how shall I play with the chx today...

[bluewhisper]

I have a pair of big split breasts with skin and bone. They've been in a brine overnight. The brine is in part the remainder of a little batch of rub I made a little while back for a pork project. Mainly paprika, salt, brown sugar with spices.

For wood, I have a choice of maple, apple, or hickory. I've been burning maple just because I still have a lot of it. Lump and briquettes on hand, and an absolutely perfect calm partly-sunny day.

Too early to start yet. I'm planning on not more than three hours cooking but I might need more because these are the largest split breasts I've ever worked with. I might go get the fire ready but not light it yet.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

My plans for the day changes so now I'm going to smoke! Gonna do skinless thighs to shred and make smoked enchiladas for dinner.

Make sure and save your smokey rib bones off those breasts for stock!

 

[bluewhisper]

So, pics. This is my wood shelf, and I have other wood stowed in tubs. Most of that is the windfall maple. On the left you can see a piece stained with blue bar oil from the guy who made the first big cuts. I cut those ends off and don't let them go through the fire. Bags of chunks and chips.

wood_options.jpg

• bluewhisper
• Sep 27, 2014

The basket loaded for lighting - a foundation of kingsford, a middle layer of small lump gravel ... ran out ... and a bunch of split small, topped with some crumbles of an old paraffin block.

ready_basket.jpg

• bluewhisper
• Sep 27, 2014

Awwww

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• bluewhisper
• Sep 27, 2014

Banked in and close to ready to settle in for the smoke - the core is still igniting

banked_fire.jpg

• bluewhisper
• Sep 27, 2014

Heavy on the smoke on the initial choking down - probably should have let it burn in more. And that maple is probably a bit fresh yet. The food is not on yet.

too_smoky.jpg

• bluewhisper
• Sep 27, 2014

 

[bluewhisper]

Here's a little something on the side, some recently harvested habaneros and jalapenos. Note one set of skewers is pinched in a bit.

peppers_n_skewers.jpg

• bluewhisper
• Sep 27, 2014

Ready for the smoker. Note the double skewers - they have an odd trait about aligning themselves. The prongs must be parallel. If they're pinched together, they'll keep pinching tighter with each piece. I overcompensated on the second one and they kept spreading wider.

ready.jpg

• bluewhisper
• Sep 27, 2014

Now it's on the smoker riding TBS as of 11:10 am.

 

[marauder]

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• marauder
• Apr 24, 2014

Bacon wrapped chicken breast  the fare for the day.. brined with apple juice .brown sugar mix...... smoked with apple......  topped with peppers....... stuffed with pepperjack cheese...... this is an earlier smoke!

 

[bluewhisper]

Looks good! Do you hammer the chicken out to flatten it before stuffing?

 

[bluewhisper]

2:45 into the cooking, 147F internal

twofortyfive.jpg

• bluewhisper
• Sep 27, 2014

 

[jarjarchef]

I am going to break in my new mini jumbo joe with some 8 way chicken.

 

[bluewhisper]

158F internal for about 15 minutes @ 3:40 cook time, clear juices

158_internal.jpg

• bluewhisper
• Sep 27, 2014

 

[oldschoolbbq]

Nice looking plate , Whisper... Breast turned out great , and those Chiles look  . . . hot

Go do some more , that's just enough for me

I should have had a nice bunch of Ribs and Tenderloin , but SHMBO , changed all my plans .

 I'm fuming. . . tomorrow is MINE.....

 

[bluewhisper]

So, what happened to the rest of the jalapenos and habaneros, that didn't go on the skewers? I wanted to dry them for grinding by low roasting in the toaster oven, but I didn't want to obnox everyone with the fumes so I took the oven outside. The smoker sometimes doubles as a heat-proof  table. By chance, the front shelf and the cooking grates are almost exactly the same height so I can securely set something spanning them.

This is after 50 minutes @ 225F. The habs are rattly dry but the jalapenos are still pliable so I'll give them another half an hour at 200 or so.

roastedhabs.jpg

• bluewhisper
• Sep 28, 2014

Roasting changes the flavor and aroma of the habs. Similar to peppers roasted in oil in a stir-fry, the heat destroys some of the capsaicin but the peppers gain a sort of nutty flavor.

As for the pods that went through the smoker, they're on a plate by the window making this room smell like a campsite.

 

[themule69]

It all looks very good.

Happy smoken.

David

 

[5oclocksomewher]

158F internal for about 15 minutes @ 3:40 cook time, clear juices

158_internal.jpg

• bluewhisper
• Sep 27, 2014

Birds look great. Split breast (when done right) are my fav part of the bird. Looks like yours came out awesome!!! Thumbs Up

 

[bluewhisper]

One thing I like about splits is, they're mounted on their own subframe so I just keep them bone-side down and it's never a problem to scrape them off of the rack.

A whole spatchcocked chicken is also good but there are only two people here so that's a lot of leftovers to dismantle.