First Cook on SnS: Night Chicken

[PBCDad]

After getting my kettle off Craigslist, letting it acclimate to the backyard for a weekend, spending another weekend cleaning it and the grates, and then yet another weekend wishing I could grill on it but too busy, I'm finally getting in my first cook with the SnS tonight.

Yes it is late, let me explain. My wife is pregnant (woohoo!) and can't stand to fix anything to eat - she can't even think about raw vegetables without wanting to throw up. I'm at work all day, and she and our daughter have basically been limping along during the day eating whatever snack food they can until I get home and can fix something. So today I got a 16-pack of chicken drumsticks at the store, and I'm grilling them up tonight so they can have leftovers for the next few days.

It will be an adventure trying to manage all of this when it is dark out, but I don't have many options if I want them to eat. Hopefully nothing gets burned too bad...

[Jerod Broussard]

"Plenty heat gives plenty light" Father of Lights- Circa The Beginning of Time

[PBCDad]

Half hour in. Soon going to try adding a raspberry chipotle sauce to half of them. Temps started in the low 400's, now holding around 280 so going to adjust the vent again.

[PBCDad]

Cook is done. I let it go past past 180 because I wasn't getting the crisp skin. Ended up searing for about a minute each side. Raspberry sauce smells good, may just have to sample while it is hot.

Edited to add: Yep, pretty darn good. Skin definitely not crispy, but very tasty. I'll watch the temps closer next time. SnS definitely does a great job of holding the temp constant, although mine was low that was purely user error. The hour cook seemed to go by surprisingly fast, it was fun

[martybartram]

Pass on that raspberry chipotle sauce recipe please.

[Thunder77]

+1 on what Marty said. Sauce recipe please!

[Thunder77]

Nice drumsticks,@PBCDad! For crisp chicken skin, you really need temps in the 350 range. Also, if you can salt the legs for a while beforehand, that helps dry out the skin.

[martybartram]

You are going to love the SNS particularly when that child is a newborn, it requires so little attention which will allow you to put the attention where it should be! I think my kids lived off serial when my wife was pregnant, she pretty much stayed out of the kitchen the first few months!

[Thunder77]

With our first child, my wife pretty much lived off of watermelon and grape jolly ranchers the first trimester.
with the other kids she was luckier, not much of the sickness.

[Baker Dan]

Good looking bird and good luck with the growing family

[fuzzydaddy]

Nice chicken leg cook. I don't know why but I counted to make sure there were 16 legs in your photo of them on the kettle . All the best to you, your wife, and your family.

[PBCDad]

I guess it looks a little strange. I was trying to keep the meat away from the Maverick probe, may have gone a little overboard

[fuzzydaddy]

Keeping the meat clear of the grate temp probe by 2" or more is a good practice. It's my obsession with rows, alignment, etc. that get's me in trouble.

[Breadhead]

fuzzydaddy ... I have your obsession of rows and alignment too.😬 My grate MUST be mounted with the lines going exactly to the front and back of my BGE. If I put my grill dome grate over it they must be perfectly aligned. Ok it's freaking deaky but it's relaxing to me when everything is in order.😎

[fzxdoc]

Wow, what a great husband and Dad--making that delicious-looking chicken in a large enough amount for leftovers, and all after a long day at work. You've got the perfect combo, IMO, a kettle/SnS and a PBC. And a perfect family, too. Lucky man!

Kathryn

[Breadhead]

You're a good man PBCDad ... Happy family, happy life! Congratulations on the addition to your family.👍

[PBCDad]

Thank you everyone for the very nice comments. I really enjoyed hearing about what others' wives survived off the first few months. I feel bad knowing that they are at home scrounging, so even leftovers aren't great I hoped these would be easy for them to take out a couple for lunch and zap in the microwave.

To my advantage on learning the SnS, my wife recently told me that she can't stand the smell of cooking (or food smoking ) indoors, so I think I may be doing a fair amount of grilling soon . I was amazed that the legs right over the reservoir area didn't burn, cooked right along just like all the others, pretty cool.

martybartram and Thunder77 sorry no recipe, it was a store-bought sauce that I thought might be good as a glaze. Thanks for the tips, I'll try to stabilize around 350* next time, this time I started way too hot and probably killed some of the coals, and overcompensated. Practice practice practice

[Thunder77]

And you get to eat what you practice with! :-P

[David Parrish]

@PBCDade congrats! and I'm glad you're enjoying your SnS. I agree with fzxdoc, the Kettle/SnS and PBC make an awesome combo. You can pretty much do anything!