Pre-Easter Charcoal Rotisserie Chicken

Chicken tied up

I’ll try to come up with a format; but for now, I’m just typing.

2:00 pm – Salt, pepper, garlic, paprika. Put in fridge.
3:55 pm – Fired up grill; 1 chimney lit.
4:10 pm – Poured charcoal to one side of the grill. *Note, there was still a half charcoal basket of used charcoal in the grill. I used a very small foil tray to catch drippings for stock.

I’m the type of person who puts the meat on right away. while I stabilize the grill. I it took me about 10-15 minutes to stabilize the grill. It spiked at about 450°. My rotisserie attachment has a lot of air gaps, so I actually closed the top vent and bottom vents completely. Once the grill stabilized, I had the top vent 50% open for the first hour and the bottom vent open about 25%. The grill settled at 350° and stayed there for most of the cook, in the last 30 minutes, I had to open the vents 100% to maintain 350°.

5:10 pm – checked temp for the first time. Thighs were about 145° and breast was 120°.
5:50 pm – check temp again. It was at 164° in the thickest part of the breast and 179° in the thighs. I removed, and let rest for a few minutes. 1 hour and 40 minutes cooking.

The total cook time was longer than I expected. I will have to see how this compares to my next cook. Prep: 15 minutes seasoning and mounting to rotisserie. 15 minutes to light and prepare the grill.

The Outcome: Overall the chicken was cooked to perfection. Not too smokey and perfectly moist. The skin however was not crispy, as I did not let it dry brine very long.

TOOLS USED:

  • Weber Kettle 22.5 inch
  • EZ Cue Rotisserie with Basket type food holder
  • Thermapen MK-4
  • Thermoworks Smoke Thermometer

Seasoning: S/P/G + Paprika – not measured but it looked like this: