Expert: BBQ Woman - 12/24/2009

Question
New to cooking and grilling:
1. I have just bought a gas grill.  It has 4 burners.  How do you grill chicken, ie, legs, thigh, wings, breasts?  What setting on the dial should it be???  Should the lid be closed or not? Or does it not matter?  For how long do you grill the chicken for?  How often do you turn the chicken?  How to keep it juicy and moist? Is it required to submerge it in some kind of liquid in order to keep it moist??? Or is that unnecessary?

I’m just referring to the standard/perfect way of cooking chicken.. .i can look up the spices , etc to use, but as far as grilling the perfect/moistest chicken is what I’d like to know. ..please help. ..thx. ..i don’t want to ruin Christmas, haha. ..

2. Also, is there a way of smoking using my gas grill?  The smokers are pretty expensive so just curious if there is a way to mcgyerize the gas grill into a smoker as well for the chicken and other meats. ..

Thx for your time. .


Answer
Hi Pan,
Allot depends on how your chicken is butchered as well as weight. I usually try to find chickens on the small size for grilling and quarter my chickens if they are too large I cut it up even smaller. A four ounce sized piece of chicken can take between 6 to 8 minutes per side where as 8 ounces can take 10 to 15 minutes per side. For the most juicy chicken I leave the bone in and skin on. You will want to cook it on direct heat with a medium to medium high heat.
Get a meat thermometer and when the internal temperature reaches 165F its done.
I hope this helps you.
Merry Christmas and Happy Grilling.
Regards,
Misty who is stuck in a blizzard.