Cooking on a gas grill

Hi,

Could someone offer tips on cooking on a gas grill?

I will be making buttermilk brined chicken tonight, which I usually make on my WEber Smokey Mountain without the waterpan. This evening, I am cooking over a gas grill.

When I do it on the WSM, use Gary's instructions circa 2005:

Cook skin up for 45-minutes. If not done brush skin with olive oil and flip.
Do not cook more than 10-15 minutes skin down or it will burn.

Chicken should be juicy, flavorful and have a nice crispy skin.

Don't forget to tell em where you got the recipe. <smile>

Enjoy,
Gary

How do I approach this type of cook on gas? The chicken will be closer to the heat source. Do I begin with a low to medium temperature and finish with a higher?

This particular Weber doesn't have heat zones left to right, it is top to bottom.

Any tips are appreciated.

Note: These will be thighs and wings.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

Could someone offer tips on cooking on a gas grill?

I will be making buttermilk brined chicken tonight, which I usually make on my WEber Smokey Mountain without the waterpan. This evening, I am cooking over a gas grill.

When I do it on the WSM, use Gary's instructions circa 2005:

Cook skin up for 45-minutes. If not done brush skin with olive oil and flip.
Do not cook more than 10-15 minutes skin down or it will burn.

Chicken should be juicy, flavorful and have a nice crispy skin.

Don't forget to tell em where you got the recipe. <smile>

Enjoy,
Gary

How do I approach this type of cook on gas? The chicken will be closer to the heat source. Do I begin with a low to medium temperature and finish with a higher?

This particular Weber doesn't have heat zones left to right, it is top to bottom.

Any tips are appreciated.

Note: These will be thighs and wings.

Regards,

Cathy,

I've only cooked on a gas grill a couple of times, but when I made chicken at my Mom's house on one, I preheated the oven...er...grill on high heat for 20 minutes or so, then I completely turned off the burners on one side of the grill and cooked the chicken there (on the cool side) for 20 - 25 minutes, skin side up. After that, I flipped it skin side down on the hot side of the grill to brown and crisp the skin for a few minutes, then flipped it over again (still on the hot side) and did the same for the non-skin side. Check the temp at that point (if you need to). It should be done.

In your case, I'd make the rear the hot side and the front the cool side, so you don't have to reach over the high heat to deal with the chicken. Watch our for flareups!

Steve is right on. I cook on gas all the time. Preheat the grill for at least 15 minutes, and then treat it like an oven. I'm not sure which Weber you have, but I know the configuration. Once the Grill has warmed up, check the thermometer in the lid. They are not exactly accurate, but are a good approximation. If there are 2 burners, turn one off and leave the other around the middle setting. If there are 3 burners, I tend to turn off 2 of them, and leave the remaining one at medium, or turn the front and back ones to low and the middle off and kinda move the chicken towards the middle, so it is more indirect heat. At those settings the grill should hover around 350-400 degrees. It becomes just like roasting in your oven. Keep the chicken from directly over the burners to minimize the amount of flare-ups.

If you are looking for a little more smoke flavor, which you don't typically get on gas grills, create a foil packet with some soaked wood chips in it. Poke a few holes and throw that below the grates a few minutes before putting the chicken on to give it a chance to ignite and smoke. You can also throw chunks under the grates near the burners and get them to ignite, but it does not always work as well.

Once the chicken is nearing done, if the skin is not crisped to your desired level, crank the heat up like you would in the oven. Most Webers can easily get to 600+ degrees with the burners cranked, which will crisp the skin quickly.

STEve Z and thetrob,

Thank you both for your information and advice. Without it, my family would have had to suffer through burnt chicken. What we had was pretty good for a first effort.

Everything took a little longer than expected, which was ok with my low level of expertise on gas grills.

STeve made a point to watch for flare ups. What is the best practice with gas grills? I tried to rearrange food fast, then close the hood.

Again, thanks!

Regards,
Cathy2

C2--

I deal with flare-up with a plastic squeez-squirt bottle filled with water. You can apply a minimal amount of water to quench the flare up by adjusting the volume of the spray.

Other bbq applications of the bottle include spraying beer at necessary times upon certain items being cooked! : )

Geo