BBQ Rotisserie Chicken on a Weber Kettle Grill

For Christmas I decided to purchase a Weber rotisserie kit that fits my existing 22″ Weber kettle grill. Turns out it was a great investment. The unit, in my opinion, is overpriced at $209 but it should last a long time and has a string of solid reviews going back six years from what i saw on Amazon. The components are undoubtedly made in China, but the motor has been upgraded for better balance when turning heavier items. In addition, the heavy-gauge enameled steel support ring appears to be exactly the same quality as the kettle and lid. The components fit together well, providing a solid support for even a large whole turkey. Followers of Culinary Compost will note my love of Beer Can Chicken, featured here. While it is in a class by itself in the BBQ world, you’ll get more even results and a crispier skin when rotating poultry on a spit over offset charcoal. Two of my standby favorite condiments for this recipe are Stubb’s Original BBQ Sauce and Famous Dave’s Rib Rub. They have never failed me. We’ll dive into this recipe by creating a proper brine for the chicken. This ensures that salt, acidity and aromatics penetrate the meat, virtually guaranteeing the juiciest chicken you’ve ever had. The chicken shown in this recipe was a 5.9-pound whole fryer purchased for seven dollars. It blows away store-bought rotisserie chicken from your supermarket. Leftovers can be pulled from the bone and used in tacos, quesadillas or served cold on a salad. Enjoy! BRINE INGREDIENTS: 1/3 cup Kosher salt and 1 quart filtered water 1 additional quart of cold water for tempering the brine water shown above 1 whole lemon, cut into eighths (squeeze the juice from four of the wedges to boost the citrus content in the brine) 1/4 cup roughly-chopped fresh chives 1/2 large shallot, thinly sliced 1 heaping tbs. whole peppercorns, coarsely crushed in a mortar 4 large dry bay leaves, crumbled 1/2 tsp. dry thyme 1/2 tsp. dry Italian oregano 1/2 tsp. dry whole rosemary 1 cup fresh Italian parsley leaves BBQ CHICKEN INGREDIENTS and HARDWARE: 1 whole fryer chicken (your choice on size) XV olive oil Your choice of BBQ rub Your choice of BBQ sauce 1 lemon, cut into sections with a plug shaped to seal each end of the body cavity Butcher’s twine Aluminum foil drip pan for the grill Real hardwood charcoal You will also need an accurate instant-read digital thermometer

DIRECTIONS: Ensure the chicken is thawed fully and the body cavity rinsed in cold water. Remove any giblets from the body cavity. Wrap and refrigerate until you are ready to combine with the chilled brine ingredients. Bring 1 quart filtered water to a boil in a soup pot. Add 1/3 cup Kosher salt and stir to dissolve, about three minutes. Shut off the heat. Temper the brine water with 1 quart cold water, mix well and chill. Once chilled, add the bird and aromatics. Stir to incorporate, cover and chill 8 to 12 hours, turning occasionally. Do not exceed 24 hours for the bath or the bird will be too salty. About an hour before you are ready to grill, remove the bird from the brine bath and rinse off any aromatics stuck to the skin. Pat dry. Add the remaining cut lemon inside the cavity and use two pieces shaped to seal the neck and butt opening. Place the bird in a large clean roasting pan and carefully truss the drumsticks and wings using butcher’s twine. It helps if you wet the twine to ensure tight knots. Using the pan as a brace, insert the grilling spit through the bird cavity and secure one fork on each end of the bird using the thumbscrews. Ensure the bird is roughly in the middle of the spit so you don’t have to adjust the position once on the grill. Next, in the same pan, hold the spit and wipe the bird down with a light coating of olive oil, taking care to get the oil under the wings and legs.

Generously apply BBQ rub evenly over the entire surface of the chicken, while turning the spit. Use the pan to catch the excess. Again, ensure to get some in between the wings and legs where you tied it. Prepare the grill with a foil drip pan on the center of the coal grate. You will not need the top grilling grate. Set an even amount of lump wood charcoal on each side of the pan — but DON’T add too much or it will get very hot and scorch the chicken. Light the charcoal and ensure it gets evenly hot, about twenty minutes. Keep the bottom “propeller” damper FULL OPEN. Next, center the rotisserie ring over the bottom kettle and align the spit holes lengthwise with the pan to ensure the drippings don’t make a mess. Carefully place the spit with the chicken through the hole to insert in the motor drive socket, and center the handle end in the opposite slot on the support ring. Turn on the motor. Open the kettle dome damper about halfway and cover the bird. Choke off the bottom damper to 1/2 open. The ambient grill temperature you are shooting for is about 425-435° F. Real wood charcoal burns very hot and larger pieces should last quite a while before the need to restoke. Cook the bird for approximately 1 hour. During the last 15 minutes, open the cover and generously slather the bird with BBQ sauce. Allow it to crust up but do not blacken. Remove the bird from the grill when the temp at the thickest part of the breast reads 165° F. CAREFULLY remove from the spit by wearing oven mitts and loosening the forks’ thumbscrews. Rest covered in a clean roasting pan for 5-7 minutes before serving. Cut the butcher’s twine and serve. MIKE’S NOTES: I suck at trussing a chicken and desperately need practice. Once the chicken is thawed, holding on to it is like trying to fight a pissed-off wet goose. Don’t get frustrated — there are a lot of YouTube videos demonstrating the proper way to tie the drumsticks and wings. I recently purchased the Meater®+ digital wireless thermometer and it has worked quite well. It is the only thermometer on the market that will work on a rotating rotisserie grill. Outside of a few WI-FI connection issues, it really takes the guesswork out of accurately calculating the remaining time on a cook — especially for larger cuts of meat. I highly recommend it. The stainless steel pot for my 8-quart Instant Pot Duo works very well as a brine pot with the silicone accessory lid. Be sure to keep the point end of the spit clean before inserting it into the drive motor socket. Wipe it down with a hot soapy dish rag. You don’t want bacteria from raw chicken meat hanging around, creating its own guerrilla movement on your grilling tools. Culinary Compostnever endorses products for profit, and has received no monetary compensation for the content of this post.

Use a roaster pan to support the spit and chicken — it will save you time in prep work.

The chicken and brine ingredients. Brine for at least 8-12 hours but do not exceed 24 hours.