- Aug 27, 2008
- 5,170
- 409
A little food porn for ya today...with pics and ALL the dirty little secrets...
...
These ladies are fresh from the mountains of Tibet and came to Wyoming for some warmer summer weather, but they're still shivering (3.5 days into a 36* fridge thawing from a -20* freezer...still have ice crystals. Minimally processed birds...hmmm...we'll see how this works out today): ...still have ice crystals
Soaking in a mineral bath to get 'em warmed up before completely stripping down for their modeling debut (3/4 cup salt & 6 qts cold water in a covered 5-gal food-safe bucket and back to the fridge. I'll give 'em 4 hours to finish thawing, then continue forward. I didn't want to do an actual spiced brine on these, just salt to keep the nasties away while they finish thawing):
I think their frost-bite is going away now (4-hr soak):
Time to get naked...if you look closely, you can see they are now wearing very, very skimpy string bikinis ..:
Ah, what a pair of beauties...I wonder if they have any previous modeling experience? LOL! These were 10.22lbs overall weight...should be about the perfect candidates for some low & slow smoking based on maturity...still had just a touch of ice crystals inside when I pulled the giblets, so they're plenty cold enough to work on for awhile.
A quick shower, and they're ready to dry off before getting oiled-up. I rubbed 'em down ALL OVER with some tanning oil (olive oil, then, dry rub)...:
I coated them everywhere a couple times around, then, piled the remaining rub in my shaker on top of the birds for good finish coating. The sugar should slowly melt away and carry it all down the sides a bit...we'll see.
NAKED CHICKS DRY RUB
4 Tbls coarse ground red bell pepper
4 Tbls powdered light brown sugar (ground)
1 Tbls ground rosemary
1.5 tsp ground thyme
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbls ground black peppercorn
1/2 Tbls ground garlic
1.5 Tbls paprika
1/2 Tbls chili powder
2 Tbls kosher salt
***Apply a light to moderate coat of olive oil to the skinned/prepared bird, then apply dry rub.
I sent 'em to the sauna, then to the tanning salon (apple/pecan @ 225* and wet pan in the Smoke Vault 24...going low & slow for smoke reaction until 140* I/T, then I'll see how close we are on timing and color of their "tan"...I may yank the temps to about 350-400* for the finish. I'll stab probes into the thighs after about 2 hours and play it out from there)...:
Smoke is on @ 3:00pm.
The dry rub was just concieved about 90 minutes before the birds...er...uh...chicks came out of the mineral bath to hit the showers for prep, so it's another fresh one. I don't generally use sugar in my dry rubs, but I wanted it for darkening the birds towards the end of the smoke. The sweetness it will add should be nice with the spices, but the red bell pepper has a natural spicy-sweetness all it's own, so the sugar could be omitted.
I smoked a skinless whole bird awhile back...think it was 6lbs...tough old roasting hen. It worked pretty well, and I don't smoke birds often, so I haven't had the chance to try it again since then. I've smoked skinless quarters and pieces as well...all good stuff.
Come on back later, and see if they have any bikini tan lines! Ha-ha!!!
Eric
These ladies are fresh from the mountains of Tibet and came to Wyoming for some warmer summer weather, but they're still shivering (3.5 days into a 36* fridge thawing from a -20* freezer...still have ice crystals. Minimally processed birds...hmmm...we'll see how this works out today): ...still have ice crystals
Soaking in a mineral bath to get 'em warmed up before completely stripping down for their modeling debut (3/4 cup salt & 6 qts cold water in a covered 5-gal food-safe bucket and back to the fridge. I'll give 'em 4 hours to finish thawing, then continue forward. I didn't want to do an actual spiced brine on these, just salt to keep the nasties away while they finish thawing):
I think their frost-bite is going away now (4-hr soak):
Time to get naked...if you look closely, you can see they are now wearing very, very skimpy string bikinis ..:
Ah, what a pair of beauties...I wonder if they have any previous modeling experience? LOL! These were 10.22lbs overall weight...should be about the perfect candidates for some low & slow smoking based on maturity...still had just a touch of ice crystals inside when I pulled the giblets, so they're plenty cold enough to work on for awhile.
A quick shower, and they're ready to dry off before getting oiled-up. I rubbed 'em down ALL OVER with some tanning oil (olive oil, then, dry rub)...:
I coated them everywhere a couple times around, then, piled the remaining rub in my shaker on top of the birds for good finish coating. The sugar should slowly melt away and carry it all down the sides a bit...we'll see.
NAKED CHICKS DRY RUB
4 Tbls coarse ground red bell pepper
4 Tbls powdered light brown sugar (ground)
1 Tbls ground rosemary
1.5 tsp ground thyme
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbls ground black peppercorn
1/2 Tbls ground garlic
1.5 Tbls paprika
1/2 Tbls chili powder
2 Tbls kosher salt
***Apply a light to moderate coat of olive oil to the skinned/prepared bird, then apply dry rub.
I sent 'em to the sauna, then to the tanning salon (apple/pecan @ 225* and wet pan in the Smoke Vault 24...going low & slow for smoke reaction until 140* I/T, then I'll see how close we are on timing and color of their "tan"...I may yank the temps to about 350-400* for the finish. I'll stab probes into the thighs after about 2 hours and play it out from there)...:
Smoke is on @ 3:00pm.
The dry rub was just concieved about 90 minutes before the birds...er...uh...chicks came out of the mineral bath to hit the showers for prep, so it's another fresh one. I don't generally use sugar in my dry rubs, but I wanted it for darkening the birds towards the end of the smoke. The sweetness it will add should be nice with the spices, but the red bell pepper has a natural spicy-sweetness all it's own, so the sugar could be omitted.
I smoked a skinless whole bird awhile back...think it was 6lbs...tough old roasting hen. It worked pretty well, and I don't smoke birds often, so I haven't had the chance to try it again since then. I've smoked skinless quarters and pieces as well...all good stuff.
Come on back later, and see if they have any bikini tan lines! Ha-ha!!!
Eric
