I got home around 4 and started the charcoal & oak burning process. KUDU recommends 80% charcoal and 20% wood. We have live oak here in the North Bay in CA so live oak it is. The KUDU is a very versatile grill/smoker. I did both grilling and smoking on this first run.
I brined a whole fancy cage free, organic chicken I got for $6. Not too bad. I also brined 6 huge chicken breasts at the same time, overnight. I prepped both with a favorite chicken seasoning and a lemon-pepper rub. The whole chicken went on the rotisserie. I trussed it and stabbed it with the rotisserie stabby things. A couple of good twists on the rod and on it went. The KUDU has a unique rotisserie in that it’s a single-point system. The picture shows what that means. It’s rated for 25 lbs. It runs on 2 D-cell batteries. I used my hand as the temperature gauge and found the 3-second spot.
After I got the whole bird settled it was time for the breasts. I used the unique smoker lid. I put the grill grate just a bit over the fire and let the smoke and heat fill the dome and do the work. Remarkably, all the breasts stayed within 2-3 degrees of each other no matter where they were on the grates. They turned out beautifully and will be cubed up for our diet salads all week.
Now for the surprise. My rotisserie chicken was looking amazing and I was within 5 degrees of being done. I went inside to get a pan and some gloves and came back outside and the chicken was resting on the hot coals on its back, thankfully. The pictures will show the post-mortem. I lost a wing (my favorite) and a drumstick. I was able to save most of the rest. It was as juicy and flavorful as the Costco chickens but mine was better because it was cooked over open flames.
My overall impression is great. I’ve always wanted an Argentinian style Santa Maria but my backyard can’t accommodate another big cooking device. Four smoker/grills is all my wife will tolerate, not counting the pizza oven. Open-fire grilling will be great on this new wonder. And the unique method of smoking under that giant dome worked out great. I think my next project will be a frozen chuck roast brisket style.
The bird bath. My tree has an abundance of lemons so I can be liberal with them.
Trussed and stabbed.
Fire is ready.
On it all goes.
Time for the smoker dome. You can see how I put it just a bit over the fire. I also had to account for the breeze that pushed the heat that direction.
This is where you put the dome when checking temps.
Super juicy and they were done about 45 minutes to an hour before the rotisserie bird.
Chickens can’t fly very far and this one only made it off the spit. I learned to check the screws more than once by doing it the wrong way, tonight. Oops. At least it fell on its back. Not a lot of good meat there anyway except the oysters.
Here’s the good side. You can see the ash coated wing and the demolished drumstick.
And here’s the damaged backside. There’s still a couple of coals hanging on. Not too bad and it only sat on the coals a couple of minutes. I guess it could have been much worse.
I brined a whole fancy cage free, organic chicken I got for $6. Not too bad. I also brined 6 huge chicken breasts at the same time, overnight. I prepped both with a favorite chicken seasoning and a lemon-pepper rub. The whole chicken went on the rotisserie. I trussed it and stabbed it with the rotisserie stabby things. A couple of good twists on the rod and on it went. The KUDU has a unique rotisserie in that it’s a single-point system. The picture shows what that means. It’s rated for 25 lbs. It runs on 2 D-cell batteries. I used my hand as the temperature gauge and found the 3-second spot.
After I got the whole bird settled it was time for the breasts. I used the unique smoker lid. I put the grill grate just a bit over the fire and let the smoke and heat fill the dome and do the work. Remarkably, all the breasts stayed within 2-3 degrees of each other no matter where they were on the grates. They turned out beautifully and will be cubed up for our diet salads all week.
Now for the surprise. My rotisserie chicken was looking amazing and I was within 5 degrees of being done. I went inside to get a pan and some gloves and came back outside and the chicken was resting on the hot coals on its back, thankfully. The pictures will show the post-mortem. I lost a wing (my favorite) and a drumstick. I was able to save most of the rest. It was as juicy and flavorful as the Costco chickens but mine was better because it was cooked over open flames.
My overall impression is great. I’ve always wanted an Argentinian style Santa Maria but my backyard can’t accommodate another big cooking device. Four smoker/grills is all my wife will tolerate, not counting the pizza oven. Open-fire grilling will be great on this new wonder. And the unique method of smoking under that giant dome worked out great. I think my next project will be a frozen chuck roast brisket style.
The bird bath. My tree has an abundance of lemons so I can be liberal with them.
Trussed and stabbed.
Fire is ready.
On it all goes.
Time for the smoker dome. You can see how I put it just a bit over the fire. I also had to account for the breeze that pushed the heat that direction.
This is where you put the dome when checking temps.
Super juicy and they were done about 45 minutes to an hour before the rotisserie bird.
Chickens can’t fly very far and this one only made it off the spit. I learned to check the screws more than once by doing it the wrong way, tonight. Oops. At least it fell on its back. Not a lot of good meat there anyway except the oysters.
Here’s the good side. You can see the ash coated wing and the demolished drumstick.
And here’s the damaged backside. There’s still a couple of coals hanging on. Not too bad and it only sat on the coals a couple of minutes. I guess it could have been much worse.
