Smoked some chickens this weekend....

The older I get, the less smoke I like. Don't get me wrong, I love smoked meats but a less is more. I'll smoke a chicken 45 minutes then finish it in a 330 oven.

Actually our favorite chicken is brined beer butt on a Weber over Kingsford Mesquite.

Pork shoulder injected with a blend of EVOO, SALT, GARLIC and oregano puréed smoked a few hours then into the oven tented in foil at 220 for 4-5 hours.

Brisket smoked for two hours then Sous Vide at 134 for 24 hours.

Super_Dave wrote:

NYCgrrl wrote:

Oh and since smoking is pretty much a low and slow form of cooking I'd use the basic recipe for brining as opposed to high heat.

"Low and slow" is designed to help breakdown tough meat. This is absolutely not necessary with poultry and is actually detrimental to poultry skin and makes for a rubber texture. Smoke poultry hot and you will not only get juicy meat but a crisp skin.

Agreed, I smoke chickens fairly quickly at higher temp, just like in the oven. Poultry takes up the smoke flavor quickly so you don't need a lot.

IT for chicken is 165*

I like to use a temp probe when I cook chicken or turkey. What internal temp do you cook to ?

Thanks,

Tim

Super_Dave wrote:
Unless folks just like burning time, I use 300 - 325 but that's in part because my smoker will deliver that. People with electric smokers with an upper limit of 250 can just turn it up full throttle. I smoke half or full chickens in about an hour and a half. Air drying and a low temp smoke probably means an all afternoon process and at the end of the day I'm still just eating chicken. LOL! And to be clear, I am by no means saying that other methods aren't valid but just wanted to throw an alternate idea out there. I get annoyed when people think that there is only one way to cook something to get good results.

Got ya! I haven't a dedicated smoker or the space to grill or "q" at home, so spend winters reading "theory" about grilling, bbquing and smoking in anticipation of the summer. Always open to new ideas and your posts brighten my days:).

As for spatchcocking...what's not to love? Faster and more even cooking and the backs make excellent additions to the stock pot:C.

X2 on brining. I use kosher salt or sea salt for my brine. Poultry tastes 1000 times better with brining. I'll try the spatchcock idea next time.

Super_Dave wrote:
Unless folks just like burning time, I use 300 - 325 but that's in part because my smoker will deliver that. People with electric smokers with an upper limit of 250 can just turn it up full throttle. I smoke half or full chickens in about an hour and a half. Air drying and a low temp smoke probably means an all afternoon process and at the end of the day I'm still just eating chicken. LOL! And to be clear, I am by no means saying that other methods aren't valid but just wanted to throw an alternate idea out there. I get annoyed when people think that there is only one way to cook something to get good results.

More than one way to skin a cat, I mean smoke chicken.

I had my pit temp @ 230-240, and for the last 10* of the internal temp I jumped the pit temp to 325+. Skin came out great.

If you spatchcock (remove the backbone) the birds the smoking/cooking time gets cut in half.

Many different methods, and all work great.

Unless folks just like burning time, I use 300 - 325 but that's in part because my smoker will deliver that. People with electric smokers with an upper limit of 250 can just turn it up full throttle. I smoke half or full chickens in about an hour and a half. Air drying and a low temp smoke probably means an all afternoon process and at the end of the day I'm still just eating chicken. LOL! And to be clear, I am by no means saying that other methods aren't valid but just wanted to throw an alternate idea out there. I get annoyed when people think that there is only one way to cook something to get good results.

Super_Dave wrote:

NYCgrrl wrote:

Oh and since smoking is pretty much a low and slow form of cooking I'd use the basic recipe for brining as opposed to high heat.

"Low and slow" is designed to help breakdown tough meat. This is absolutely not necessary with poultry and is actually detrimental to poultry skin and makes for a rubber texture. Smoke poultry hot and you will not only get juicy meat but a crisp skin.

What temperature (external) do you advocate smoking chickens at? As for rubbery skin when brining doesn't air drying help to reverse that problem whether smoking, roasting or grilling poultry?

I certainly agree that adjusting the temperature at the end will give a smoked chicken crisp skin:).

Iraqvet05 wrote:
I have an older version of that smoker and love it! I've never cook whole chickens but thighs and drumsticks are usually done in 3-3.5 hours at 225. Watch the venturi on the smoker...it's a little metal screen between the burner valve and burner that lets oxygen into the burner tube. I had a spider web cover the venturi and flame was producing soot that ruined some chicken I cooked a few weeks ago. I'll have to try the brine method one day!

That's good to know! I'll have to check my smoker.