UDR maiden Voyage

Having painted the outside of my rotisserie ring yesterday I an eager to put it to use. The ring is made from a 55 gallon drum, hence the UDR (Ugly Drum Rotisserie) moniker. Perdue Oven Stuffers were on sale for $.99/lb so I picked two up as they are near ideal for rotisserie cooking. They are about 7 lb each (and only have 3% retained water, whatever that is. At least I think they are not injected.)

Winter must be fast approaching with temperatures in early afternoon at 42°F and wind moderate at a little over 10 mph. The sky is mostly cloudy (with a few patches of blue peeing through.)

I plan to use a Roadside Chicken recipe. I mostly went with this one from Epicurious and some additions from Rick Bayless I went a little light on vinegar and squeezed two limes into a double batch of the marinade. I also added a couple tablespoons of ancho powder and a half teaspoon of cayenne. I managed to get the two 7 lb birds into gallon ziploc bags and poured the marinade on them about 2:00 PM. They came out about two hours later to be spitted and trussed prior to going on the rotisserie.

The cook was done on my SS Performer using lump charcoal. (This was mostly Cowboy lump with a little of the Sam's stuff mixed in. No more Sam's. It doesn't burn well.) I threw a couple chunks of mesquite on the coals when the birds went on.

Two birds on the spit.

Closed up and cooking.

Birds nearly done.

time	temp	comment
4:20 PM	425°	Meat on! Closed bottom and top vents to about half.
4:42	325
5:21	250	Opened top vent full, add some more lump
6:25	300	One indicator popped, the other not. Probed by thigh and got 161, 165.
6:45	300	Meat done already!

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Temperature is via the lid thermometer which may read a little low in this configuration.

Results were good. Temps were right where I wanted them. Near the end I added some more lump but that's not really a problem. For lower temps I would either have to limit fuel additions or provide better sealing. Maybe just closing the bottom vent would do as temperature dropped quite a bit when I closed up the cooker with ring in place. It did not put the fire out so I removed the ring to do that.

Next time I will bias the food more toward the tip of the spit. I had clearance problems getting it into the ring with food closer to the handle. The other thing I need to do is get some foil wrapped spuds on the charcoal or perhaps some other foil pouch veggies. I could even put the grate on the cooker and grill some veggies on it though access would be a little difficult.