Your first dinner is for learning the basics of operating the WSM; you shouldn't be able to screw this up even if you try, but just in case, that's why we're cooking $8 worth of chicken instead of $50 worth of ribs.
Ingredients Needed:
• Two whole chickens, backs cut out and saved for soup, then split into two halves, and legs twisted to disjoint (not cut)
• 1 bottle of Goya Mojo Criollo (available in the ethnic foods section of any grocery with Latino customers)
• 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 1-gallon Ziploc bags
Plus: everything shown on the What You Need page
8 to 10 hours before dinner:
Place two chicken halves in each of two separate 1-gallon Ziploc bags
Shake bottle of Goya Mojo, add half of 32-oz bottle to each Ziploc bag
Add 1/4 cup olive oil to each bag containing chicken
Squeeze 1/2 lemon in each bag containing chicken
Marinate in refrigerator for 6-8 hours
2 hours before dinner:
Start WSM fire utilizing Wiviott KISS Method. You will only use the top cooking grate of the WSM for your first cook.
Empty Ziploc bags. Pat chicken halves dry, brush with olive oil and season lightly.
Disjoint leg thigh (twist joint out of socket, do not cut with knife).
When fire is ready and water pan and grates are in place, ring chicken halves, skin-up, breast side in, around the cooking grate.
Place chicken as close to the middle, without crowding, as possible. The outside inch of the cooking grate is hotter due to air flow coming up around the water pan. This is also why you place the chicken breast side-in on the grate. Chicken breast is more susceptible to drying out than the leg/thigh.
Put the lid on (top vent open) and cook for 1-1/2 hours without peeking. (I go by the 3/4 rule—don't open the lid until at least 3/4 of the total expected cooking time has passed.)
At the 1-1/2 hour mark check the chicken; the easiest way is to puncture it and see if the juices are running clear, or if they're still pinkish. I actually don't recommend using an instant read thermometer for the first couple of cooks; focusing on temperature, either the WSM's or the internal temp of the chicken, simply leads to mistakes when you let the numbers overrule your instincts. However, if you must do it by the numbers, the breast is done when it reads 155 degrees F and the thigh when it reads 165.
If it's not done yet, spray with Pam or olive oil or similar, turn the pieces over, then check again every 15 minutes. Also check the water pan, and refill to 1" from the top if needed (pouring carefully through the center of the grate so as not to spill onto the coals). Always check the water pan whenever the top is off; the rate of water loss varies tremendously depending on heat, outside temperature and wind, etc., and it is important to always have water in the pan for temperature regulation.
This first cook is simplicity in itself, you will not need to adjust the vents, nor should you open the WSM lid (dome). Simply start the fire, add the wood chunks, assemble the WSM, make sure all vents are open, both top and bottom, and leave the chicken the hell alone for 1-1/2 hours.
Two points that bear repeating: 1) the top (dome) vents on the WSM should always be wide open, not just for your first cook, but any and all times there is anything edible in the WSM. And 2) when filling the WSM water pan, always fill to within 1 inch of the top.
Have fun and remember, with BBQ you get to eat your mistakes. Here's what yours will look and taste like:
What's that? You saw some tips on the Virtual Weber site, you had some leftover charcoal and figured what the hey, you smoked bologna instead of chicken... come here. No, closer. Stand right there and look at me.
SMACK!
Here's what I said to someone else like you who, dammit, didn't do what he was told:
Dear [name of the damned withheld],
First thing to do is stop reading the Virtual Weber site until you finish the 5-Step Program. It's not that the VW site is not chock full of good info, it's a great resource, but if you pick up on techniques and methods from VW and try to incorporate them into the 5-Step things will get confusing and not work all that well. Also the VW site and I have very different philosophies on BBQ. VW is populated by engineers, there is much emphasis on time charts, temperature, ambient temp, etc. The 5-Step cares about none of that, you start the fire, put in the meat and leave it the hell alone.
Next, go take that damn candy thermometer out of the top vent of your WSM. Not only is the candy thermometer blocking part of a top vent, which can promote smoldering, leading to creosote, but the candy thermometer is meant to be inserted in liquid, not read air temp, plus heat rises and you will not get an accurate reading anyway.
We don't care about 'no stinking temperature' at this point in the 5-Step. You're learning to read fires and meat, not thermometers.
Also, do not reuse charcoal, ever. Charcoal is absorbent, it drinks in moisture from the air, that's why it's often used as a filter. Moist, damp charcoal cooks slow and give off off flavors, not to mention that you should not be using Kingsford in the first place. Kingsford is made up of a witch's brew of chemicals, lump charcoal is a natural product. Remember, my WSM 5-Step is not about cooking individual cuts of meat, it's about learning fire control in your WSM. Good BBQ is all about the fire. I fully realize that for the first couple of cooks there is way too much charcoal for a couple of chickens, that's because it's not about the chickens, or even if the chickens turn out to be delicious, or not, it's about learning to manage the fire.
Ok, now do Step-1 again, ditch the thermometer, ditch the Kingsford, ditch the Brinkman 2-gallon charcoal pan (go back to the stock WSM waterpan) and do the cook the way I outlined. Remember, right from the start I said that you have to follow the 5-Steps exactly or there was really no sense in starting. Don't toss the Brinkman pan, you can use it later, in fact that's what I use, but the 5-Step is a do as I say program, not as I do.
If you are still interested in continuing the 5-Step great, if I come off strong and you think I'm full of soot, and wish to discontinue that's perfectly understandable, no hard feelings. But the deal is please follow instructions exactly or not at all.
Cordially but firmly,
Prof. Wiviott
