Brined Spatchcocked chicken

[Mr.Fabulous]

These are currently on. Brine consisted of a cup of kosher salt, a cup of brown sugar, and rosemary to a gallon of water. Let it sit in the brine for a full day. Drained, dried, and rubbed down with some Weber Rubs (honey garlic & kc bbq). We had a killer storm Wednesday [95 mph straight line winds confirmed by the NWS]. Needless to say it messed a bunch of stuff up. My usual store has been out of power for 2 days, so I used what I could find ....

Gave them an hour of smoke at 180 then cranked it to 375 to hopefully get some crispy skin.

Wanted to fit a pan of baked beans in there, but ran out of room .... I’ll post some finish shots later

 

[Mr.Fabulous]

Stack side runs hotter, so the bird on the right is done. Waiting on the other 2 to reach 165.

Hit them with some sauce when they reached 150.

 

[Mr.Fabulous]

Final product. Tender, juicy, full of flavor, and I could really taste the rosemary deep in the thigh & breast meat. Still can’t get the skin crisped up, but my guests raved over it

 

[Beaser]

You've brined the chicken, so the excessive moisture will turn to steam and soften the skin. It will also take longer to reach temp. I'd try the cook the same but without the brine and work from there .

I've found the rule book goes out the window with the Traeger. The Junior was a different deal altogether than my new Ironwood, each has it's own characteristics. I like crispy skin. The mayo works well because it's made from oil and eggs.

I'm not saying it's impossible but it's hard to brine anything and then crisp it.

 

[Mr.Fabulous]

Thanks for the info. Still experimenting and learning. Half the fun is trying different things and seeing what happens. If I stumble across the holy grail of brined crispy skinned chicken, I will definitely share the process.

 

[Beaser]

I found this while browsing
https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/17678/how-to-smoke-chicken-without-it-coming-out-tough

There are a few new ideas here

I appreciate your feedback to the group, I've been meaning to try a spatchcocked , smoked chicken.

 

[Walleye Hunter]

I had a small chicken that I got on clearance. Brined it for about 24 hrs then cut it in half and rubbed it down and let it sit in the 'fridge for about 5 hours. Cooked it at about 305 for 1 hr 25 minutes until probe read 180, pulled it out and let it sit covered for ten minutes. It was done perfect, fall off the bone and moist and the rub seemed to soak into the chicken. I'll do that again.

 

[Slimpicker]

I'm going to resurrect this thread with my own contribution:
180° for 1 hr, 325° till 175°INT
Both HOLY's were applied, very juicy!!!

I love doing chicken this way, might even do my Turkey this year this way also.

Meat Church has a good VID on this

 

[RemE]

I'm now tempted to spatchcock the Turkey this year. Since I've never done this to any bird, my big question is serving. Is this much easier to carve up to serve?

 

[Slimpicker]

It was seriously easy to access everything on the chicken as far as cutting parts and breast... I cannot imagine it being harder... maybe just 'different' but not harder

Thigh and leg separated simple and easy from the body.

 

[bigg-lenny]

I'm now tempted to spatchcock the Turkey this year. Since I've never done this to any bird, my big question is serving. Is this much easier to carve up to serve?

You'll love it!!