When to take off duck or chicken? Telling signs of being ready?

[L2obin]

Hi Everyone.

Two days ago I eyeballed a butterflied duck roast in the Kamado to 1hr 30min at ~170c (no deflector, high level grate, and no turning of carcass- always spliced bone side down) It turned out a bit dry at the breasts and the very top wings and neck were a bit undercooked) I figured I will try it with a probe yesterday and will flip it to get the wings and neck better cooked. Cooking at 175c I flipped the duck at ~ 1/2hr mark as the internal breast temp was 66c. It quickly rose to 75c (done)and upon inspection the skin and meat seemed still quite undercooked. I took the probe out and cranked up the heat in the Kamado To crisped up the skin. ~ 5-min on each side and the skin looked ready.

Letting it rest for 15m I cut into the meat to find that it still seemed quite undercooked. I persisted with cutting up the carcass but it all turned out to be quite chewy and apparently undercooked.

I am left wondering how does one determine how a chook or a duck is ready? It appears that it shook be cookedway beyond the internal temp done? Any tips, tricks or advice here?

[Davo]

Can't comment on the use of Komado as I've never used one but with a kettle, I have fire one side and bird on the other which gives me a complete indirect cook. On a Komado I think the use of deflection plates give a similar effect.

I usually find that when the legs of a butterflied chicken (maybe same for duck) are loose and floppy, they are ready to come off the BBQ. I seen this technique in a Weber Video with Jamie Purviance, I tried it and worked for me...so stuck with it.

The breast is the part of the bird that's much lower in fat (white meat) so more care needs to be taken, you can get the meat juicier by placing it in a brine overnight, the breast will absorb liquid which will make it more less likely to go dry, or keep the breast area further away from the fire on an indirect cook....the legs or thigh areas have enough fat to help keep them moist so they'll go closer to the fire.

Cheers

Davo

[12x7]

Try cooking with the deflector in. It will make it cook more evenly with air flow.

With more air flow cooking you get better infusion of the smoke into the meat whether you use wood chunks or just straight from the charcoal.

Duck and chicken can behave quite differently as duck has a lot more fat in it.

Chicken example - note he has the deflector in under the drip tray. See how juicy the chicken is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-RBG4nHjsQ

[Turkey]

Are you sure that your probe is accurate e.g. have you tried the boiling water test?