1 chimney of used briquettes and new. Probably 75% used. Unfortunately, they’re all match light due to an unfortunate grocery store discount excitement.
The goal is to cook 6.39# of boneless skinless chicken breasts.
I rolled the chicken in some James Gang Chipotle Chicken Rub that we acquired at a farmer’s market on the coast a while back.
I think that putting match light charcoal in a chimney is not advised because they burn too hot. Mistake number one.
So, I was going for a two stage fire. I realized (too late) that I built a two stage fire, where stage one was way too hot, and stage two was room temperature. Hmm.
I placed the chicken roughly in the middle on the divide between the two zones. I went back inside to bring out the grill thermometers, only to return to one chicken on fire. This chicken is going to be a little Cajun.
Despite the burnings, my thermopop informed me that the chicken was a solid 88 degrees within. To the colder zone it went.
Somewhere in here, I decided to spread the coals, thinking they were fueling each other’s fire. That may or may not have been a good idea. It did heat up the other half, but it also eliminated my cooler side.
I did put the lid on with half vent open to hopefully even the temperature and help the charcoal burn a bit more slowly.
The lid seems to be the key to contolling the heat (duh). After I did that, the chicken started warming inernally and we ended up getting some nice chicken off the grill!
Things I would do differently:
- Not match light charcoal
- proper two stage fire
- Earlier lid control
- Thermometer all ready ahead of cook time