Pitts & Spitts Maverick 2000: The 1-Hour Smoke Cage Test
Real Smoke Flavor in About an Hour
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Introduction
A Hot and Fast Whole Chicken With Real Wood Smoke
What's up BBQ fans! Today on the patio, we're finally answering the number one question in my comments: "Jake, when are we going to see the Pitts & Spitts?" Today's the day. This is the first cook on my new Pitts & Spitts Maverick 2000, and I kept it simple: a whole chicken, a hot and fast cook, and a test of the smoke cage.
It's not for lack of trying. We've had three weeks of highs around 9°F and nights near zero, plus a lot of wind, so I leaned on the Komodo Kamado, which doesn't care about the cold. Let me tell you, there's nothing worse than getting a brand-new smoker and watching the snow not melt for three weeks.
The Big Question
The smoke cage is one of the reasons I picked the Pitts & Spitts. It sits next to the firebox and holds big chunks of wood, not just pellets. We all know the problem with pellet grills: the higher the temperature, the cleaner the fire and the less smoke you get. So can the cage put real smoke flavor into a chicken that's only on the grill for about an hour?
The Setup
Smoke cage: one straw round fire starter, lit, with three or four fist-sized chunks of oak on top
Pellets: Bear Mountain Pecan, on the lighter side for poultry
Grill temp: 400°F. I'd normally go a little hotter for chicken, but I wanted to slow things down just a touch to take advantage of that smoke.
Grates: the stainless expansion grates, with the chicken on the bottom grate right over the firebox door for some bottom heat
Once the grill hit 400°F, I waited another 10 minutes so the bottom grate could soak up some heat.
The Prep
This was an air-chilled chicken, so there's not a lot of liquid in the package, and we want to keep it that way. Dry skin is crispy skin. I emptied the cavity and gave it a liberal coat of John Henry's Texas Chicken Tickler on all sides. It's salt first, then garlic, onion, pepper, a little turmeric and a bit of sugar. It's made for chicken, and it has lots of garlic. If you don't like garlic, I'm not sure we can be friends.
Then I let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes while the grill came up to temp.
The Cook
I put the probe from my Typhur Sync Gold Dual (use code: RUMANDCOOK to save 10%) halfway into the breast to track the cook. I'm not taking the breast to 165°F. I pull it at around 150 to 152°F and let carryover do the rest, then spot-check with the Typhur InstaProbe (use code: RUMANDCOOK to save 10%) to be sure.
When the chicken hit that bottom grate, we got a nice sizzle and a whole bunch of smoke. At 400°F on a pellet grill you normally wouldn't see any. That's the cage doing its job.
From there it was hands-off. I took the dogs for a walk and only came back once to peek.
Cook time: about 1 hour 10 to 15 minutes
Pull: breast at around 150 to 152°F
Rest: 15 minutes
Taste Test
That skin was nice and crunchy, and the meat was tender with plenty of juice running when I cut into it. There's even a tiny smoke ring, so you know the smoke got in.
Was it a smoke bomb? Honestly, not a ton. But after just an hour and 15 minutes at 400°F, you can see some smoke and taste some smoke. Anytime you get smoke flavor into a chicken and the skin isn't rubbery, that's a good chicken. For a first cook, I'm impressed.
Final Thoughts
If you've got a Pitts & Spitts with the smoke cage, use it on your hot and fast cooks. It adds flavor a pellet fire alone won't give you at 400°F.
Pro tip: pull the breast at 150 to 152°F and rest it 15 minutes. You'll get juicy white meat without drying it out.
The cold weather's almost gone, so I'll be banging out a lot more cooks on the Maverick 2000. Tell me in the comments what you want to see next.
If you're looking to take your pellet grilling game to the next level, check out my Pellet Grill Mastery Bundle.
Thanks For Watching
Whether you're a seasoned pitmaster or a novice, these tips will enhance your cooking skills and leave your family and friends raving about your delicious, smoky creations. Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more step-by-step videos, and let's together become the barbecue heroes we were meant to be!
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