Smoking chicken

Let's hear those recipes & tips.

I'm finally firing up my smoker never smoked a chicken.

I could never keep em lit.

small handtorch and puff

Put it in bong. And use a propane torch
Pluck it first

Never smoked poultry. A lot of fish... catfish, trout, salmon, white bass. I'd be concerned about the internal temp of the bird.

I smoke chicken and turkey all the time. You'll want to wet smoke it and stick a thermometer in it. You're aiming for 165 degrees but pull it at 160 and let it rest for the last 5 degrees. Stick the thermometer the same place you do a turkey. I would keep the smoker between 200 and 250 degrees. I wouldn't worry about seasoning. That won't really do much since it will be on the skin and the skin won't really be edible much unless you really like smoke. If anything you can toss your herbs in the water pan, that will season it better than just putting it on the bird. Don't let the water pan dry out. You could atomize the grease and have a grease fire. (don't ask).

Smoked many, but never inhaled.

Skip the zig zag....just roll it in a Cub foods bag

Put a green leaf in the small end for a filter...feathers on is fine ...make sure its croaked before lighting
Don't ask me how I know all this

When I do turkey, I wrap with 1# of bacon(pin it with toothpicks). I sometimes inject butter into the breast. About half way done I change the beacon out and pin new bacon on. You probably wouldn't have to fo that on a chicken. Use an internal thermometer for temperature. It helps to let the bird on the counter for an hour or so to warm up. It helps take the smoke better. Temp about 225, I'll bump the heat up at the end to finish the bird out. I put 50 minutes of smoke to a Turkey, adjust for the chicken if need be.

you want to brine them first... cant find my recipe right now but its salt and morton tender quick and apple juice.... put em in clean 5 gal buckets and brine at least 24 hrs... ... then smoked man they was juicy theres recipes on the net.... in my opinion ya need to brine to get the moist chicken... i did it along with a hog for my sons graduation... and the chicken was a hit !!

Warm water, Morton tender quick, garlic and onion powder mix it up well, submerge the bird (I usually do 3 at a time as you might as well not waste the heat) let it soak for 8 hours in the fridge. Pull it out and pat dry. Dust lightly with your choice or rub.

Run your smoker up to 250 until you reach an internal breast temp of around 140. Crank her up to 375 until it’s finished. You have to get 20/30 mins of high heat to crisp the skin. I alternate between beer can and spatchcock. If I spatchcock, I typically turn breast side down when cranking the heat and finishing. Hard to get crispy skin on the smoker unless you really push it. Probably safer to bring it to temp on the smoker, then finish on the grill.

The longer you brine, the saltier it gets.

I used to give smoked turkeys and chicken to friends and relatives for Christmas, always a big hit. I would mix up a brine with salt, tender quick, brown sugar and garlic. I would inject them with brine and then soak for 48 to72 hours. I cold smoked for 3 to 4 hours then finished them in the oven.

I have not tried it yet, but on America's Test Kitchen, last week, they cooked a beef brisket slowly and more coolly by putting charcoal briquettes in a circle, that was not completely closed. They lighted one end of the charcoal circle by placing well started charcoal on it. They put hickory chunks in a pan of water in the middle for smoke and steam. I am going to try cooking pork and chicken that way, using wood blocks instead of charcoal, when the weather improves.

Keith

Rofl hand torch and a bong

Thanks. What is the average cook time for you guys?

I've been googling and temps and times are all over the place

Poultry is easily overpowered by smoke so use fruitwoods, alder, maple or pecan. Avoid stronger flavored woods. I love apple for poultry. Poultry also can be dry if care is not used. Brining and water pans work. I prefer butter under the skin, apple, onion, garlic, celery and carrot plus herbs in the cavity and trussed with the skin oiled with olive oil.

https://trapperman.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/6636429/re-smoker-recipes#Post6636429 you can see the last time this was posted, then click the link in my reply there to see it the time before that when it was posted.

Thanks ADC

Decided last night to smoke a 2nd chicken at the same time. Should I increase the time and or temp

Time

The brine you list is the brine I use for everything. Except I usually go with cup and a cup instead of 3/4 cup salt/brown sugar. If all I have for salt is fine table salt I use 3/4 cup. Catfish, Lake Trout, Salmon, Chicken, Beaver Jerky, all get the same brine. Started doing that years ago and it sure simplified things. For wood I almost always use punky/rotten Cottonwood or dead Cottonwood soaked overnight. I like to cut a 4"-6" Cottonwood log into 1" thick disks when I can find them. They soak up water fast and don't catch fire very easy, just smolder when laid on coals.

I brined them as you stated ADC. 1 was left whole the other was spatchcoked.
Used apple wood chips since they came with the smoker.
I made a rub abs stuffed the whole one half a Granny Smith 3 garlic cloves and a few chunks of carrot.
I just put them in the smoker a little bit ago

America's Test Kitchen is an off shoot of 'Cooks Illustrated' magazine. Good magazine. I subscribed for years. It is a no bs magazine. The format is similar to consumer reports , but dealing with cooking. Just like consumer reports , there is NO advertising at all in the magazine. This way they have a completely unbiased opinion. They have articles about recipes , kitchen techniques and kitchen equipment. I remember one article were they got 40 or different cake pans costing from a couple dollars to as much as a $100 cake pan. They tested them out a bunch of different ways with different recipes. The winner , a $4 Ecko pan.
Another article I remember was one where they got 120 or so turkeys. They bought them at cheap supermarkets , from farmers fresh , frozen, gourmet ones, all different. Tested out different ways , styles , methods of cooking them under different scenarios. One thing they found out , even with getting the best ones they could find there was a markedly improved turkey when you brined it. A cheap frozen supermarket turkey when brined was superior to a gourmet organic fresh turkey that was not brined.
Real results , no outside forces skewing the outcome , 100% unbiased. Great for improving your cooking and cutting down the learning curve of trial and error. They also spend a fair amount of time on the actual science of cooking. Understanding how fats and starches react when various chemical/thermal processes are taking place and why , broken down into layman's terms and how it effects you and the dish you are preparing.

I highly recommend this magazine/TV show. Encourage your spouse/kids learning to cook to take interest in it.

I like America's Test Kitchen/ cooks country.

Shortly after I put ther bird's in it started raining the meaning the smoker temp dropped. I moved it under the patio temp wouldn't come up more than 185ish moved it and blocked it better temps steady around 200 225 and that's with it turned all the way up. Never had an electric smoker so this is new to me.

I like to leave brinded birds in to 170 maybe 175 degrees internal temp. This will dry out a unbrined bird but not a brined one. Pay little attention to how long it takes.

Thanks I will take the internal temp in a bit. Even opening the door for a few seconds to add chips dramatically drops the smoker temp.

The whole bird which was on the bottom rack is now resting.

Finished whole. Fell apart taking it off the rack


Both together.

To hard to keep lit.... crack an egg???

???
What do you mean crack an egg?

A steady rain and light breeze made it hard to keep the temp but once I got moved it and "insulated" around the smoker it maintained temp.

Sides were jambalaya rice and red lobster biscuits.

I am going to smoke 2 this weekend. Good idea thanks

ROFL trapper234

let us know how they come out grapestomper.

Adam,

This is a quick way, but it is really good. I buy whole fryers at the grocery store and cut them in half. Then I put them in 2.5 gallon freezer bags in brine solution and put in fridge. I use 1 cup Fiesta brand chicken or pork rub, 1 cup brown sugar, and 1 cup worcestershire sauce in the bag full of water.

Brine 6-8 hours and take out and pat dry. Rub the chickens well with olive oil and then liberally put your favorite rub all over them.

Put the chicken halves skin side up on the heated pit at 275-300 degrees. Mop every 30 minutes with sop. I use a can of beer and Italian dressing for the sop. Leave the halves on for two hours and then place them in a tin foil baking pan, mop once more and cover with foil and place back on pit for an hour pull it off and let rest 15-20 minutes.

Very good and only takes 3 hours to cook. Chicken is fall of the bone tender and always consistent. Works for me anyway.

Will Do

Decided to cook last night. Turned out real good.

Dang now Im ready for lunch!!!