Stuffed in elastic netting:
Ready to go in brine for the Holidays. Used agave syrup instead of brown sugar this time. I like the brown sugar better:
In the brine bucket:
Thanksgiving:
Nice color, smoked with 100% cherry, not the cherry mixed with alder stuff:
Cured and smoked chicken, moist and smokey:
Another batch for Christmas - nice color:
Don't waste that brine. Use the wasted space between the whole chickens in the brine bucket by putting a package of legs in with the whole chickens:
Cut them in half for vacuum packaging:
Use a serrated knife:
Recipe - 4 whole chickens
Brine ingredients:
6 quarts - water
1 1/2 to 2 cups - Morton’s Tender Quick
1 1/2 to 2 cups - brown sugar
1 tsp – ground white pepper
1/4 cup - Worchestershire sauce
Brine:
Mix all ingredients in a clean 5-gallon plastic pail.
The brine should float an egg, if not, stir in more Tender Quick, a little at a time, until the egg floats readily.
Pump brine into legs, thighs, wings and breast.
Soak chickens in the brine solution at 40°. Check brine and rotate chickens after 2 days. Soak chickens 4 days total.
Remove from brine and rinse in cold water.
While warming up the smoker, drain chickens at room temp for 1 hr, and then pat dry.
Smoke:
Hang in smoker, legs up
120° - 1 1/2 - 2 hrs, no smoke, vent 100% open
140° - 5 hrs, cherry or apple smoke, vent 50% open
170° - vent 25% open, until temp in meat around knee joint is 152°
If you like the netting:
Many of the supermarkets are using the elastic netting for their deli meats. I bet if you asked them they would sell you 4 or 5 feet. Takes about 14" of netting for a whole chicken.
