I had a couple of guests come in town this weekend, and decided to smoke a couple of birds. I've spatchcocked chickens before for grilling, but this was my first time using this method for the smoker. I brined the birds using Alton Brown's brine for about 8 hours. I had also recently just finished reading an excellent book that contained an interesting-looking chicken rub that centered on sage, so I used this opportunity to give that a shot. This was the book:
The rub was:
1/4 cup coarse salt
1/3 cup dried sage
1/3 cup garlic granules
1/4 cup onion flakes
1/4 cup paprika
3 T dried thyme
3 T freshly ground black pepper
3 T dried oregano
1 T cayenne
I wasn't sure what my guests' preferences were, so I made 3 chickens each with a different rub. I used the rub above on one of them (top right in the picture), a poultry rub from my favorite spice shop on the second (top left in the picture), and a basic rub of salt, pepper, onion, and garlic on the third (bottom bird in the picture).
I made up some pork shots for an appetizer. Again, I wasn't sure about my guests' tastes, so I made half with just the kielbasa, bacon, rub, and cream cheese. The other half (indicated by having two toothpicks) had a slice of jalapeno.
One of the birds hit the correct temps (160 for the breast, 170 for the thigh) before the others, so I wrapped it in aluminum foil and a towel, then set it in a cooler to wait for the others.
Here are the pork shots and the sage bird.
On the left is the basic bird (already falling apart) and on the right is the spice shop's bird.
The sage rub is my new favorite poultry rub. It is amazing! Give it a shot sometime!
On a side note, I set my MES40 to 275 degrees, but it never seemed to get above 250. I did have the chip loader open an inch for my AMNPS (used blend of hickory and oak), but that shouldn't have much to do with it, should it? Anyone else have trouble getting theirs to 275?
The rub was:
1/4 cup coarse salt
1/3 cup dried sage
1/3 cup garlic granules
1/4 cup onion flakes
1/4 cup paprika
3 T dried thyme
3 T freshly ground black pepper
3 T dried oregano
1 T cayenne
I wasn't sure what my guests' preferences were, so I made 3 chickens each with a different rub. I used the rub above on one of them (top right in the picture), a poultry rub from my favorite spice shop on the second (top left in the picture), and a basic rub of salt, pepper, onion, and garlic on the third (bottom bird in the picture).
I made up some pork shots for an appetizer. Again, I wasn't sure about my guests' tastes, so I made half with just the kielbasa, bacon, rub, and cream cheese. The other half (indicated by having two toothpicks) had a slice of jalapeno.
One of the birds hit the correct temps (160 for the breast, 170 for the thigh) before the others, so I wrapped it in aluminum foil and a towel, then set it in a cooler to wait for the others.
Here are the pork shots and the sage bird.
On the left is the basic bird (already falling apart) and on the right is the spice shop's bird.
The sage rub is my new favorite poultry rub. It is amazing! Give it a shot sometime!
On a side note, I set my MES40 to 275 degrees, but it never seemed to get above 250. I did have the chip loader open an inch for my AMNPS (used blend of hickory and oak), but that shouldn't have much to do with it, should it? Anyone else have trouble getting theirs to 275?
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