Expert: BBQ Woman Date: 7/2/2008 Subject: Fast or slow rotisserie chicken?
Question Hello BBQ Woman,
I have a five burner Kenmore grill with an infrared rotisserie burner. I tried roasting a chicken using the rotisserie for the first time this week and was somewhat disappointed in the results for a few reasons:
1. The infrared burner got very hot, but since it is to the side of the chicken and not below it, it seems a lot of heat was lost, even though the grill lid was closed.
2. I had read a chicken can be roasted with rotisserie in about 35-40 minutes. Due to the side placement of the infrared burner, the chicken didn't get very hot and it took 1 hour, 20 minutes to cook.
3. By the time it was done cooking, the chicken came out somewhat rubbery. We waited and waited for the outside to brown (it never really did) and ended up overcooking the inside, it appears.
My question is: Should I forgo the side burner and just use the bottom burners in order to heat the chicken better?
Second question: I've heard slow roasting is preferential, but can it be so slow as to make the chicken kinda tough and rubbery?
Thank you very much for your help. I look forward to your response.
Answer Hi,
I am sorry your chicken didn't turn out as great as you expected it to. Is this the first time you have used the grill and its infrared feature?
I have cooked steaks on infrared grills and know that they get really hot perhaps to the point of overkill. It took me some practice to get to the point where I wasn't burning them anymore.
However, in your case your infrared isn't getting hot enough. I would call sears and ask them for help with this issue as there might be a defect in the grill itself or something isn't set up properly.
On most infrared grills you have two options of using the infrared and then using indirect heat to finish the cooking process. Friends I consulted on your problem have told me the best success they had cooking chicken with infrared was to cut the chicken up and use the infrared feature to make the outside crispy and then finishing it to doneness with the indirect heat source. It takes a bit longer to cook the chicken whole.
I really do encourage you to go through your users manual and contact sears as with the infrared because it should be really noticeably hot.
slow cooking is preferred for more tender meat especially with the tougher cuts. I am thinking that perhaps your chicken was rubbery is because it was undercooked. Usually the biggest problem with slow cooking chicken is keeping it moist which is why allot of people mop their chicken with a wet mop during the process.
I really hope you solve your issues with the infrared. I am sorry if i wasn't able to help you more. I cant emphasis it enough that the infrared feature should get really hot and if yours is not there is some sort of problem with the grill itself. You might as well have it checked out while its still under warranty.
