Spatchcocked Chicken did not work

Hungry in Lilburn · February 2010

Well, the breast temp was 170 and the thighs were 200. However, the meat and bones on the bottom side were still pink and one bone was very bloody looking! Setup was indirect at 350. My guess is I should either have flipped the birds every 30 minutes or cooked them direct raised. Any other ideas? I am probably going to go to Sam's, buy more chicken and try it again today. I can feed leftovers to co-workers. Man, I am bummed!

Richard Fl · February 2010

Sorry. some times the meat is pink and the thigh bone has some blood around it. Make soup.

Mainegg · February 2010

Good morning, we do ours 400 direct and go to 165 in the breast and 190 in the thigh, perfect every time. some to direct and some do indirect, direct works for us

Give that a try and see

Shiff · February 2010

I always cook mine direct at 300-350 dome temp. Always comes out great.

BayouMark · February 2010

Hey Hungry!

Try your next bird at gasket level and 400 dome.

Prep your bird and let it sit in the fridge for at least six hours for the skin to dry. Then brush with EVOO and season the way you like. On the egg at 400 dome raised direct skin side down for 15 minutes. Flip and cook inside down for 45 minutes til breast is 165 and thighs are 180. Pull and tent with foil for 15 minutes. Cut it up and enjoy. Not trying to rub it in but here's a few pics. Geaux Saints! :woohoo:

NoVA Bill · February 2010

I had the same problem until I started cooking the birds on a raised grid direct 350ish.

Good luck!

Frank from Houma · February 2010

Small variations in the responses but sounds like 350-400 direct at gasket level or raised grid.

Pretty much the same here

Spatchcock and rest uncovered in the fridge overnight
Remove from fridge and ice down breast for one hour
Tbps of olive oil
Rub
400 raised direct till breast is 165 (thighs will be 190-200)
Sugar cane for smoke
Normally takes just over an hour

Same process for turkey

Good luck with it

Mickey · February 2010

Yesterday the spatchcock gods may have been doing ribs :ohmy:
I only do chicken spatchcocked on all three eggs and I had a problem on my mini yesterday. THat was the first time a problem on spatchcock and have done lots of them.
400 direct raised high in the dome, foolproof provideing the spatchcock gods are not doing ribs that day :laugh:

Leggo My Eggo · February 2010

I always do mine indirect at gasket level at 350 to 375 and they turn out great. I ususally start skin side down for at 30 minutes before I flip. Skin always comes out nice. I haven't tried drying them out in the fridge first but I may give that a go next time and see what kind of difference it makes.

Lei'd-n-Egg · February 2010

Total bummer! I have only cooked spatchcock chix direct, but not sure why indirect would make a big difference (except for crispy skin) if you're cooking to temp for breast/thigh.

Did you check temp in several places? The only reason I ask is b/c I had some hot spots in a pork tenderloin we did where it was perfect on one end and the other was a bit undercooked.

Hungry in Lilburn · February 2010

Drip pan?

Frank from Houma · February 2010

I use a drip pan when cooking veggies under poultry, otherwise no drip pan.

BobS · February 2010

I am a bit surprised that you had a 30 degree difference between the breast and the thigh. You need to be a little careful when measuring the leg/thigh, because if you get too close to the bone, it will give you a higher temp than you really have.

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · February 2010

It was done. Some of the pink is the smoke ring,And anythingnear a boneor joint is due to the immaturity of the chicken. Chicken grow fast these days and their bones are not mature at slaughter. Cook only by temp, color and time are not at all accurate

ViennaJack · February 2010

stripsteak wrote:

It was done. Some of the pink is the smoke ring,And anythingnear a boneor joint is due to the immaturity of the chicken. Chicken grow fast these days and their bones are not mature at slaughter. Cook only by temp, color and time are not at all accurate

I'll second this. At those temps it was probably cooked.

One trick you can try is to dab the part that looks bloody with a paper towel. If the paper towel comes up red, then it's bloody. You can throw it back on the grill or give it 20 seconds in the microwave, then check again.

Sometimes I have trouble finding the right spot in the thigh to measure the internal temp, so I'll probe around a little bit to see if I can find the lowest temperature. At 200 your measurement suggests that it should have been cooked all the way through, but if indeed it was still bloody make sure you're hitting the middle of the thickest part.

Hungry in Lilburn · February 2010

Thanks. One problem was the size of the birds. They were huge! As soon as I saw the size of the breasts and the thighs I knew there was going to be a problem. They looked like the chicks had been on steroids. But I cooked them until the right temps came up on my thermapen. It was mainly the bones on the chicken breasts that did not look done enough. The meat looked good!

Frank from Houma · February 2010

Works every time when I ice the breast establishing a temp differential before going on the egg. Cable probe in the breast - when it hits 165 I check the thigh with an instant read several places - I have pulled immediately and had to wait for the thigh to hit 185.

Rolling Egg · February 2010

Next time you think it's not done and you think you see blood, take a white paper towel and dab the spot thats red looking. If the napkin comes away red then its blood and you shouldn't eat. If it's clear your good to go. Hope this helped.

Grandpas Grub · February 2010

This may be of interest to you...

Bloody Chicien

GG

Grandpas Grub · February 2010

Chicken and Turkey is cooked at 165° breast and thighs. Cooking a whole chicken or spatchcock to 165° will produce a very 'moist' breast (and thighs) no matter how hot the cook temperature is. I have found that to be true when cooking direct & raised grid at 225°, 350°, 400° and 500°.

Cooking at a higher dome temperature will produce a darker looking skin, the skin is not rubbery but not crispy either.

500°, skin was not burnt and very good.

Some people like a more done thigh and icing the breast is a good way to accomplish the two temperatures in one cook.

GG

Hungry in Lilburn · February 2010

Thanks, good to know! I think this is exactly what happened to me! I knew my chicken was done!

Spatchcocked Chicken did not work

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