HELP! smoking 40 chickens

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jbird

Fire Starter
Original poster
Oct 20, 2010
36
11
Michigan
If anyone can help on advice, ideas or recipes i would great appreciate it. My aunt was hired to cook 40 half chicken and 5 prime ribs for a wedding so she asked if i could help since i smoke and she wants them smoke. i usually wouldnt have any problem with one smoker full i all i have is a horizontal off set and a cabinet style bradley. So that being said i have to do this all thursday after work and needs to be done thursday night as i am leaving town friday on vacation. the half chickens really only need to be done half way. how do i do all these in a timely fashion and suggestions on smoking this amount of food? Thanks guys!
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If anyone can help on advice, ideas or recipes i would great appreciate it. My aunt was hired to cook 40 half chicken and 5 prime ribs for a wedding so she asked if i could help since i smoke and she wants them smoke. i usually wouldnt have any problem with one smoker full i all i have is a horizontal off set and a cabinet style bradley. So that being said i have to do this all thursday after work and needs to be done thursday night as i am leaving town friday on vacation. the half chickens really only need to be done half way. how do i do all these in a timely fashion and suggestions on smoking this amount of food? Thanks guys!
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Oh, where to begin...

OK, the first thing that raises a red flag for me is when you mention your Aunt was hired to do this, and then, asked if you could smoke this for her. Is she a caterer? If money is changing hands over this, everything needs to be handled, prepared, cooked and served according to Food Code, and that also means you can't do the cooking at another site other than her place of business, if in fact she is a caterer. And, no, you can't prepare food for sale/service out of your home kitchen...it has to be from a separate kitchen other than your private/domestic food prep area. If she isn't a caterer, then she shouldn't be doing this at all...period. You may both be stepping into a big steaming hot pile of...uh, dung. Lots of liability hanging on you if anything goes wrong with what you cooked and somebody gets ill. I wouldn't do it, myself. I have the knowledge and experience in cooking for smaller gatherings, but that doesn't make me a professional, and I also have very little NSF certified equipment, and zero inspected and approved processes. Would I do it? No way. Did you know that you need to apply for a variance with the health dept. and have it approved prior to preparing/serving meats smoked and/or cooked low & slow? There are tons of ways you can get in trouble with this scenario.

Also, you're not meaning to start cooking the birds one day (not fully cook them), then finish cooking them later, are you? Once you start cooking them, they need to reach minimum safe internal temp before you remove them from the smoker/cooker. If not served immediately, hot foods need one of two things: chilled rapidly to a safe storage temp, then, sliced or cut-up into smaller portions to facilitate fast cooling, and lastly, a relatively fast reheat, or, held at a minimum temp of 140* until served.

What size are your smokers? 18" x 4-" horizontal and a 3 or 4 rack Bradley? Spatch-cock or half chickens can take upwards of 2.5 hours to smoke at chamber temps of 300*, depending on weight/size. The Bradley, if I recall, is like most other electric smokers and can only pull 275*, at best. If you can get 300* (+) out of your horizontal, you could get a bit faster cooking times for the birds than your Bradley will deliver. Smoking this all in batches to serve at a later date just doesn't sound like a good plan at all to me. And we haven't even talked about the prime rib yet...that takes 6-8 hours for low & slow smoked rib roast to reach minimum safe temp, sliced to chill, and then reheated quickly enough. BTW, prime rib suffers texture, moisture and presentation qualities when reheated...it's not a good choice for something that has to be reheated, it's best served straight from the knife to the plate.

Sorry to say this, but uh, well, none of this sounds like a good idea to me...unless I completely misunderstood your post. If I'm way off the mark regarding your intentions, let me know.

Eric
 
There is no money changing hands and it's a small back yard wedding she's doing for our fsmily
 
There is no money changing hands and it's a small back yard wedding she's doing for our fsmily
Ah, OK. I'm breathing easier now. You still need to follow safe food handling recommendations.

Is this all to be cooked just prior to the meal, or will reheating need to be done?

Eric
 
Sorry to say this, but uh, well, none of this sounds like a good idea to me...unless I completely misunderstood your post. If I'm way off the mark regarding your intentions, let me know.

Eric
My thoughts exactly Eric. Too many factors not well controlled in a serve safe manner.  
 
The Chickens...MUST...Be fully cooked in one shot. Then Cooled and Reheated in a timely manner. You may be able to get all the Chicken cooked on thursday night but how will they be reheated? Chicken is notorious for easily drying out when reheating. In any event I am not sure you will be able to get Chicken and 5 Rib Roast done in a few hours thursday night. Are there any other options? What equipment is available at the Wedding Site?...JJ
 
For recipes, I did a few searches for you...

If you have the space and the time, which I can't imagine a 2 or 3 fridges full of brining buckets, but you may find some recipes and tips on this search for brines in the poultry forum, listed by recency in descending order:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/search.php?search=title:(Brine)&advanced=1&containingforum[]=102&titleonly=1&resultSortingPreference=recency

And, dry rub in the poultry forum:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/se...itleonly=1&byuser=&output=all&containingforum[]=102&replycompare=gt&numupdates=&sdate=0&newer=1&sort=relevance&order=descending&Search=SEARCH

As for the prime rib, the search also includes beef ribs, short ribs, etc (it happens), so blow past those:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/se...itleonly=1&byuser=&output=all&containingforum[]=101&replycompare=gt&numupdates=&sdate=0&newer=1&sort=startdate&order=descending&Search=SEARCH

My advice is to keep  the dry rubs fairly simple, especially for the prime rib...garlic, onion, salt and pepper will go far with that outstanding cut of beef. It has a great flavor, and takes little if anything to enhance and make it taste better. Au jus should be considered when serving PR, of course. Minimum recommended internal temp after cooking should be 145* for rare.

Chicken can be seasoned simply, or you can go all-out, if you wish. Either way is good eating. Minimum recommended internal temp after cooking is 165*, although with bone-in, I take the breast to 168-170*, and the thigh/leg to 170-172*, otherwise you may notice red near the bone and pink juices...bug turn-off for most anyone eating poultry. If you go get to about 180* in the breast, or 185* in the dark meat, it will begin to dry out. Temps are everything with birds.

Take all internal temps with a verified/calibrated thermometer capable of reasonable accuracy.

Just in case you want a refresher, or references to what's been stated in the above posts:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Smoking_Meat_and_Poultry/index.asp

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Basics_for_Handling_Food_Safely/index.asp

EDIT:

BTW, last second thought here, but, make sure someone has been given the responsibility for providing an adequate amount of seating, tables, and disposables (tableware, flatware, cups, napkins and beverages). I know it may sound silly, but it could very quickly put the party into a stall if forgotten...
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Another thought: bring your Aunt up to speed on this discussion and see if she could help do the smoking...I know, a lot to drop on her, but just a thought

Good luck and have a great smoke!

Eric
 
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She is doing the prime ribs in a roasters the day of.. but with all your tips i talked her in to having me and her putting the rub on thursday night and marinade til saturday and get it all panned up n ready so all she has to do saturday is throw the birds in the oven.. thanks guys
 
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