A WHOLE CHICKEN ...CAN IT BE COOKED IN A BIG GREEN EGG "MINI" ?? TODAY WE FIND OUT
Often, on the Egghead forum, I have seen the question " Can you do a whole chicken, indirect on the Mini Egg?" with various answers / etc. I was never quite sure what the outcome of these threads was but today, I decided it was time to satisfy my own and other's curiosity ... can it be done ?? If so , how?
Well last week I decided it was time for us to have a Big Green Egg Mini demo egg to cook our daily demos at the store and/or to loan to prospective customers/eggheads so today I'm taking a totally virgin Mini, and sacrificing it's virginity. I got a fresh mini, in the box out of my warehouse, unpacked and assembled the unit, and have been studying the space inside, and considering my options ...." take out the fire ring and put the grate right down on the firebox lip? .... use drip pan ? Chicken face down (the Grasshopper method) or on a stand? How about a mini beer can stand-up setup on top of a pie pan ?? " (that's my fatigued brain talking)
Off to the mega mart for one aprox. 5 lb fresh Purdue chicken ...
...
Back from the Megamart I wound up with a 4.89lb Purdue fresh chicken... looks like about the perfect size to stuff into the mini.
The bird prep:
Remove bird from bag, rinse thoroughly with cold water, pat dry with
paper towels, totally grease it up with EVOO and then sprinkle, inside
and out ...
1. Garlic Salt
2. Rosemary
3. fresh ground pepper
4. Bad Byron's Butt Rub seasoning
Jam the Big Green Egg Model VCR (Vertical Chicken Roaster) up the birds butt and it's ready to go!
How to make it "indirect" cooking was still the challenge.
I decided that the chicken would probably fit just laying down on the grate and maybe I would have to tuck the legs / etc. in when I closed the mini but I really wanted to cook the chicken upright position on a stand or beer/soda can.
So I removed the fire ring ... now the grate would sit low enough for the stand ...but what about a "baffle" to make it indirect and the grate was on top of the charcoal !! Would this be too close.
The solution I came up with was to put a "donut" of crushed aluminum foil on top of the fire ring to raise the grate another 1/2 to 1" or so (see the pics). Also, I made a drip pan from an aluminum pie plate, bending up the edges ..I used the ceramic cap from my Large Egg as a guide and just bent up the sides and then folded them over making pan sides of about 1/2 " high .. looked like a reasonable solution.
Next it time to load up and cook!
I took the virgin bag of Humphrey charcoal, opened it and proceeded to dump/fill the mini..... this was interesting....the humphrey is mostly large pieces of oak charcoal and when I "filled" the mini..I only had about 6 pieces of charcoal .... so I had to dig in the bag for some smaller pieces ... not what I am used to doing ....so I filled to the top of the fire ring and used a Big Green Egg FS24 Fire Starter and lit 'er up. ...
Mini's light FAST !! In no time the temp was screaming !!! I loaded in the chicken on the stand and closed the lid. You could see the top of the Big Green Egg Vertical Roasting Stand almost protruding out the top vent of the Egg.
It was just impossible to put the regular thermometer in the egg without hitting the chicken so I decided to dig out my "only used once and didn't like it " Maverick ET-7 Dual Probe/Wireless thermometer so I could combine tests and give this unit another try for evaluation purposes. Every not and then these units get "slammed" on the Egg forum so I thought I'd get more experience with this unit. (I love the Maverick ET73 dual pit/food wireless unit, but I did NOT like this unit the first time I tried it) .
OK...the ET-7 is "dual probe" .. both probes seem to be intended for food but experience tells me that they are usually interchangable so I stuck one in the breast of the bird, and the other just hung inside the top of the egg ... this setup worked great. The thermo never lost the signal and worked perfectly all day.
SO THE MORAL OF THE STORY ... Can you cook a full chicken on the mini, upright on a stand and get good results?
HELL YES YOU CAN !!
Here's all thh stuff .. .chicken, beer and soda can , Totally Virgin Big Green Egg Mini, Virgin Bag of Humphrey Charcoal, et al
Big Green Egg model VCR Vertical Chicken Roasting Stand with improvised plate setter/drip pan
Improvised aluminum foil "donut" riser to raise the grate (firering removed)
Chicken prep. Bad Byron's Butt Rub, Garlic Salt, Rosemary, pepper, EVOO
Humphrey in the egg ... wow ...only large pieces in the bag !! I had to hand pick these smaller ones.
Big Green Egg FS24 Fire Starter goes to work.
Mini's start fast and furiously!
Chicken almost protruding out the top!
Maverick ET7 thermo ..worked great .. .pit at 323 on way up .
Around 40 minutes into it ...bird is cooking FAST and smells and looks fabulous.
One hour and 10 minutes DONE ... Breast at 175 which some (most) people consider overcooked but it's how I like it.
Here's Breast forward, shot.
Off the cooker resting ...guests were aghast!
Juicy and delicious.
Skin Crispy, juices ran out when we cut it. AND you could REALLY TASTE the oaky flavor imparted by the Humphrey charcoal... just a fabulous way to cook a chicken fast and eggcellent!
Submitted by your friend the SmokinGuitarPlayer FRed B.
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