Enjoy succulent, flavoursome, tender chicken from the BBQ rotisserie
Once you’ve roasted a chicken on the barbecue you won’t be going back to cooking it in the oven, it’s completely different. Much more flavour, tenderer and juicier. In this video Richard Holden the Gourmet BBQ chef, shows you how easy it is to cook a whole roast chicken on the barbecue. We are cooking it on a 57cm Weber charcoal BBQ with a rotisserie attachment. The rotisserie ensures that the chicken is cooked evenly all around. Avoiding the dreaded salmonella is really easy with an Instant Read Temperature Probe; just probe the chicken in at least 4 different places and once it has reached a temperature of 75C it is thoroughly cooked. The chicken was sourced locally from award winning Higginson’s Butchers, Grange over Sands, Cumbria.
The chicken has just been prepared with a rub of dried coriander, cumin, paprika, oregano, fennel seeds, soft brown sugar, sea salt and ground black pepper, made into a paste with the addition of a little rapeseed oil. One of the keys to successfully roasting meat on the BBQ is to use the indirect cooking method, where the baskets of hot coals are placed to each side of the BBQ leaving a gap down the middle. The rotisserie is positioned so that it is directly over the area where there are no coals; if you place the chicken directly over the coals it is too hot and the outside will burn before the centre is cooked. This is when you leave yourself open to the threat of salmonella. Place a foil tray on the charcoal grate between the char baskets to catch any juices which drip from the chicken; this keeps the bottom of the BBQ clean and the juices can be used for gravy.
The barbecue is pre-heated to a temperature of about 200C before starting to cook the chicken. As the chicken is constantly rotating, the chicken is self-basting as the juices are continually running back into the flesh instead of out of the chicken into the roasting pan. Allow about 20 minutes a pound for the chicken to cook then check the temperature to see if it is cooked. Using a digital Instant Read Temperature Probe from Weber Richard checks the temperature of the chicken over several points and once it has reached a temperature of 75C in every point then the chicken is ready and needs to come off the BBQ; just remember the slogan ’75 staying alive’. Once the chicken reaches 75C take it off and allow to rest for 20 – 30 minutes; don’t be tempted to ‘just give it a few more minutes’ to make sure, overcooking will leave the chicken dry.
Richard shows you how to carve the chicken by taking all the meat off the bone at once; taking all the meat off in one go means that the breasts are much easier to carve once they are off the chicken. The carcase can be used for chicken stock or a nice hearty broth.
