Messed up the chicken on my OTG

[Happy Hapgood]

Got a brand new plan after all this Great input. Going to give it a try this weekend and hope to post a new thread...if it works.

Thanks again to everyone!

 

[THoey1963]

Hard to say for sure, but I'm thinking some of these bigger birds just don't cook up so well. It's possible it just needed more time despite reading 165*. This "gamey" taste you speak of I get every now and then and it's just not very good IMO. Recently I've been trying to get some fresh/never frozen chicken. Even if a chicken is not frozen in the bin, it's possible it just finished thawing out. I've hit up Sprouts and Central Market for fresher birds. To me they have a cleaner taste, but could be coincidence. However these fresher birds are either 5+lbs or under 4. For comps, 4.5lb is good, but I've discovered they are rare around here. I cooked these up at a local comp this past weekend. ~3.8 lb, cooked on a 18 WSM, semi-direct. Brined and injected! 9th place

Great looking birds JS. I can never get my chicken to look that pretty. It usually tastes great, but doesn't look like something you'd take home to momma or introduce to your friends. Might be that I don't sauce...

 

[JS-TX]

Thanks Terry, yes a nice glaze can polish up a bird! Cooking on a WSM at 325-350* prevents the skin from charring up here and there helps too

 

[THoey1963]

Thanks and congrats on placing...

 

[Happy Hapgood]

Does anyone flip their chicken pieces while cooking?

 

[4ever3]

No Sir, I don't...

 

[dadsr4]

Does anyone flip their chicken pieces while cooking?

I always cook them skin side up, so that the fat in the skin bastes the meat. You can always flip to skin side down over the coals to get a little char on the skin.
I was looking at you picture in the original post. Except that I always use a drip pan under the cooking grate, your setup matches how I've cooked chicken for decades, except I always cook the leg quarters closest to the coals, since they need to cook to a higher internal temp. That would account for your comment, "The breasts were tuff and the leg quarters were gamie and under done".
I don't know what you are taking the temps in the chicken with, but I test the thickest part of each piece that I can find.

 

[Chitown_hillbilly]

If that's your biggest BBQ mistake, you'll be just fine! LOL