Expert: Whitestag - 5/10/2004

Question
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Followup To
Question -
I have a large (30” dia X 8' long) bar-b-q pit. I have cooked on it twice with fair results. I use wood and charcoal. What would be a good cooking temperature and cooking time for chicken?  What would be a good cooking temperature and cooking time for pork ribs? I would welcome any cooking tips on how to get greater results.  Thanks a lot.
Answer -
I need a little more clarification before I can attempt an answer.  What kind of pit do you own?  Does it cook with gas or wood/charcoal?  Direct heat or offset firebox?  If you can give me the name of the manufacturer or their web site, that would be very helpful, because I that would (hopefully) allow me to look at a picture of your pit.

One observation that I'll make based on the information that you've already given me:  30" x 8' is not just large, it's huge -- it's big enough to cook all the meat for a goodly sized group picnic.  Is that what you're using it for?

Answer to Loren-
It cook with wood/charcoal only. There is no major manufacturer or web site, a friend of mine fabbed this pit. It cooks from direct heat. Is is correct that I use it for group gatherings. I do get fair results. I would welcome any cooking tips on how to get greater results.  Thanks a lot.  

Answer
Arggh! I'd almost completely answered this question when my web browser crashed.

Anyway...

OK, so you've got this huge pit.  For the sake of answering your question, I'm assuming that it's a covered pit with some sort of system for controlling the flow of air into and out of the pit.  I'm also assuming that you can add more fuel as needed when the fire gets too low.  If not, let me know and I'll adjust my answer accordingly.

First: Use only the intake vents and quantity of fuel to control the heat level.  If you try to damp the fire by closing the chimney vent, you'll oversmoke your meat and it will come out bitter.

Second: For fuel, use only hardwood lump charcoal (not briquettes) or sweet hardwoods (fruit and nut woods, oak, maple, mesquite, etc).  If you use wood, pre-burn it before adding it to your fire.  This just means that you get it started burning on a secondary fire before putting on your cooking fire.  Pre-burned wood gives off a mellower smoke.

Third: Keep the cooking fire small.  It's easier to control the heat with a small fire than with a large fire, and the secret to good BBQ is slow cooking.

I'm going to have limit my comments to chicken, since pork isn't one of the meats that I cook.  Brine your chicken overnight before cooking, using equal amounts of sugar and salt.  Use  at least 1/2c of each per gallon of brine, but no more than 3/4c, or it will be too salty.  You can use any kind of sugar source -- I've gotten good results with brown sugar and maple sugar, and I've heard of folks using honey, molasses, corn syrup, etc.  You can even use dilute soy sauce, which is already a mixture of both sweet and salt.  You can flavor the brine by adding an infusion of various herbs and spices.  I find that a few bay leaves and a couple of teaspoons of whole peppercorns and allspice berries make enough infusion to flavor 3 gallons of brine.  Chill the brine, add the whole chickens, and put something heavy on top of the chickens to keep them under the surface of the liquid.  Make sure you use a non-metal container for the brine -- a large crock works well, or a 5-gallon food-quality bucket.  Brine at refrigerator temperatures!

Before you put the chickens on the grill, rinse them off and  cut them up.  Discard the brine.  Brush with a neutral oil and place on the grill.  If you mind the fire carefully, you should only need to turn them once.  My personal preference is to cook the chickens whole using indirect heat, which involves piling the coals at one end of your pit and putting the chickens at the other end.  You'll need to truss the chickens and put a slice of onion in each body cavity.  If your pit has a drain for drippings, hang a small bucket under it so the drippings don't make a mess on the ground.  Otherwise, place drip pans under the chickens.  When I cook with indirect heat, I often throw a couple of whole raw onions and whole apples on the coals early in the cooking to add some extra flavor to the smoke.

Time/temperature:  It depends on whether you're using direct or indirect heat.  Try to keep the temperature below 400F for direct heat, and plan on 40-60 minutes, depending on how thick the pieces are.  For whole chickens over indirect heat, keep the temperature below 300F and plan on at least 3-4 hours.  It's a slower method, but the rewards are great -- you'll end up with a very flavorful product.

Good luck, and happy grilling!