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Roasted Chicken - Vertical Versus Spatchcock

1voyager
1voyager Posts: 1,161
edited August 2019 in EggHead Forum
My go-to method of roasting a whole chicken is spatched but I decided to mix things up and try going vertical.

Prep:

Separate skin from meat using fingers and/or soft spatula. Separate as much as you can without breaking the skin. Separate all the way down to the bottom of the drumsticks. 

Coat with coarse S&P, place on vertical rack and refrigerate, uncovered, overnight.

Dust with jalapeño powder a few minutes before roasting.

Setup:

Mixed a few chunks of pecan with lump.

Platesetter with legs up then add spacers and drip pan.

Place bird on drip pan.

375 degrees dome temperature.

Result:

Roasted until 155 degrees. Carryover to 165 before serving.

Skin was as crispy as a potato chip.

Meat seemed to be more moist than spatchcock version.

Pecan resulted in very faint smoke.

Sorry for no pictures after slicing. It started to hail and priority #1 was to cover the tomatoes!


Large Egg, PGS A40 gasser.
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Comments

  • mEGG_My_Day
    mEGG_My_Day Posts: 1,661
    That looks fantastic - I haven’t done one vertical in many years. May have to give it another go. Did you season under the skin? 
    Memphis, TN 

    LBGE, 2 SBGE, Hasty-Bake Gourmet
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  • thetrim
    thetrim Posts: 11,387
    Consider me a spatcher.  This bird looks real nice.
    =======================================
    XL 6/06, Mini 6/12, L 10/12, Mini #2 12/14 MiniMax 3/16 Large #2 11/20 Legacy from my FIL - RIP PitBoss Navigator 850G 11/25
    Tampa Bay, FL
    EIB 6 Oct 95
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  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 36,794
    Looks good but give invertabird a search.  Flips the vertical to put the dark meat higher in the dome for a more uniform cook.  Whatever works for you is all that really matters.  FWIW-
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period. CHEETO (aka Agent Orange) makes Nixon look like a saint.  
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  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Beautifully colored bird!! I've only done beer can a couple of times and they weren't very good. Not sure I have ever roasted a whole bird laid out on it's back. I must have, but I don't remember it. Spatch for me, every time. 

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

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  • 1voyager
    1voyager Posts: 1,161
    mEGG_My_Day said:
    That looks fantastic - I haven’t done one vertical in many years. May have to give it another go. Did you season under the skin? 
    Thank-you. I didn't season under the skin. I usually add butter when I do spatchcocked but I figured since this was vertical it would just drip out.
    Large Egg, PGS A40 gasser.
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  • 1voyager
    1voyager Posts: 1,161
    thetrim said:
    Consider me a spatcher.  This bird looks real nice.
    Thank-you. Great results either way. Is this fun or what?  =)
    Large Egg, PGS A40 gasser.
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  • thetrim
    thetrim Posts: 11,387
    @1voyager Hell yeah it is!  That's what makes the egg and this forum so amazing!
    =======================================
    XL 6/06, Mini 6/12, L 10/12, Mini #2 12/14 MiniMax 3/16 Large #2 11/20 Legacy from my FIL - RIP PitBoss Navigator 850G 11/25
    Tampa Bay, FL
    EIB 6 Oct 95
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