Smoked Chicken Thighs

Tommy3Putts · February 27, 2010, 05:56:22 PM

My wife picked up a twenty-four pack of chicken thighs at Costco for me. Seasoned them with garlic salt and fresh cracked pepper on both sides and light spray of Pam. Four hours in the DBS with two hours of pecan and two hours of hickory. The were awesome! The wife loved them. Try to post pics tomorrow.

FLBentRider · February 27, 2010, 05:58:50 PM

Sounds good T3P!

You should try Jan's rub on chicken. It's on the recipe site.

Tommy3Putts · February 27, 2010, 06:08:28 PM

Thx FL.

I've got several rubs for chicken I want to try, and I want to do a brine. But I wanted to keep the first smoke simple for the wife. She is not a huge chicken fan, especially dark meat. She loved today's batch which is great news. She is really becoming as big a fan of the Bradley as I am.

Now I can expand to try to bring in more flavors. For a good basic start garlic salt and pepper does the trick.

unclefish · March 02, 2010, 05:04:25 PM

hey , did you do them at a higher heat. and i thought it was good to brine to keep bacteria down. thanks unclefish

Tommy3Putts · March 02, 2010, 05:22:41 PM

Hi Fish

I took them from the fridge and seasoned them then put them into a the pre-heated (250 deg) 6DBS. I did not let them sit out too long so they were cold when they went in. I had the temp set to 280 most of the way because the IT for the Bradley had problems getting above 220 most of the way. It was cold and windy. The chicken turned out fine. I like to brine whole chickens keep in the moisture. With thighs there is no real loss of moisture. While I'm new to the bradley, I've smoked a lot of chicken and never had problems with bacteria with my other smokers. The main thing is to get the IT on the bird above 165 to 170.

T3Ps

Slamdunk · March 02, 2010, 08:43:03 PM

No expert here, but I think your method is safe. High heat right from the get go! Not really different than putting some rub on 'em and putting them into a preheated oven.

But, you really should try to expand the 'ol horizons and try brining some. With brining you can permeate the meat with whatever flavours you like. There are some really good brining recipes on this site, so do a search for them and I'm sure you'll find something that strikes your fancy! (Just be sure to get the go ahead from your better half.)

As far as using the thighs , I think they are so much better than wings. I very often do drummies, wings are just too much work (and more expensive) than thighs or drummies.

I'd also suggest that you replace the Pam with a coating of virgin olive oil, a nicer flavour in my opinion and it will crisp up the skin.

Hope you post the pics.

rkp · March 19, 2010, 05:54:00 PM

Hello, I'm a newbie with an OBS. I was going to smoke a 3lb chicken whole tomorrow with some backstraps for my first smoke. I broke it in with hickory the other nite. I soaked my backstraps in soy/wine/olive oil and garlic. but was going to just rub the chicken and cook at 200 - 220. I only have hickory and cherry right now. Any suggestions?

FLBentRider · March 19, 2010, 06:03:24 PM

W E L C O M E to the Forum rkp!

I would make sure the vent is wide open for poultry

Cook it @250F until you have 165F in the dark meat and 160F in the white.

I've not done a backstrap, I'm sure someone who has will be along shortly with a target IT.

Either of those woods will work fine, If this is your first smoker I would suggest no more than 2 hours of smoke.

Tommy3Putts · March 20, 2010, 02:54:05 PM

Hi RKP

FLB steered you right. He always does. Not heard of a backstrap either. Sorry. Follow FLB's directions on getting the IT on the bird to 165. That's the important part. Don't want any sick folks.

Let us know how it went.

Tom

Habanero Smoker · March 20, 2010, 02:57:48 PM

Backstrap is another term for loin, but I haven't cooked venison in many years. I wouldn't know the proper internal meat temperature.

rkp · March 22, 2010, 04:25:09 PM

Thanks for all the reply's. I put the 3.5 lb chicken (rubbed with olive oil and krazy janes spice) in for an hr @220 deg and then put the back straps (venison tenderloins) in and started to smoke with hickory. Chicken was 170 It in 3hrs and the venison was 145 IT. We have never had better chicken and the venison was excellent! This forum is great, I saw that someone put a couple of bricks in their smoker so I tried and it worked great for holding the heat. Can't wait for my next smoke! Anyone know a good recipe for venison sausage?

Tommy3Putts · March 22, 2010, 06:54:16 PM

Glad everything turned out well. The Bradley rocks!