KennethT

At the end of the day, it worked quite well. Actually one of the tastiest birds we've had in a long time... Definitely worth the effort.

Love it!

Thanks @btbyrd for weighing in. I have the Pok Pok book too - but I just posted what was available online so those who didn't could see it. Once you've said it, it makes sense that a surface brushing shouldn't really undo 12 hours of drying - especially since it'll get a couple more hours of drying afterwards. Last night, I made an equilibrium brine for my 1.2# poussin and about 4 cups of water in a ziplock bag to cover, thinking that the brine would probably affect the texture, if not flavor so much. I didn't bother with the lemongrass since I didn't have it handy, and any store relatively close to me gouges me a $2 a stalk. I'll use it for the stuffing, but not in the brine. I did crush up a couple garlic cloves and some peppercorns though. Personally, I don't think the flavorings of the brine are very essential since the chicken is dipped into a very flavorful sauce while eating - it's not typically eaten "naked", so subtle flavors would probably be lost.

I've never seen dried beans used in Thailand - but maybe I just overlooked them? I did see dried beans in the markets in Vietnam, but never saw them in a finished, cooked product - maybe they're only made at home?

I'm surprised the fish is less dry than the beef... Usually nothing is more dry than fish on a plane!

Interesting @Beebs. I've done the salt scrub thing when making HCR - it makes the skin nice and smooth but didn't have any other effect that I could tell. Also, your simmer/soak method is similar to what I used for lobsters based on Eric Ripert's method. He would make a court bouillon, have it simmer for a while, then kill the lobster with a knife, tear off the claws/tail and put them in the simmering liquid for like 5 or 10 minutes, then take the pot off the heat and let it soak for like 20 or 30 minutes more. Lobsters always came out perfect that way. Oddly enough, this is also what I had always done when cooking crawfish - throw them into the boiling pot of boil liquid, bring back to a simmer, then shut the heat off and let 'em soak for 10 minutes.

In my understanding, oven "roasting" is really just baking - where hot air conveys heat to the food. A rotisserie cooks solely through infrared - a true rotisserie or roast should be open to the air so the food is not heated at all by convection, but only from the heat source. Theoretically, the sinusoidal application of heat and room temperature as it spins towards and away from the heat source makes for very tasty birds.

Over on the Countertop Rotisserie forum, I decided to get a small inexpensive rotisserie, primarily to cook small birds for my wife and myself. For the machine's maiden voyage, I was planning on doing kai yaang (thai grilled chicken) from Pok Pok as I've had it in the restaurant in NY many times and always enjoy it - it is very similar to some of the great grilled chickens I've had in Thailand... Serious Eats put the recipe here, http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/11/andy-ricker-whole-roasted-chicken-game-hen-recipe-from-pok-pok-cookbook.html but I also have the book. The recipe calls for brining the bird overnight, then stuffing, and air drying in the refrigerator for 12 hours. I don't quite understand the purpose of this - I understand that letting it sit open in the refrigerator will help dry the skin - I used to do this with ducks and it worked great - but why brine beforehand? I've always thought that most of the flavorings put in a brine don't really affect meat flavor very much - except for the salt... but am I off base? Can it really add flavor and not just salt? Would that flavor dissipate in the 12 hour drying session? Then, after the bird is dried, it is marinated in soy/fish sauce/sugar for a couple hours. Why do this if you just spent 12 hours trying to dry the skin? If you're not going to overcook the bird, why brine in the first place? And if you're going to marinate in a wet marinade for a couple hours, why take 12 hours to dry the skin beforehand?

LCHF?

I've never had the soy sauce chicken, but I've had plenty of Hainanese chicken rice in Singapore, and similar versions in Vietnam and Thailand - and it seems that the best ones are cooked in simmering liquid, then plunged into an ice bath and until cooled - this stops the cooking and minimizes any carry over and helps gelatinize (is this a word?) the skin. I also think that the breed of bird has a lot to do with the meat texture as well. Back when I was doing more cooking, I'd done tests at home to recreate this, using the same method with 3 different breeds of chicken - and got vastly different results.

I'm hoping I don't hvae a problem with splatters either - I think this will be minimized since the heat source is between the meat and the reflector/shield - I imagine any splattering would be there, rather than the area where there is no heat applied and the meat faces room temperature. He says, crossing his fingers....

Wow @Chris Hennes your stuff looks amazing - all your practice is certainly paying off!

Thanks everyone for the replies... I decided to get the Key Top (the one on Ebay that I linked to above) but wound up getting it from Amazon for $69 plus free shipping. I'll report back once I've had a chance to use it...

@Paul BacinoHave you used it for whole chickens? How does the chicken sit on the spit? Does the majority of the weight just sit on the bottom plate? Otherwise, I'd imagine the spit would just spin inside the chicken without it turning.

Thanks both @andiesenji and @boilsover - I hadn't thought about the grease spitting all over - I was actually thinking about sitting it on top of my stove (which wouldn't be used at the time) and facing it towards the wall where I can hang a sheet of foil or something. No, it doesn't look like there is any distance adjustment, which would be nice, but I don't think critical for what I want to do... My biggest concern is how a chicken would sit on the central main spit - I don't see from the photos what would keep the spit from just turning inside the chicken while the chicken itself doesn't move, and I can't seem to find the user manual online... Also, FYI, I just saw this same machine on Amazon for $69 including shipping... So, I guess, worst comes to worst, I can get it from Amazon, take a look at it and the manual, and if I don't think it will work well, just return it and start looking all over again...

@andiesenji What do you think of the one I linked to above? One of the things I like about it is that it is open - there's no door there to trap heat inside and turn it into an oven rather than a true rotisserie. But I'm curious as to your thoughts since you're always so knowledgeable about this stuff!

@boilsoverwhich Farberware one do you have? It seems like you'd recommend it...

@rotuts I've tried that before, but rather than using the IP, I cooked chicken thighs SV, then chilled to refrigerator temp. Coat like normal but I fried in oil a bit hotter than normal because I wanted to brown the crust but only warm the insides to eating temp. It worked well, but I don't think the crust adhered as well as normal - sometimes it would come off in big flakes..... but I think it was definitely worth revisiting.

@JoNorvelleWalkerI prefer them too but they're more expensive... One of these days, I have to run down to the poultry market in chinatown - I've always seen good prices there on lots of different types of poultry - poussin, squab, quail, silkies, etc... I have lots of room in the laydown freezer in the corner of my dining room.

Either Chinatown, or I was thinking using rock cornish hens or poussin if I was feeling fancy...

I was looking at something like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Electric-Vertical-BBQ-Grill-Kebab-Machine-Kebab-Shawarma-Cooker-Rotisserie/332461249270?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D49451%26meid%3D511a5b67752049f5993eb435485e7741%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D332461249270&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3Afc8d7efe-f979-11e7-b4ca-74dbd1804888%7Cparentrq%3Af6c81d891600ab15e9eb1d82ffe78e27%7Ciid%3A1

This looks great, but is a lot more expensive than I was looking to spend...

Wow... that thing is huge! Way overkill for what I need - the biggest bird I'll cook weighs less than 3 pounds...

I've been lusting after a CSO for quite some time, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

@dcarch I've seen yours and, of course, have considered making my own. But since I don't have scrap material lying around, I'd have to buy all the parts, which seemed to cost about the same as a small, inexpensive prebuilt model. Not to mention the time to make it, which I'm a little short of right now...