Trying chicken for the first time tomorrow. Advice welcomed!! (Updated with qView!!)

Hi Bob.

Your recipes look like winners to me.  If you brine overnight it should instill plenty of moisture and flavor in the bird.  I can't speak to drying it in the fridge overnight, I've never done that.  I like to brine overnight, then first thing next morning, remove bird from the brine, rinse real good under cold water, then pat dry real well with paper towels.  I will then leave the bird in the fridge while I finish my prep and get the smoker set up and up to temp. 

I like to lightly coat the skin and under the skin with a little EVOO before applying the rub/seasoning.  It give the finished skin a great color and IMO helps crisp it up.  The basting recipe looks good, but just remember that every time you open your cooker, you are losing heat and increasing total cook time.  Depending on your smoker, it often takes 10 minutes or more for the temp to recover after the door has been opened.  Because of that, I don't normally baste poultry, and they still come out plenty moist and flavorful.

I cook poultry at about 275* until abut the last half hour (or when the IT of the bird reaches around 155-160*), then crank temp up to 325-350* to finish.  That makes for a nice crisp skin.  When the IT in the deepest part of the breast and thigh reaches about 170*, its done!  I've found that the breasts will often reach temp before the thighs, so you may need to tent the breasts with some foil so they don't dry out waiting on the thighs to reach temp.

Hope any of this helps...Good luck!  Be sure to show and tell us how it goes.

Red

Bob welcome to the forum,  You certainly are taking cooking a chicken to a different level with each of your ingredients being complex.   You can make a very good chicken with much less effort, but it depends on your taste, besides it can be fun making all the different ingredients and that is what it is all about.

Your brine although complex is a little weak (imho), I would double the salt and brown sugar and the brine time could be lengthened if convenient, no harm.  You should be able to dissolve the salt and sugar without heating, just whisk until dissolved.  Allowing the bird to rest overnight is a good idea and won't hurt the moistness.  You are keeping notes so just add your results when completed.  Keep track of the type and amount of wood along with the color and density of the smoke.   Consider whether or not you want the drippings to fall on your heat source or capture the drippings.  By capturing the drippings, the bird will have a cleaner smoke flavor.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Tom   

Your recipes look awesome!! I love thyme on chicken, it really seems to just fit perfectly. Your basting sauce looks kinda like a kicked up version of Cornell chicken, and I bet would be awesome on the grill. I agree though, basting chicken on the smoker can really lengthen the process. I'm gonna disagree with your omission of the overnight rest in the refrigerator however. While it's not imperative and your chicken will be really good anyway, the devil is, in fact, in the details and drying the skin is one of those details that really helps take it over the top. Just keep it in mind and try it some time.

On the strength of your brine, there has been some research indicating there is a "sweet spot" for brines, and it's a weaker solution than I would have thought. I apologize for not remembering the numbers, but yours looks like a little over a 2% solution which might work just fine. And not to be negative, but I've found that flavoring a brine is basically a waste of time. The only things that get "picked up" by the meat are salt and water, the other particles are just too big to get on the old "osmosis" train.  So all those spices in the brine are kinda not doing much. I'd save them for the rub. This is my opinion by the way. There are many who swear by flavoring a brine, so you'll have to make up your own mind here and do what works best for you.

Good luck and let us know how everything turns out!!

The time in the fridge to dry the skin has never affected overall moisture in the meat for me. I usually brine first, and don't think I have ever not brined before drying out the skin, so I can't say if it's a product of the brine or not.

As for how much smoke, I do my chickens north of 325˚, so they're usually done inside 2 hours. Less if I spatchcock them. I run my smoker wide open with smoke the whole time. If I'm using cherry or apple I'll go pretty heavy on the wood, like 4 or 5 fist sized chunks. With stronger woods like hickory I use one or two chunks.

Bob, After rereading your brine recipe I see it is for 1 1/2 gal of water.  For a 4# chicken I use 1/2 cup Kosher salt & 1/2 cup brown sugar dissolved in 1/2 gallon water then what ever spices desired.  Place a gallon zip bag inside a suitable pot and add the brine.  It should come close to the top, push the air out and zip closed.  You are then ready to refrigerate for whatever amount of time you like.

Tom

All sounds good and as Willie said, we'll be looking for the Q-view.

Have fun and as always...

Bob-B-Q said:

Oh, another note on smoking actually...How much smoke does everyone use?  I see the chicken could take from 2-4 hours, so does most everyone use about 1-2 hours of smoke?  Advice??

Click to expand...

Bob, smoking can be as complex as you want to make it or as simple as just excepting what smoke comes off of briquettes.  Learn to keep good notes if you want and take such things into account as, type of wood and the amount by weight, where it is placed, color, density and the end result.  Maybe the following will help.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/139474/understanding-smoke-management-updated-5-18-13

Tom

David

Good job Bob, looks great.

Tom