competition chicken question

This is gonna sound a little funny, but I cook ribs on the grill and chicken in the FEC...so I'm a little curious myself on how they are doing it.

I'd say start practicing today, don't go to the contest without having it down. Chicken is cheap, but contests arent', so don't wait until an event to get ready (which is why I think you're asking).

You may not get a lot of people telling you how they do it, mainly because most of those guys aren't in the forum. 1 or 2 maybe.

You need to match it with your profile. So think smoke first then finish with the direct side. Most people even without the PG tend to have some grill handy to set the skin and sauce.

Yeah, guess I forgot about setting the sauce on the PG500. I do that on zone 4, but have the heat cranked up a little.

I cook chicken at about 300 degrees indirect Zone 3 and 4 on the PG1000.... then crank the temp to 400+ toward the end for skin and sauce... gotta be careful not to burn at that temp though...

Of course my chicken scores have been terrible so... take that FWIW....

Nordy

more smoke

brine

find the right finish temp

lower temp on the setting the sauce

Just sayin'..

Thanks. SO...

I'm finalizing my "practice cooks" for the next few weeks... It's going to be a chicken fest at my place...

I will definitely be doing some of the things you mentioned. I know finishing temp was a big issue... got that fixed... I may have to switch up my brine...

So many options...

And Smokin' you're a big fan of scraping skin and meat glue right?

quote:

Originally posted by Nordy:
And Smokin' you're a big fan of scraping skin and meat glue right?

uh... no and don't get me started. Shoot, even "grillin'" chicken isn't BBq to me (yes, it's over wood I know)

Oh, and if you're cooking dark meat, the finish temp IS a big thing to practice. Think tenderness.

quote:

Originally posted by Nordy:
I'm finalizing my "practice cooks" for the next few weeks... It's going to be a chicken fest at my place...

I've been eatin' chicken and ribs for the last two months, oh well. I'd like to think it was healthy, but I know better...LOL!

I do have a freezer about full of rib tips, but I'll do another thread on that shortly.

Does anyone use zone 2 to brown and crisp the skin? I have been experimenting with this but am far from perfecting it. The skin is brown and crisp but shrinks to the size of a quarter.

I have done a few practice cooks already and it seems pretty good but like many cooks, my worst critic is myself. Did pretty good in chicky last year and top 10 finish in last contest this year but this will be first time with fepg 500. I'm happy with my brine, rub and sauce. I've been starting them on zone 4 @ 275* till basically done, saucing and moving to zone 1 for brief period of time to set the sauce and just a little char on the bottom. Thinkin next practice may throw zone 3 in the mix.