Spatchcock Chicken Reverse Sear

[Tmorrison80]

I tried something new today. I had a young chicken that I did a wet brine using Cabelas Honey Cure & Brine for 5 hours. Took it out of the brine and dried it with paper towels. After it was dry I spatchcocked it. Then I sprayed it with Pam for added fat and to use as a binder. I seasoned both sides with Hi Mountain Seasonings poultry rub and Rec Teq Freakin Greek rub. After I seasoned it I turned my smoker on at 225°. I have the Rec Teq Stampede (RT-590). Smoked it for an hour and a half before turning the temperature up to 275°. When the breasts got above 140° I took it off and covered it with foil on the cutting board while I turned the grill up to 400°. I had my grill grates in there already, too. When it hit 400° I put the chicken back on breast side down. After 5 minutes I gave it a quarter turn like I would a steak. Another 5 minutes and I flipped it to check the breasts temperatures. Both were above 165° so I pulled it off.

The end result was moist and flavorful, but the skin was not exactly what I hoped for. The skin was good but not great. I also don't think I did the spatchcock correctly because it seemed to not be completely flat. Not sure you can really tell anything from the pictures, but I'm open to feedback.

[Jerod Broussard]

What was not great about the skin? Not crunchy, not bite through?? My dad and the men back home grilled tons of chicken halves for fundraisers. Big long coffin like grills, nothing but direct heat from charcoal, and I would guess not a whole lot of those chickens had textbook crispy skin, bite through, but that is about it.

[Tmorrison80]

I wanted more bite through on the skin. One day I'd love to have one of those big smokers and cook for tons of people at a time.

[RonB]

What Jerod Broussard said. How did you want the skin to turn out? If you wanted crisp, you had two things working against you. The temp was too low to crisp the skin, and spatchcocking it shortened the cook so there wasn't time for the skin to crisp. I hope someone who spatchcocks chix will chime in. You may get a different answer.

[Tmorrison80]

Thank you for the insight. I didn't think spatchcock would impact the skin. I'll make some tweaks next time.

[rickgregory]

What I'd try is this... smoke to about 130 or so. Don't worry about moving from 225 to 275... just do 250. Then move the chicken off the grill and pump it to 500. You could do this in the oven too if you don't want to burn through the pellets. Finish in the oven until 165.Keep an eye on it.. you don't want th skin to burn and may well want to pull at 155 or so because the 500F will shove a lot of heat at it and you don't want to pull at 165 and have it shoot to 180.

[Tmorrison80]

I bumped the temperature because it was getting late and my 7yo was "dying" of starvation. Haha. I have a wrap on the lid of my smoker that will discolor if I go over 400, but I'll try the oven next time. I really need another grill for higher heat, but haven't set aside the money yet.

[rickgregory]

I'd just do 250-275 from the start. 225 isn't magic. At high temps I don't see that much smoke, so I think the oven works fine there.

[bbqLuv]

Oh my, spatchcocked chicken you did. Fine looking cook.
You Done Good.

[grantgallagher]

Couple of things for me when it comes to spatch chicken:

-i go 325-350 start to finish for good skin
-if wet brining, once it comes out the brine i would dry with paper towels as you did, but then add the rub and put it back in the fridge uncovered for another day to really dry the skin out

everyone has their own method/tweaks/likes etc so play around a little with the ideas in this thread and see what happens.

[SheilaAnn]

grantgallagher makes sense in putting the chicken back in the fridge to dry out the skin. RonB is also right with the lower temp. Regarding the shape of the chicken, did you leave the little wish bone in? Or the thingy that holds the breasts together (can’t think of the name of that flat bone). Bird looks amazing!

[SheilaAnn]

Also, you can put the bird under the broiler for a few to really crisp up!

[Tmorrison80]

I'm pretty sure the wishbone broke when I pushed the breasts down. Was I supposed to take it out?

[SheilaAnn]

That’s how I was taught. I use a paring knife to maneuver around in there.

[Dadof3Illinois]

IMO if you want crispy skin, like others above have said, you need to get it dry and run your pit up around that 350F area the entire cook. I've never tried it but I have heard if you spritz with some cooking oil every 45 mins or so you can get crispy skin? I may need to do this experiment on some chicken thighs or better yet maybe some wings!!

[RonB]

Good idea. But I's spritz half so I could compare.

[Dadof3Illinois]

Or just do two birds, one spritz one not?

[gilbertpilz]

IMO opinion you are starting behind the 8 ball, skin wise, when you wet brine a bird. If crispy skin is important, dry brine it instead. Skin absorbs water and no matter how much you dry the bird after wet brining you will be starting your cook with water logged skin.

[ssandy_561]

I rarely cook a spatchcocked chicken. I’ll break it down into 2 whole wings, 2 bone in breasts and 2 leg/thigh quarters.

I use a wet marinade that is 1 part vegetable oil and 2 parts vinegar based. I’ll use different spices and herbs depending on what flavor profile I’m going for.

I’ll cook directly over a single layer of coals on my 22” Weber kettle. I’ll leave in my SnS and dump a full chimney of lit Kingsford original into the large open side of the SnS. It creates a nice single layer of charcoal. I’ll throw a chunk or two of hickory into the corner for some nice smoke flavor. All vents are wide open on the kettle and lid.

I’ll throw both breasts on first right out of the marinade skin side up first. I’ll let them go for about 10 minutes then I’ll flip them right before I throw on the leg/thigh quarters. After about another 10 minutes the wings go on and everything gets flipped again. I’ll flip again next after 5 minutes and then continue to flip every 5 minutes until the chicken is done. It usually takes about 45 minutes total from when the breasts get put on.

This to me makes the best chicken. The meat is so juicy, it’s not overly smokey and the skin turns out crispy for me.

Here are a few pictures from the last time I made chicken on the Weber.

[jsenica]

Would cranking the heat up in the final 30min establish better skin? Kinda like ribs or brisket after unwrapping? May have to try this tomorrow, I dry brined so will have to see how skin is turning out