Chicken!!

If you haven’t guessed yet, this week we are talking about chicken. Very versatile and always a winner, as long as it’s cooked properly!

Chicken basically defines the phrase “crowd pleaser” and can be cooked in so many different ways that you can do it every night for a month and do it differently every time. Even though there are so many options, I’m sticking with doing it on the grill/ smoker.

My favorite way to cook chicken is with my Vortex attachment for my Weber 22″ Kettle. *shown in the pictures* The Vortex is a metal half cone that helps with indirect cooking. What it does is you put the charcoal inside the vortex and it focuses the heat to the top of the lid and it then comes down the dome and cooks the meat. It is great for chicken wings especially, but it gives a good crunch on the skin without burning the meat.

The Vortex can also be turned upside down so the wide part of the cone is facing up, and you can lay charcoal around the Vortex as an indirect heat shield as well. I have a picture below of it being used in such a way. It really is great for more than just chicken, but we’ll get into those at another time.

So, what about cooking it? Chicken is one of those types of meat that is really finicky, and the white meat especially can dry out very quickly. The white meat, breasts and wings, are cooked once they hit 160 degrees in the center of the meat, dark meat is typically done at 170 degrees. It is very important that you get your chicken to AT LEAST the 160 degrees internally, chicken sick is nothing to mess around with and can cause Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Clostridium. I have no idea what those last two are, but if I can’t pronounce it, I don’t want it.

Also, and I have no idea why this is a thing, but please, for the love of God, do not rinse your chicken. You can spread so many germs and bacteria around your kitchen doing that and there’s absolutely no reason for it. There’s my PSA for the day, and hate and argue all you want, you will not change my mind.

Anyway, back to cooking. I personally use an Inkbird instant read thermometer to check all of my food, but any form of instant read thermometer will work in making sure that your chicken is cooked properly. Chicken breast are notorious for drying out, so I usually cook mine till about 160 degrees, and let the carry over during the rest bring it up to about 165 int. Rest it on a plate and loosely cover it in foil so it can vent and not keep cooking with the steam caught in the foil. Since breasts can dry out so easily, the rest is very important because it helps the meat soak in the juices and spread out throughout the meat. It is important with every cut of meat, but chicken especially because of the lack of fat.

My favorite part of the chicken is the thigh. I love dark meat in general, but the thigh has the most flavor and is typically juicier. Thighs are also the primary turn in for competition chicken as well, as shown below, some pictures of my competition thighs. The nice thing about chicken thighs is that they are very forgiving if you overcook them. I usually take my chicken thighs to about 200 degrees internal because you want an easy bite, and bite through chicken skin, which is very different from at home when you want crispy chicken I am also partial to the drumstick because it is also dark meat, but it also has a handle, and food with its own handle is always better.

To summarize this weeks post, use a thermometer when cooking your chicken so you know it’s done, overcooked chicken is not fun to eat, and undercooked chicken will haunt you. AND DON’T WASH YOUR CHICKEN!!

As usual, keep cookin’ and Lovely Jubbly!