MES Chicken quarters w/ Qview

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smokeraiser

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jan 31, 2015
42
23
Local meat market had 1.19 a # chicken quarters.

Started preheating and then rinsed chicken dried with paper towels and put a random rub seasoning on. Hadn't tried it before but will be shown in the picture.

I put all four on a rack that I put on the second rack of the MES 30 set at 275. Started in the smoker at 12:15 with maple pellets.


Chicken started dripping on smoker so I added a better drip pan. On the third rack at different positions.where I put it really made the temp reading swing a great deal. At 16:30 read the IT temp with a reliable probe. 174 on the largest. 195 on the smaller one. Turned off smoker at this point and got ready to eat.


Here's final pics

The meat was tender and the skin was crisp but the taste wasn't what I had hoped. The smoke ended up very light and the rub wasn't as flavorful as I was hoping. Being my first chicken outing I'd give it an average c. Maybe I should have brined or put rub on the night before or just used barbecue sauce? I wanted to try to do something with butter and vinegar but didn't know how to try. Better luck next time.
 
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Them bird parts look great. Succesful smoke to me.

Use oak or hickory next time.

Brine might help with the flavor, althou I have never brined.
 
Them bird parts look great. Succesful smoke to me.

Use oak or hickory next time.

Brine might help with the flavor, althou I have never brined.

Thanks farmer. I thought it looked good but I'll have to work on the flavor part.
Cheers
 
Maybe all it will take is a different seasoning.
 
good looking smoke to me to. looks amazing....
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dannylang
 
Hey man, that looks awesome ! Didn't you just post your first smoke the other day ? I think it was a pork butt.... I tell ya, if my first handful of smokes had looked as great as your pork & chicken.... I'd have been real happy ! Don't be so hard on yourself man,... I've been smoking for a long while & still learn on each smoke ! You'll soon figure out the tastes you like & don't like, your doing a great job man ! Hang in & keep the smoke & Q view coming ! Thumbs Up
 
Hey man, that looks awesome ! Didn't you just post your first smoke the other day ? I think it was a pork butt.... I tell ya, if my first handful of smokes had looked as great as your pork & chicken.... I'd have been real happy ! Don't be so hard on yourself man,... I've been smoking for a long while & still learn on each smoke ! You'll soon figure out the tastes you like & don't like, your doing a great job man ! Hang in & keep the smoke & Q view coming ! Thumbs Up

Thanks I'm gonna keep on trying. I just put a view for my first pork butt on the other day. It took me a little bit to figure out the pictures but more smooth sailing for this second post. This was my first time trying chicken. Looking for something new each weekend.
 
Them bird parts look great. Succesful smoke to me.

Use oak or hickory next time.

Brine might help with the flavor, althou I have never brined.

The brine is a great point though I've only brined turkey.... But I think chicken would be great brined as well, this is the brine I use & it rocks ! I usually do the turkey a day before smoking ! Tips brine is great !

Brine recipe on post #3

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/172799/slaughterhouse-recipes
 
Leftovers was made into chicken salad. This turned out very good. The smoke taste made it unique and tasted more smokey than the first go around. Does smelling smoke all day while cooking desensitize the taste buds to smoke flavor a bit?
 
Leftovers was made into chicken salad. This turned out very good. The smoke taste made it unique and tasted more smokey than the first go around. Does smelling smoke all day while cooking desensitize the taste buds to smoke flavor a bit?

Good use of the leftovers, that's awesome ! Thumbs Up
 
Was there a difference in flavor between the smaller and larger pieces? Reason I ask is that I've found if I overcook dark meat, it'll still be tender and won't completely dry out, but the flavor suffers. It develops sort of an "old" taste which pretty much overpowers everything. If I pull it at 165 and let it rest and coast to 170-175 it's cooked thru and the flavor rocks.
 
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Was there a difference in flavor between the smaller and larger pieces? Reason I ask is that I've found if I overcook dark meat, it'll still be tender and won't completely dry out, but the flavor suffers. It develops sort of an "old" taste which pretty much overpowers everything. If I pull it at 165 and let it rest and coast to 170-175 it's cooked thru and the flavor rocks.

The first pieces we had was the smaller ones. The larger ones was made for the chicken salad. The smaller ones was about 195 when took off. The larger at 174. I didn't try to taste the difference. I'm new at this and kinda thought they'd all be the same. Mistake # 1039. Because I didn't try I can't tell you a side by side taste right out of the smoker. Thanks for the temperature insight.
Cheers
 
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