Peruvian chicken (Pollo a la Brasa) is one of my favorite chicken dishes. And I really like the recipe by Kenji from Serious Eats. Today, I decided to try it on the PBC, which we all know is a chicken cooking machine, and it did not disappoint. I tried something a little different in the PBC today - lump charcoal. I wanted to see for myself if there is really any difference using lump vs briquettes. So I bought a bag of Rockwood Hardwood Lump charcoal from my local Ace. It seemed to get high ratings and it was on sale, so I splurged. I also broke my own rule and decided to monitor the temp to see if in fact lump burned hotter.
I filled the basket about 75% full and lit a small Weber chimney full of the same. After the coals were mostly ashed over I dimped them on top of the unlit coals and let it burn for 10 minutes.
I then placed the lid and let it go another 10 minutes or so. Temps climbed over 400 so I know I got a good burn.
Chicken was in the fridge marinating in the seasoning paste for about 1 1/2 hours and this is how it looked before hanging:
And this is after I hung the chicken in a single rebar positioned on the diagonal:
Temps settled in around 300 degrees. I checked about an hour into the cook and the breast was around 160 but thighs were 145 so I let it go another 30 minutes, but left the lid slight ajar to see what that would do and temp settled in around 340. I pulled the chicken out 30 minutes later. Breast was 170 and thighs were 180-190.
My verdict... the chicked tasted delicious (my kids just loved it). The breast was not dry. In fact it was quite moist. The skin was extremely flavorful and had that perfect bite-through. Paired with the green saucen it was amazing. I served some black beans and rice and fried plantains on the side.
I was happy with the performance of the Rockwood lump charcoal. My temps were actually quite stable, which is something I wasn't expecting from lump. I cannot say that the lump burned hotter than briquettes becausd I get similar temps using briquettes. I do think the flavor of the chicken was "cleaner", i.e. I didn't get that characteristic charcoal grill flavor I get with briquettes. I'd like to try another cook and throw on some hickory or pecan chunks to see if the wood flavor stands out more when using lump charcoal. All in all I really like the Rockwood Lump. It has a long burn. My basket lasted a good 6 hours and it was only 75% full.
Here's my Fireboard graph if for anythjng to get a good visual picture of what lighting looks like and to see how consistent the temps were. Just FYI I never made any adjustments.
I filled the basket about 75% full and lit a small Weber chimney full of the same. After the coals were mostly ashed over I dimped them on top of the unlit coals and let it burn for 10 minutes.
I then placed the lid and let it go another 10 minutes or so. Temps climbed over 400 so I know I got a good burn.
Chicken was in the fridge marinating in the seasoning paste for about 1 1/2 hours and this is how it looked before hanging:
And this is after I hung the chicken in a single rebar positioned on the diagonal:
Temps settled in around 300 degrees. I checked about an hour into the cook and the breast was around 160 but thighs were 145 so I let it go another 30 minutes, but left the lid slight ajar to see what that would do and temp settled in around 340. I pulled the chicken out 30 minutes later. Breast was 170 and thighs were 180-190.
My verdict... the chicked tasted delicious (my kids just loved it). The breast was not dry. In fact it was quite moist. The skin was extremely flavorful and had that perfect bite-through. Paired with the green saucen it was amazing. I served some black beans and rice and fried plantains on the side.
I was happy with the performance of the Rockwood lump charcoal. My temps were actually quite stable, which is something I wasn't expecting from lump. I cannot say that the lump burned hotter than briquettes becausd I get similar temps using briquettes. I do think the flavor of the chicken was "cleaner", i.e. I didn't get that characteristic charcoal grill flavor I get with briquettes. I'd like to try another cook and throw on some hickory or pecan chunks to see if the wood flavor stands out more when using lump charcoal. All in all I really like the Rockwood Lump. It has a long burn. My basket lasted a good 6 hours and it was only 75% full.
Here's my Fireboard graph if for anythjng to get a good visual picture of what lighting looks like and to see how consistent the temps were. Just FYI I never made any adjustments.
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