Slowly counting down the things I can smoke. Chicken

[ronbeaux]

I was wanting to try a chicken in the OBS so I doctored this one up with Art's Red Rub and injected it with Creole butter. Loaded up a bunch of cherry pucks and let it cook at 225 until it got 170(around 3 hrs I guess.) It squirted me when I cut into it!!! Loved it.



Hammered it hard then threw the bones into some water for some 'smoked' chicken stock.

[Savannahsmoker]

That is one great looking bird ronbeaux.  Makes one hungry for a smoked chicken but wife says we are having shrimp tonight.  Question how do you make your Creole butter?

[Hopefull Romantic]

Looking good Ron.

I hear that if you smoke / cook at 250, you should get crispy skin

HR

[ronbeaux]

Creole butter was Cajun Injector brand. The skin was not as crispy as I like it but it wasn't rubber either. I'm sure if I would have pulled it at 160 or so and then blasted it at 400 for a few minutes I could get the skin crisp. My thoughts after searching through here and other locations plus experience with chicken in comps was to just see what it would do at a steady temp for enough time to get to finish temp. I now have a basis or base line to expand from.

My goal was to practice up for a turkey which will be brine/cured prior to Thanksgiving. I want a less than 250, say 225, smoked turkey and I don't care what the skin turns out like. Although, a final blast will not be out of the question.

To me the problem is more along the lines of final color.

The next time I do a chicken in the OBS I will first place the chicken in a 1/4 pan with a little juice and a cover, let it steam at 250 until the skin is like rice paper and the chicken is almost done, then pull and full smoke at 240 or 250 until it gets to done temps. Then the skin will be tender, and although not fried crispy, it will allow you to bite through it with no effort. The color will also be more suttle and not leaning toward dark brown.

Just my thoughts and a good day of practice trying to duplicate chicken done on my other pits with a WHOLE lot less attention

I'm calling it a good day.

[squirtthecat]

Good job, Ron..  Looking forward to your Thanksgiving bird writeup!

[Ka Honu]

Lookin' good, Ron.  Next time you make stock, try roasting the bones in a 400^o oven for 45 minutes before putting in the pot.  Gives the resulting stock a richer flavor.

[ronbeaux]

Thanks! I'll try that. Gotta love a good stock for building your next meal.

[Savannahsmoker]

I and my wife agree with you ronbeaux in that we do not care about the skin.  We want good smoked turkey.  Problem is rest of the family likes crispy skin.

[Tenpoint5]

If I remember right WTS rubs his birds with butter during the smoke and his come out a deep dark red.