Greek and Spatchcocked

SoCalBuilder · January 08, 2011, 11:51:59 AM

Well I dug into my Christmas gifts and decided that I'd see what a greek chicken tasted like. Schimdty sent a bottle of Pilleteri's Greek Seasoning (among numerous other things) and it sounds like it should taste pretty good. In fact, it smell real good using giving it a little rub along with some lite olive oil. I'm gonna subject it to about 2 hours of apple and an hour of maple. I'm getting a little bolder in the amount of smoke I use, and these are the packages I already had open ;)

Finish pictures in about 7 hours ;D

classicrockgriller · January 08, 2011, 12:27:06 PM

You can't hurt it ..... It's Dead!

Sounds like fun!

TestRocket · January 08, 2011, 02:10:14 PM

Some Greek yard bird is looking good! I'll take a thigh when it's done! Thanks! ;D

SoCalBuilder · January 08, 2011, 07:09:19 PM

I think they turned out pretty good...at least they smell that way. These took about 6.5 hours to reach 160* in the breast and I finished them in the oven at 325 convection to the IT of 165.
Here in San Diego, it stayed in the high 50's and the OBS is in an enclosure with no wind. I never got a box temp over 212* The PID showed it was getiing power all the time and the SG was on the entire time. Tomorrow, before I do jerky, I'll let it preheat empty and see how high I can get the temp.

Anyway, her is the final product :) Time for dinner!

GusRobin · January 08, 2011, 07:15:28 PM

did you have the vent open when you cooked?

SoCalBuilder · January 08, 2011, 07:29:51 PM

Quote from: GusRobin on January 08, 2011, 07:15:28 PM
did you have the vent open when you cooked?

Yeah Gus, it was wide open. I do have about 3 feet of vertical vent on it with a vent cap. Not sure what to think, but I'm beginnig to see why so many of you add the second element.

smoker pete · January 09, 2011, 09:52:50 AM

Great looking yard birds there SoCal. How did that Greek seasoning work out? Did they taste as good as they look? My Greek ex brother-in-law used to do some great grilling and used a lot of Parsley flakes on everything. Looks like the Pilleteri's Greek Seasoning might have a tad of flakes there.

What I have found in Central California is that even though our temps this time of year are 40º-50º range which might sound warm compared to what our Northern friends experience we still have issues maintaining temp due to the high humidity. That's a big reason why I installed a 2nd heating element. I no longer have those issues. There were many times that even after preheating for 45 minutes the temp never recovered to 250º.

SoCalBuilder · January 09, 2011, 10:05:36 AM

Thanks Pete. Yeah, that is a pretty nice seasoning. You can taste the butter, almost like you basted it. In the ingredients it brags about garlic, onion and the spices and herbs (including oregano). Salt and some kind of butter flavoring make up the last few items on the list.

I was hoping to avoid adding the additional burner, but I'm beginning to see the light ;D I guess I need to start planning for that. I do use a PID religiously, so at this point I think I can get by with the simplest modification (which fits me to a tea or is it tee... see what I mean?)

Thanks again, Randy

Schmidty · January 09, 2011, 02:43:10 PM

That Chicken looks great!
I'm really glad that you like the Greek rub ~ I use it all time. Try it out with a little olive oil on asparagus and make it into a foil pack for the back of the grill the next time you have some steaks .... Excellent!
Gus helped me add an additional element to my Bradley awhile back and I can't believe what a difference it makes ... I also can't believe that Bradley hasn't made this addition to all of their smokers. I think it cost me about a 6 pack of barley pops (local yokel discount) but I am sure that if you throw in a ticket to San Diego he will be there in a heartbeat and do it for free. My son and I just got back from deer hunting today (Yep ... Bambi's Grandfather lives to breed another day) because it was just too darn cold (16 degrees when we left the truck and 32 when we got back ~ heat wave!). We are expecting 4 -8 inches tonight (record amount) and they have already shut down schools for tomorrow (still not a thing on the roads or lawn). I know ... I know ..... I am actually a born Colorado boy but here in Alabama it's a "dry heat" ...oops ... "wet cold"!
Make the addition ~ you will be amazed on your performance and control with your Auber.

SoCalBuilder · January 09, 2011, 03:33:18 PM

Schmidty - Taste pretty good too :) I'm not sure the treasury department here will let me send Gus airfare, but I may be able to send him a 6er of a local brew if I need to bend his ear after I scatter pieces of the OBS all over the garage ;D I think the second element is a given. Not sure how to interpret it, but even doing jerky today, I have yet to get it up to the 180 I have it set for, though I am opening it and rotating every hour. It's in the low sixties here, I turned off the SG to see how the heating element did on it's own. On my preheat today, with the SG on, I had no problem hitting 240. I'm confused, but lately, that's easy to accomplish.

Later - Randy

SouthernSmoked · January 09, 2011, 07:01:13 PM

Heck Yeah, great looking yard birds!

GusRobin · January 09, 2011, 07:12:53 PM

Quote from: SoCalBuilder on January 09, 2011, 03:33:18 PM
Schmidty - Taste pretty good too :) I'm not sure the treasury department here will let me send Gus airfare, but I may be able to send him a 6er of a local brew if I need to bend his ear after I scatter pieces of the OBS all over the garage

phone assistance is free ;D