questions on my chicken

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bigsmoken

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Sep 11, 2013
175
10
Canon City Colorado
So I smoked some chicken today and I'm gonna be honest it didn't come out the way I wanted...yet I'm not sure where to start with chicken. I'm thinking sweet but....I ususally start with redds apple ale...then go with a savory sweet rub...and a jacks bbq sauce. I smoke with cherry and hickory wood...I think the wood might be a bit strong right off the bat....any advice, recipies that you would like to give would be way appreciated. Also Id like to give it that nice red look but i'm not sure how to get that.

 
I am not sure what you mean by Red Look? But Cherry wood will give about the best Mahogany color. Fruit Woods are mellower than Hickory. The only issue with Sweet Brines and Rubs is the birds can't be smoked over 275°F because the sugar can burn. To get Crisp Skin usually requires a well watched finish on a Grill or in a 425°F Oven. In any event below are the Recipes that I have used over 20 years...JJ

Families Favorite Brine

1/2C Kosher Salt

2T Paprika

2T Gran. Garlic

2T Gran. Onion

2T Dry Thyme

2T Black Pepper

1C Vinegar (Any)

1-11/2Gal Cold Water to cover Chix

1/2C Brown Sugar, Optional

1T Red Pepper Flake Optional

Starting Two Days out...

Mix well and Soak the Bird over night or up to 24 Hours.

Remove the Chix, rinse if desired and pat dry with paper towels.

Place in an open container in the refrigerator overnight or up to 24 hours for the Skin to dry.

This will give a crispier skin when Smokng or Roasting...

Bubba Chix Rub

1/2C Raw Sugar

2T Paprika (I use Smoked if I'm just Grilling)

1T Cayenne

1T Gran. Garlic

1T Gran. Onion

1tsp Black Pepper

1tsp Wht Pepper

1tsp Allspice

1tsp Bell's Poultry Seasoning or Thyme

Mix well. You can put directly on the skin or mix with Butter, Oil or Bacon Grease and rub on and under the Skin.

Reduce Cayenne to 1teaspoon if less heat is desired.

Good Luck!
 
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Smoker looks pretty full of white smoke. That's not the best. What kind of smoker are you using? What temp were you smoking at? How much wood did you use? Was it chips, chunks, stick burner?

I use cherry all the time on chicken and it pairs nicely. I keep my rubs simple and usually don't sauce. If I do I keep the sauce light and apply it close to the end.
 
So I was using a brinkmans vertical box smoker andtry as I might i cant seem to get it to stay at temp it started at about 225 then fell to about 150 real quick..(im pretty sure I'm gonna have to mod it out) the cherry was chunk and the hickory was chips...I spread them out on the coal is was about a handfull. I always keep the sauce till the end as well.
 
 
So I was using a brinkmans vertical box smoker
Well for starters, there's your problem. Just kidding, but those can be pretty difficult smokers to control.

Let's start with what you ended up with. You didn't really say what did happen, only that it wasn't what you wanted. If we know the goal and the result, we can try and help with suggestions to try and make the two meet.

The two most important things for chicken, in my opinion, are higher heat and hitting your target temp. You can literally take a chicken directly from the grocery store, open it, toss it in your smoker at 325˚-375˚ without doing anything else to it, and as long as you nail the target temperature (165˚), it'll be damn good chicken. Get the process down, and then you can tweak and change recipes to your heart's content.
 
Yeah they are difficult to control it seems to me that there is no air going through the coals at all so it dosent heat uop at all. I did use cherry wood but I never got a smoke ring....I'm starting to think its because the temp never reached what it was supposed to....I think it may have done a cold smoke on it to begin with, I ended up putting it in the oven to finish off.
 
Hello bigsmoken.  Here is my opinion for what it is worth.  Others may have different advice.  This is only my opinion..  Check your smoker for leaks and seal what you can.  As stated above we don't know what you expected and we don't know what the final product was like.  We also don't know your experience.  My thought is stop the rubs, moping, injecting, brining, etc.  Walk and then run ( sorry if you have tons of experience ).  Learn how your smoker preforms.  Each smoker is different.  Learn how your smoker works and how to control the temp.  I may be way off base and you have loads of experience but I can't tell that from this post.  In my experience I agree wit Mdboatman in that smoke, salt, and pepper and you got a good chicken.  Good Luck.  Keep asking questions.  Keep Smokin!

Danny
 
Oh I forgot to mention, if it's the square upright smoker, go to walmart or target or any store with a grilling section and look for something called a grill wok. It's about a foot square and has holes in it. If you get the right one, it will slide right in the rails in place of your coal pan.

You can sort of see it here in this picture.

 
 
Oh I forgot to mention, if it's the square upright smoker, go to walmart or target or any store with a grilling section and look for something called a grill wok. It's about a foot square and has holes in it. If you get the right one, it will slide right in the rails in place of your coal pan.

You can sort of see it here in this picture.

This must be advanced smoking proceedures, How do you get the smoke to draw when its on it's side like that, heck how to you get the charcoal to stay in place? I am far from this level of enlightenment.
 
My 2 cents....are you looking for the red sticky sauce look....if so that would come from the sauce you would use the last part of the smoke...and you would need to let it 'set up" about the last 15-30 minutes of the cook.

Or are you wanting just the color of the meat to be the reddish color?  Then that would be your rubs....and one with more paprika, or chile powders would do that too.

Kat
 
id love to know how to do the red sticky sauce.....and I'm not a master but since getting on this site I am def getting a lot better since I get people who can answer my questions...I did some mods on my little box smoker....I cut out the bottom of the charcoal tray and replaced it with expanded metal that way air can get to the coals as well as the ash falling through the grate so it dosent choke itself out. I had orriginaly drilled holes but that didnt seem to work. then I thought that the air was coming into the box but wasent being forced into the fire because the air vent was in the side and so it was just going straight up so I used some old corrigated metal and made like a solid piece that the tray will sit in forcing the air to go through the coals before going into the cc. After it was all said and done i put some coal in about 3/4 of a chiminey and it stayed up at 250 without anymore charcoal for about 1.5 hrs. pretty much what it should be doing. I'm gonna give this chicken thing another shot tonight and hopefully with all of your advice it'll come out better than what it was......I was lookin for a smoke ring but I'm pretty sure it cold smoked so there was no ring. If the problem was a snake it would have bitten me. So here are the photos oh and the chicken is clyde. He is the smallest chicken that we have and due to the fact that he grew up in our living room he feels entitled to come in and chill no matter how many times he gets run out. just thought it would be nice to share him with everyone.











 
So a little update...I got some more chicken and used the modified grill to make some chicken...it worked great as the mods did exactly what it was supposed to....it stayed at a minumum of 250....it did flucuate a bit but was what I was looking for in a grill....the chicken itself came out great good skin as well as a smoke ring...perfect 160 degrees.
 
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