indirect method on gasser - cold meat question

[Stevo]

Hey, Question for a those in the know:

I setup my Weber Genesis 310 gasser for indirect heating. So the far right burner is on, the other two off. I have my grate level probe in on the indirect side and everything is hunky-dory. Lets say the indirect side is at 325 for slow cooking chicken parts. Next I quickly slap the chicken parts onto the indirect side and close the lid trying to avoid temp loss. At this point the indirect side drops a lot because the probe is now surrounded by cold/cool chicken parts. So it might drop to 275, for instance, and sit there a while. Perhaps a long while to a worrier. So should I just let it ride and not adjust the temps? Or should I turn up the right burner and maybe turn on the middle until the grate level probe on the indirect side gets up to the desired temp. I have this feeling that doing the latter (turning up the heat) causes undue heat on the indirect side and perhaps kills the low/slow angle...

But what do I know! Thoughts?

Thanks,

Stevo

[ecowper]

How close are the chicken parts to the probe? You want a couple inches separation so that you aren't measuring the cold air bubble around the chicken.

I don't cook on a gasser, cook on charcoal grills. And both the WSM and the Hasty-Bake return to the temp I had them at within 5 minutes, I'd say. For example, yesterday I was cooking beef ribs on the WSM. I had about 10 lbs of ribs and their internal temp was 36F. The WSM stabilized at 243 when I put them on. By the time I had the WSM all closed up, 10 lbs of meat and bone on the grill the probe temp had dropped to 170. 5 minutes later I was back up at 232.

In the attached pic you can see where my probe is vs. the meat.

[ecowper]

sorry if that didn't help a whole lot :-(

[Stevo]

It helped ecowper! I do try to keep the probe a few inches away for the cold meat. Your statement about your cook coming back to temp in ~5min helps. I'll try and wait it out next time...maybe have a beer...and see if the temp returns. Thanks!

[ecowper]

One thing I've found is that I never get back to the temp I originally had without meat on the grill. So I take the grill hotter than my target temp knowing I will see a drop in the air temp due to the meat on the grill. If my target temp for cooking is 325, I usually want my grill to be up around 350 before I put the meat on.

Also, I would say that the temp is a guideline ..... There's lots of different heat spots inside your rig. As long as I am +/- 20 degrees, I'm pretty happy.

[Thunder77]

I like to go for about 350 indirect with chicken, to get the nice crispy skin. 😎

[Thunder77]

Oh yeah, you have to watch those for sure! I tried those once. I didn't care for the flavor profile. How did you like them?

[Stevo]

I liked the flavor profile. But I'm not sure I couldn't just use a dry rub to get a good profile too, like I do with chicken quarters. So IMO a wet marinade for 2 hours is perhaps not worth it. I'm trying to develop a good recipe for friends that like skinless/boneless.

[Thunder77]

For skinless/boneless, I like to marinate in italian dressing, or just do olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. It's a great flavor when grilled.

[MBMorgan]

I often cook indirect on a Genesis EP-330 and use both a meat probe and air temp probe (at least a couple of inches from the meat). After opening & closing the lid, I crank up the active burner to max and watch the air temp probe closely until it registers about 20 degrees below target temp (don't want to overshoot). I then return the active burner to whatever setting I was using to maintain the indirect temp ... and have another adult beverage while waiting for the next time the lid needs to be opened & closed.