First smoke ever, Chicken Drumsticks.

[Louie_Sausage]

Little history first.

I love sausage..... I mean I really like sausage and can appreciate a good sausage like a good wine or cheese (as weird as that sounds). Moved to a city in Northern Alberta a couple years back and just couldn't find a good sausage or salami. Most of whats for sale here is commercially processed, lotta fat and no flavor. The local butcher here sells great pork and beef but the sausage is lacking in flavor. So I decided I would learn to make my own fresh sausage.

Made my first batch over a year ago (Spicy Chorizo) and it's probably the BEST sausage I have ever had. I will never go back to store bought again. Sausage was great but still missing something, smoke. So this leads to the purchase of the DBS. I bought one which was $100 off way back in November 2010 and have been patiently waiting for Spring to roll around, and here it is. I decided to get my feet wet with a chicken smoke first, for some experience, and the following is what I ended up with.

This was a very small smoke, I've never done it before, this was mainly to get familiar with the DBS


Because I am new to this I decided to try with Brine and without.
3/4 cup Kosher Salt and 3/4 cup Brown Sugar


5 Drumsticks in Brine


Was also looking for a good Rub Seasoning and went with Jan's Rub based on the positive reviews.



1 hour Brine on the left and regular on the right


Seasoned with Jan's Rub


Vacuum packed for the fridge


Into the smoker we go!


1hr 40min smoke (IT 165) and ready for the grill


Ready to eat! Wait,... I thought there were 10 total? Heh, couldn't resist, ate 2 before they made it to the grill!!



And there you have it, my first smoke turned out great. My wife really enjoyed the meal too which is a huge bonus!

If I were to do it again I think I would hold back on either the Rub or Brine and only use one. I think the combination of both made it a little too salty but it was still very edible. The skin was a little hard (both Brine and Regular) but the meat was super juicy. Jan's Rub IS AWESOME!!

As for the DBS, it worked great. The temp fluctuated only about 10-15 degrees but for the most part was pretty accurate.

Now that this smoke is done, I have a 5lbs Pork shoulder ready to go for my first ever pulled pork. Will post when done.

Great forum and thanks to everyone for the loads of info available here, been lurking for a couple weeks now and this successful smoke was the result of your contributions!!

[Jim O]

Welcome Louie !

Your first smoke looks awesome!

Now all you have to do is get that shine off your toy .

Jim O

[hal4uk]

Tasty lookin' drumsticks, Louie!

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Another tip (ya don't wanna learn this one the hard way)...
The first time you do a load with chicken AND pork (ribs, butts, whatever)...
The pork goes ON TOP.

You never want chicken juices dripping on your pork, but pork fat dripping on chicken is goooooooood  ;D

[muebe]

Great job on the chicken and some great pictures...enjoy your new Bradley ;D

[ghost9mm]

Welcome louie to a really great and informative forum, and partner them is some really good lookin drumsticks..killer job..

[iceman]

Great job Louie. The bird legs look fantastic.  :)

[Louie_Sausage]

Thanks for the comments, I appreciate it  ;D

[OU812]

Nice lookin legs.

All this cookin of legs goin on is makin me want to give em a shot.

Havent ate a leg in yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeears, thems for the kids.  ;D

[seemore]

Good looking legs I brine all my birds and less salt
seemore