I've had a BGE for a few years now. Pretty happy with my purchase except I would have gone for the biggest one I could have afforded at the time (or saved). I have a medium and for someone who likes to entertain, it's just too small. I'll usually cook on my Weber Kettle. The BGE is a tank, does everything as advertised and holds pretty good resale value. Temp control is pretty awesome on it. I smoked a pork shoulder on there for 18 hours and it held steady at 225 for 18 hours on one load of charcoal. On the other end of the spectrum, I've got the BGE to temps well over 800F for searing. Burnt all the hair off my forearm because I forgot to burp the grill. If I could do it again, I would opt for the XL or even an oval shaped kamado. It just makes more sense to me. The medium, though, is perfect for a couple or small family. As far as cooking a whole chicken, co-sign on spatchcock. IMO the most important thing is to not over cook chicken, and the easiest way to do that is with a thermometer. Finally, for some pretty cool accessories, check out http://www.ceramicgrillstore.com/ I suppose if you already own a BGE you've seen this site before. OK I'm done.
...and quail, and dove, and...well I guess I've never tried a duck Never heard of a spatchcock, I just always called it "butterflied"
I'm looking at buying this model, read countless reviews and all are positive . It's supposed to perform just as well as the ceramic models and at a third of the cost . Lots of youtube videos on this model for anyone interested http://www.homedepot.com/p/Char-Gri...l-Grill-in-Brown-26720/205310003?N=5yc1vZbx8h
I just read some stuff on that grill. It looks to be pretty decent. You might want to head to Amazon.com and read some of the 1-star ratings, though. The quality seems to be a bit inconsistent and the customer service seems to leave people wanting. Some of the owners aren't too confident that the unit will last for the long haul. The Amazon model was discontinued earlier this year, but you can still get an idea of what the grill and company are like from those reviews. There are a ton of positive ones there as well. At $350, though, it's probably worth the risk. I'd hope to get 4-5 good years out of it and then upgrade to a higher quality one if needed/wanted.
put it on a plate in the fridge, uncovered, and not touching anything else, for 1-2 days. then grill.
