14 WSM - miso marinated whole chicken

[Bbqmiller]

Marinated two whole chickens in a miso marinade overnight. Rinsed and ready for a drying in the fridge till this afternoon.

More pics to follow

[Weber MD]

Never heard of a miso marinade.  Care to share the recipe?

[Bbqmiller]

Never heard of a miso marinade.  Care to share the recipe?

Miso is a fermented bean past used a lot in Japanese dishes . It is a common soup served at sushi restaurants.
I used the recipe from Gary Wiviott's low and slow .
1/2 cup yellow miso paste
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 rice wine
2 tbl spoons brown sugar
1 tbl sesame oil
I added these and enough water (~ 8 cups) in a 2.5 gallon ziplock to cover two chickens. This is a little more dilute, but I let it soak a little longer than the recipe calls for (12 hours). The paste has a fair amount of salt so you need to make sure it doesn't soak too long.

[Weber MD]

Thank you.  Will have to give it a try.

[Bbqmiller]

No water in pan. Placed a layer of ceramic bricks and covered with foil.

Minion with the can in the middle using lump. 2/3 thirds lit lump. Added a bit more unlit on top to fill ring. One chunk of pecan and one of apple.

Cooker started at 260 or so after both birds were on - all vents open. About 45 minutes, temp creeped up. Two lower vents closed to maintain temp around 300-315 (at lower grate).
Breast in lower hit 165 at around 2 hours. Checked top bird- it was done too.

Both birds before a wrap in foil and rest


They were real juicy, but the marinade didn't seem to impart much flavor. I probably diluted it a bit too much. They still had a nice smoky flavor - pecan/apple is great with chicken.
Also cooked up some cornbread and steamed some cauliflower on the 26


I do think I could have hit 350 or so if I hadn't closed two of the vents. Took a peek and still half a ring of lump.

[HankB]

Looks good! I think a 14.5" grate is about perfect for a decent size chicken and the little WSM can fit two.

I'm not surprised that the brine didn't impart much flavor. I think the components would be subtle at best and there's really nothing wrong with that. If the chicken remained moist then the brine did the job.

[Bbqmiller]

Looks good! I think a 14.5" grate is about perfect for a decent size chicken and the little WSM can fit two.

I'm not surprised that the brine didn't impart much flavor. I think the components would be subtle at best and there's really nothing wrong with that. If the chicken remained moist then the brine did the job.

Thanks Hank, I think you are right The chicken was really juicy. I took a few more pics to show how I ran this cook.
Foiled the bowl and lined with a layer of ceramic briquettes.

Another layer of foil to keep the briquettes from soaking in grease. Did a good job if collecting drippings.

About 1/2 ring of lump left

Still some space for ash underneath grate.


Definitely lump is preferred over briquettes in the little guy for minimal ash production and ability to push the temp up.

[HankB]

Definitely lump is preferred over briquettes in the little guy for minimal ash production and ability to push the temp up.

I used lump in mine on the second cook and t worked great. It held a steadier temperature than any of my other cookers.