals in the hearth. I just think the string technique is too much trouble for me.

I'll have to live with not being cool.
@20stone @caliking You guys win. I bow to your greatness.

Not cool? Bow to our greatness? At the risk of using some colorful language, in our family, we call that some seroiusly weak-as$ fu&@$$ bul$:;@&$!

1) The noggin was truly "fire and forget". The steps were (a) build a fire (b) let it burn down to embers (c) insert noggin and (d) put a lid on it. No fire feeding. No turning.

2) Your problem is that your choice of protein is (a) small enough that you could have (as you noted) cooked it more easily 5 different ways, and (b) was not unwieldy enough to stir the soul.

Your rig scoffs at that measly domesticated bird, tasty though it might be. It yearns for an untamed beast. Put a feral hog in that rig (or as much of one as will fit) and you will bow to no man.

SciAggie · September 2017

@20stone Lol. Well said. I shall plan bigger and better...

caliking · September 2017

@SciAggieYeah, that looks like a PITA way to cook a chicken on a school night, but that's what weekends are for! I've been toying with the idea of converting my "portable " mortarless pizza oven into a churrasqueira type of grill or hearth for some time. Your cooks are nudging me more in that direction, since I haven't fired it up for pizza in at least 2 years.

You won kaboodles of coolness points when you set up your outdoor cooking space. Definitely won my envy

And I still want to come visit...

20stone · September 2017

caliking said:
I've been toying with the idea of converting my "portable " mortarless pizza oven into a churrasqueira type of grill or hearth for some time.

That "portable" pizza oven makes the 1000 lb "portable" Noggin Pit (tm) look like a Weber Q. I think it would take you two loads with your truck just to relocate it.

Mockery aside, however, I will donate the components of the Noggin Pit to your efforts to keep up with @SciAggie in the "most weight dedicated to cooking" arms race. You just have to come and get it.

fishlessman · September 2017

so close

get the hook up higher, say 8 feet, with a long double string. get a wire twisting tool and twist it up a bunch. hang the chicken and you have a simple pit rotisserie as it winds out, it will over unwind and the spin the opposite direction. when it stops sinning in 20/30 minutes use the twisting tool again. spins like this. this guy did it wrong, you need a double string for indoor turkey fireplace cooking

https://youtu.be/1dSxB6RgiFs

1voyager · September 2017

It may be a pain but that bird looks fantastic. You're so cool you make ice look like summertime.

kl8ton · September 2017

fishlessman said:

so close get the hook up higher, say 8 feet, with a long double string. get a wire twisting tool and twist it up a bunch. hang the chicken and you have a simple pit rotisserie as it winds out, it will over unwind and the spin the opposite direction. when it stops sinning in 20/30 minutes use the twisting tool again. spins like this. this guy did it wrong, you need a double string for indoor turkey fireplace cooking

https://youtu.be/1dSxB6RgiFs

I look forward to doing that this winter. Looks fun!

Killit_and_Grillit · September 2017

It's got some great presentation though.

The_Stache · September 2017

I enjoy your experiments and great cooks!! Thanks for sharing!

Gig 'em!

Dobie · September 2017

1 bird, nope. 6 birds, yup.

Legume · September 2017

@SciAggie did you steam the chicken in a Dutch oven? I think from the video that's the step that speeds it up and takes him to the grilling step. Three step process in the video, the hanging bit seems to be good when they have lots of lead time.

SciAggie · September 2017

@fishlessman That's good information. Yeah, I'll fool with it until I finally get it right before I abandon the technique - I'm hardheaded like that.

Speaking of hard-headed @Legume - No I didn't put it in the Dutch oven. I thought I'd get done fast enough. I was wrong.

caliking · September 2017

20stone said:

caliking said:
I've been toying with the idea of converting my "portable " mortarless pizza oven into a churrasqueira type of grill or hearth for some time.

That "portable" pizza oven makes the 1000 lb "portable" Noggin Pit (tm) look like a Weber Q. I think it would take you two loads with your truck just to relocate it.

Mockery aside, however, I will donate the components of the Noggin Pit to your efforts to keep up with @SciAggie in the "most weight dedicated to cooking" arms race. You just have to come and get it.

Much appreciated, but the goal was (and still is ) to reconfigure the oven part by restacking the bricks into a churrasquiera grill congiguration. No relocation and I shouldn't have to add any new bits in. But now I may just want an open hearth like @Sciaggie.

I didn't have a truck back when I built it. You haven't lived until you've driven a dinky Hyundai Santa Fe, loaded with 400 full firebricks, down I45.

SciAggie · September 2017

@caliking and anyone else - if you make plans to build a hearth, I strongly suggest a chimney if it's part of a covered kitchen like mine. I will most likely add a chimney of some sort in the coming months - just something to vent the smoke.
If you are out in an open area that may not be a concern. OR... think about a place to make your "mother fire" a bit away from the cooking area. The coals don't smoke - it's starting and burning the wood that's smokey.

henapple · September 2017

Geez... You listened to those wads? Sorry.

northGAcock · September 2017

Brother Sci....what else you got to do but watch that chicken. Seems to me to be ideal for having ample beverages. Ha, love the cook and beautiful foul.

I guess I'm not cool

Comments

Categories