Weekend dinner chicken

At two hours, this takes too long to cook during the week, but it is quick enough that you can do things on a Saturday and still have time to enjoy a bird roasted over charcoal.

Golden crispy skin and perfectly moist meat

It seems that I’m doing this every other weekend. It’s fairly quick and incredibly simple.

From pulling the cover off the grill to carving the chicken is just about two hours, as opposed to 12 hours smoking a pork shoulder.

  1. Start a full chimney of charcoal on the grill
  2. Cut the backbone out of the chicken. (Spatchcock is the technical name for this cooking method)
  3. Season the chicken as you like.
  4. Put temp probes into each breast, as they never seem to cook evenly.
  5. When white, arrange your coals for indirect cooking.
  6. Put a probe on the grill grate to monitor cooking temperature.
  7. Bird on the grill, not over the coals.
  8. Cover
  9. Try to maintain about 300F in the grill.
  10. When both breasts hit 165F, the bird is done. It seems to take 60 – 90 minutes usually.
  11. If you like, you can also bake potatoes at the same time.
Going on the grill
Ready to come off

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Author: rexplex

With a bachelors degree in history, I turn wrenches for a living. I’m most at peace when I hear the wind in the trees or the gurgle of a brook. I’m a believer in the Renaissance Man, as epitomized by DaVinci engineer, artist, soldier, statesman. As Heinlein said, “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

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