Chicken

john,
we cook ours on the bottom shelf.
heat is max setting.
as a safety factor we do ours in a disposable 4" hotel pan with a french fry grid installed in it.
for sheer fun nothing beats a fire in an fec venting into a hood system in an enclosed trailer.
jack
ps. the gaskets are very easy to install cleaning the fire bottle powder however was not

might I suggest a CO2 or Halon extinguiser. No mess to clean up. Don't ask. On my Traegers I would cook on high which was in the area of 425. When I do this on the FEC I get a burnt rubber smell so I cut back to 375. I am waiting for the cooking school so the masters can show me.

Hi John.

Saw the same thread.

Last thing I remember was that they did some skin down. My problem with that is if you're doing it for contest, how to keep the skin shaped (yes, you could use Toothpicks)

I Do mine on bottom and on 3rd shelf down, with the skin folded underneath.

Avoid the back left corner, you'll get blackened chicken.

Don't do mine on max setting. Doing it on 325 or the next setting.

Some will put a little butter on to help with browning.

For my wife, I'll take the chicken, coat it in OBQ (seems to crisp up nice) make sure the skin is separated from the meat (air under the skin will help it crispen). Did one that way this year in a Texas contest (IBCA) and the judges thought it was Fried Chicken it was so crispy.

My only challenge is when sauced, the sauce tends to uncrispen the skin.

First year competing, and happy to say I got a couple of firsts in Chicken.

quigley,
i would use halon except i am in the rig and like to breathe. co2 is not allowed by our fire marshall.
since we have been doing so much catering every week we found that cooking everything in disposable hotels saved so much in clean up time that we just continued doing it in both the fec and sm150.
only time i got a burnt gasket smell was WHEN THEY WERE BURNING
since the change we have never encountered any further problems and thanks to the fire i figured out a way to save both clean up time for pans and clean up time for the smokers so i still get plenty of sleep during a long work day every weekend (from 9am friday to 3pm saturday)
jack

Prisonchef,
With the Disposable pans, I assume that because you are using them with some success, you don't have problems at the high heat?
Thanks,
Joe

Jack did you ask him why you can not use a CO2? These are good for B,C type fires. Which are what your working with. Grease and Electical type fires. They do not make a mess. But if you get to big of a fire it may not displace the O2 to extinguish the fire. Halon is bad news. I see alot of these in the computer industry. It really takes the O2 away so you might have a hard time catching your breath.


Craig

craig,
sure did and he noted that they do not meet class "a" fires so he will only approve abc extingushers and these must be 4a10bc minimums as required by the state. as far as the fire went it was kind of spectacular nice blue flame going out the vent to the hood and then the nicely yellow colored fire bottle powder when i hit it down the vent. thankfully i had enough sense to kill the fec and leave the hood on which prevented damage to the controller

northpole joe,
yep you sure have that one right. all butts ect go into the disposables with grids. i lose some overall capability as far as max weight goes but since we have both the fec and sm it hasn't hurt us so far and means i actually get one day a week off on sunday. but since the formula one season is drawing to a close i don't guess that it will mean as much after sundays race in china
jack

Except for the environmental issues, Halon 1211 would be excellent for the FEC. It is an enclosed compartment. Just place the nozzle into the 5 inch exhaust port and squeeze. You don't have to discharge the entire contents. Should be no problem with breathing. Also the health deptartment may dictate that you have to have the ABC extinguisher but that doesn't mean you can't have and extra one that happens to be CO2. Again, just put the nozzel into the exhaust vent and it shoud be over in seconds. Just a thought. I carry Halon and regular ABC powder . Might get a CO2 to replace the Halon. Gotta love ozone.

Hey,

Where's the discussion of Chicken. I'm like John want some more ideas of how to do chicken in an FE.

Thanks for the info on extinguishers. Althought VERY rare in a FE, a lot of the caterers, etc need the info.

Jack, how does the chicken skin come out with this method, do you see any difference in taste/texture in the chicken? How about the skin?

I'm trying something new with chicken this weekend. Cooking it on the top shelf. Had some extra pieces in Fayetteville and cooked them up there.

Hate the saucing part though...makes crispy skin tough & chewy. Don't know a way around it.

Agree Candy Sue, you can get crispy skin or you can sauce but you can't have both?

Guessing the sauce makes the skin soggy. I've tried several methods, but still experimenting.

Smokin'

smokinokie---skin comes out very nice and crisp.
peggy paints it with a little sauce right at the end to set it.
total time for very large thighs is about 30-40 mins including the 5 or so mins to set the glaze.
really neat part is when you use the max temp method the thighs will squirt juice when you first cut or bite into them!!!!!!
color and appearance on them is also amazing as at first glance they appear to be done on a grill yet have a nice smoky smell and flavor.
all in all i highly recommend this method and i want to thank ocala bill for getting us pointed in the right direction.
jack

Russ like you need any help with chicken. I have seen your scores this year.

See yeah next week,
Craig
FireHouseBBQ

Thanks for noticing.

Hi, I did some chicken on the bottom rack on full blast, and it was good, but the skin looked burnt. Took them off at 177�. What are you using for rub? I think that was the problem, I used Willingham's Wham Rub that has sugar in it. Like I said, the taste and tenderness were good, just not the appearance.

I do chicken on the second rack from the bottom using Candy Sue's pellets. I use a combination of salt, fresh ground pepper, and a bit of garlic.
I cook it right on the rack at the 400 setting on the FEC for about 55 min. I don't worry about the internal temp, I go by the way the leg moves in the socket. (I cook halves) The chicken cooked this way should be eaten right away. The skin is almost like fried when it comes off the smoker, and I put out some sauce for dipping. Everyone raves about it. I often hear it said that "it's not the cooker, it's the cook" that makes good food, but the FEC is presenting a challenge to that adage.

we use the bottom rack also with the shelf hangers positioned in the bottom (or top i guess) holes.
rub that is being used contains light brown sugar but peggy puts it on with a shaker sifter kind of thing.
pellets for sure are candy sue's
jack