BBQ65/17: Rotisserie Quail with rubs:
I am trying to run the freezer down and spotted the last 4 Quail from Norfolk Quail so decided to cook them. I had previously cold smoked then grilled Quail and cooked them on the rotisserie over the vortex so was keen to do something different this time. I found a tandoori quail recipe and was going to cook that but I wasn’t organised enough and didn’t have the ingredients.
The day before, Mac’s BBQ had sent me samples of some BBQ rubs from Don Marco they will be stocking soon. I usually make my own rubs and sauces, mainly because I enjoy making them myself but also because they are fairly simple (and cheap) to make and I know exactly what goes into them. With that in mind this bit of text about the rubs really stood out:
According to the motto: From the griller for the griller, the unusual creations are made free of flavour enhancers, artificial flavours or other additives which are subject to declaration. All DonMarco‘s Barbecue Rubs and Gewürzmischungen are produced according to our GreenLabel standard with selected and high-quality ingredients, without the use of declarative additives, taste enhancers (also no hidden!) Certified according to IFS Food Higher Level. And that without the tricks of the food industry. Honest products like you could make them at home.
Looking through the list there were 2 which stood out for the quail:
- PigWing: The legendary rub with a taste of bacon – perfect for chicken wings and all parts of chicken, roast pork and pork steaks, for chips, wedges, dips and much more.
- Crazy Chicken: Ideal for poultry with and without skin, white fish and much more. Stirred into yoghurt, it makes a fantastic tandoori style marinade.
PigWing appealed because it tastes of bacon and who doesn’t like bacon! I liked the idea of a crisp quail skin with a taste of bacon!
Crazy Chicken appealed because it says it makes a fantastic tandoori style marinade and I had wanted to cook tandoori quail. I had some Greek yoghurt in the fridge so I mixed them together ready to apply.
On my previous Quail cook I noted that the rubs didn’t stick too well to the quail’s and in future remember to oil them before applying the rubs so that’s what I did. I then used my spice shaker to apply the PigWing to 2x Quails. I used my hands to run the Crazy Chicken mix in to the other 2. Both rubs looked and smelt fantastic, I was looking forward to cooking them.
I threaded them sideways onto the rotisserie as it worked well that way last time. As there was 2 different rubs in use I stuck a potato in between to stop them touching:
The BBQ was set up with a full chimney of lit charcoal poured into the charcoal baskets to the sides with some pear chunks from Smokewood shack. I pushed the pear chunks right back so they wouldn’t hit the quail if they flamed up.
The previous cook took 40 minutes so I checked in at 20 minutes:
At 30 minutes they were really taking some colour:
At 40 minutes the internal temperature was just over 75c so it was time to take them off:
I pulled the quail off the rotisserie and left them to rest for a bit:
The quail was really juicy, it works well on the rotisserie and the rubs were a nice touch. The PigWing rub was very nice especially when you got a bit of crispy skin with the rub on as you could taste the bacon!
The Crazy Chicken was also nice and again, especially on the crispy skin. It hadn’t really penetrated through to the meat so I think it would work well left to marinade overnight.
Both rubs were great, tasted nice and added to the cook. I would keep these in the cupboard to cook with again.