BBQ 16 week roo? Calling all BBQ experts

[patman75]

I processed a big 16 week sexlink roo and i was thinking about BBQing him. The this roo and the last roo I processed meat was very lean and not much fat and I was surprised on how much darker the dark meat was compared to your normal CX meat birds.

I'm worried about since the meat is so lean that BBQing this roo that the meat will dry out very quickly. Has anyone have any expierence with this.

Thanks

 

[Ahab]

With big tough birds, as with all big tough cuts of meat, the secret to cooking is low and slow. That's the definition of Barbecue: low and slow over smoking coals. Anything else is grilling. Which is not for old and tough cuts of meat.

What kind of grill/smoker/other cooking device are you using? What kind of flavors do you typically like in barbecue (the noun, not the adjective or verb)?

I've done this for many years, and am happy to suggest specific techniques if you can supply a bit more information about your requirements and setup.

 

[patman75]

Weber, propane grill.

Nothing too fancy.

I'm grilling chicken for my daughter B-day party and was going to throw this roo in with the rest of chicken (pasture raised Xs). I just dont want to waste him since I raised and processed this roo. Since he is only 16 weeks I don't expect him to be tough at all.

 

[Ahab]

With a 16-week rooster, I shouldn't think anything fancy would do more than hide the taste of home-raised chicken. But because it has some credentials, you need to cook it fairly slowly to prevent toughening the meat.

FWIW, with birds like this that I mean to roast whole (or, if there's room on the grill, butterflied: cut down on both sides of the backbone, remove it for the stockpot freezer bag, and then crack the breastbone by leaning on it until the bird lays flat; a butterflied chicken cooks much more evenly on a grill), I just sprinkle them all over, inside and out, with salt and pepper (one level tablespoon Kosher salt per five pounds of bird), and let them sit on a rack in the fridge for 24 hours so the salt penetrates the meat and the air tightens and dries the skin.

About an hour before cooking, I let them come to room temperature, and then rub all over with fat (olive oil, butter, bacon grease, whatever), and then set them in a preheated grill, with everything on high, for five minutes; then (with a gas grill), I'd turn off all burners but one, and turn that one to about half-way, and then cook the chicken in the cool part of the grill, turning about every 20 minutes. Should take about 25-35 minutes per pound, but you can tell when it's truly done by moving the leg freely in the thigh socket, or by seeing if juice from the vent runs clear--or, the most precise way--by testing the thickest part of the thigh with a probe thermometer: you're looking for about 160F.

Probably more than you want to know about roasting a chicken, but a properly roasted chicken is one of the world's true perfect foods.

 

[EggsForIHOP]

Stick him over top of a beer can (mostly full of beer - it's tradition here to give a sip or 2 to the chef prior to stuffing the can up the backside of the bird), season with a little season all salt, and make sure you keep the temps in there LOW. you can even wrap in a little foil if you want. DH likes to baste with a little more beer/7up mixture periodically. They come out tender and juicy! Never used a grill like yours...we have a ginormous smoker thing...but I can see your set up working. Or do the same prep and throw this one in the oven instead to keep the temps low (I like 250 for several hours in the oven). The trick to the even cooking with the bird whole seems to be that it is standing up on the can. Don't know why, but it works pretty well that way.