Roasted Chicken Quarters

Roasted Chicken Quarters - Decided to run an experiment to save on the cleanup of my MAK 2 Star wood pellet smoker-grill. I pretty much replace the foil on my grill almost after every cook but looking to see if I can delay the foil replacement. When foiling your grill I recommend using large sheets of heavy duty foil that can be found at your favorite big box store like Costco or Sam's Club.

Chicken is perfect for this test since it tends to be greasy and messy. Even though I always trim most of the excess skin and fat before seasoning there is still a lot grease that's generated when roasting chicken quarters. This test consists of creating a foil pan and placing a small rack, sprayed with non-stick spray, inside the pan for the chicken to sit on. My thinking is that this will allow the grease to run off the chicken and pool under the rack during the straight out roasting of the chicken quarters at 425ºF.

The use of a formed foil pan test was an unqualified success! The rack served its purpose beautifully and allowed the chicken fat/grease to pool under the rack while roasting the chicken and it's skin perfectly. Needless to say, my foiled MAK 2 Star remained clean and ready for the next cook. Whenever possible I highly recommend the use of heavy duty foil to protect your wood pellet smoker-grill. I find it easier to replace a few sheets of foil than scraping all that old gunk that gets baked on if it's not foiled.

If you want crispy skin then you need to roast chicken at temperatures at or above 400ºF. It's difficult to beat the exquisite taste of a well seasoned crispy chicken skin. For the most part we don't eat the skin anymore but I couldn't resist - man-o-man was it ever good!. I often read where others state you only need to take chicken quarters to an internal temperature of 165ºF but I reserve that temperature for chicken breasts. When cooking chicken dark meat, thighs/drumsticks/quarters I always take them to an internal temperature of 180ºF. In the case of chicken breasts I actually take them to 170ºF and they're still extremely moist and tender.

Season with a good extra virgin olive oil under and on the skin before seasoning the chicken quarters with your favorite poultry rub. Try using Lawry's Perfect Blend Chicken & Poultry Rub - I think you'll be pleasantly impressed.