Adding Half Chickens to Menu

I know one thing, I'm signing up for the 2011 Cookshack Fast Eddy course. Just came across the info. What a deal. Sounds like a lot of fun too!

I cook a lot of half chickens for fundraisers. I use both a mobile cooker and my CS as needed. I have one mobile rig that can do ~200 halves at a time, and another that can do ~600. All chickens are either brined by me or ordered pre-brined. I prefer to do my own brining for flavor reasons, but sometimes have no choice in availability.



You may want to use a short brine or no brine at all in a CS because they hold moisture so well. Your choice will also depend on how long you need to hold the cooked bird too. I would suggest a short brine though, using flavorful ingredients. I go heavy garlic and sometimes rosemary on mine. Others use beer, wine, or other spirits. Experiment.

Chickens are cooked to a "just done" point, then stored in a hot box (cooler) for about an hour on average before serving. I consider this an important step because it lets the occasional undercooked piece to finish off in the box, thus reducing any complaints.

In a restaurant setting you can use some version of this to allow for holding times. It also gives you some flexibility in cooking times because it makes your supply more elastic. You can hold chickens in a heated cabinet for several hours.

I believe that finishing on a grill or in a hot broiler will be necessary to achieve desirable skin texture, but this shouldn't require more than a few minutes per piece. YMMV

You'll need to be prepared to run out, or have some use for left over chicken. Soup or stew is the usual resting place for unused bird, but if your chicken proves desirable, then you can use the threat of running out to get customers in earlier.

Buck,

Which CS are you using? And FE or a CS?

Hi Smokin', we use a Cookshack SM 150 or 160.

A CS150 actually. We're not a high volume, BBQ only place so our smoker isn't huge.

Thanks.

Really depends on what you want the finished product to be and applying a method to get the taste you want.

When you cook them will depend on when you're smoker is free (from doing other items). Example. If you did stuff overnight, you could smoke chicken in the morning and finish off to server.

Do you have a charbroiler or something to finish/reheat?

How many are you thinking of doing?

Part of it comes down to capacity and when you have available space.

todd will have some more good info for you. Maybe some other owners will jump in too.

The way it would work is that we would smoke the chicken, let it cool and then wrap to protect the moisture content. We do ribs and we have that down to a science for storing and then reheating. It might be different if we were a high volume BBQ only joint but, since we're not, our volume would dictate cooling, storing and reheating rather than keeping at serving temp. So now I want to get some hints as to what may work best with chicken so that it doesn't dry out. yes, we have a charbroiler ... we use that to kind of finish off the ribs with a light glaze of sauce after reheating.

You'll definitely want to do a brine, but the rest should be simple. I'd cook until just done as already mentioned, then cool as quickly as possible on sheet pan, followed by wrapping as soon as possible thereafter to reduce moisture loss. From there, treat it like you do ribs. Unwrap and reheat on charbroiler.

During coking in the CS, you might want/need to open door a couple of times to reduce moisture, but it may not be necessary since you'll be reheating on grill, or wanted since you'll want to retain as much moisture as possible in the finished birds. Try it both ways.

One thing you might need to consider is the size of chicken you'll use. 3-3.5# size(1.5-1.75# halfs) are very common, but the smaller end of that range doesn't have a great meat/bone ratio. We order a 2-2.25# half and are very pleased with the meat/bone ratio, and the extra meat really helps it hold moisture too.

hey buck,


i just did a spring, summer and fall season of doing Q in lake city colorado. i did 1/2 chickens there. i would brine them over night, put them on at 8am [i have an FEC500] smoque at 360 for 3 hours. when done i would put 5 chickens in an aluminium pan, and cover tightly with foil. i also have a vulcan holding cabinete [$1350] [ goes to 190 degrees] i set it to 150 and it would hold them for several hours [we usually sold out in a very few hours]. always moist and hot. i do have a charbroiler, i use it for ribs, and sausage,,,,the chickens were great right out of the holding oven! hope this helps.


jeff, smoque shack BBQ, lake city co.

Thanks to all of you for the thoughtful replies. I really appreciated the help you provided. I did a batch and tasted fresh out of the smoker ... incredibly delicious!

looking at my last post i have erred.....thats 260 for 3 hours....my bad,