Wicked Good Smoked Chicken Breasts

alx · Jul 9, 2009

A KCBS competition team and CASI chile cook i grow spices for (Paprika,Chipotles,Hot peppers etc) gave me a bag of these natural briquetts to try

Cut up a couple chickens and marinated breasts in equal parts white wine and lime juice.I added from my garden 2 types tyme,tarragon,basil and my shallots and garlic-smelled awesome after 24 hour soak

Ready for grill.Ground up Paprika etc that i de-hydrated from last years crop and made a rub.No sugar.

Smoked with cherry and pecan

35 minutes at 275

Cranked it up to 300 for last 15 minutes

50 minutes to get 165 at 275-300.

Gonna let them rest lightly foiled a few hours.Headed over to garden to get the rest of ingredients for dinner.

I will be adding these lightly smoked breast to a saute of garden veggies....I shall return

the dude abides · Jul 9, 2009

Man ALX those look delicious. It sure brings something to the mix when you start with the freshest ingredients that you'll have the best results.

Nice work.

fishawn · Jul 9, 2009

Nice work, looks good so far.

mballi3011 · Jul 9, 2009

those are some nice looking chicken breast. I like the idea of garden fresh herbs like you have. I have a small garden and try to use them a much as possible.

rivet · Jul 9, 2009

Very nice ALX, you sure have the garden and the skills to put out some seriously great food!

alx · Jul 9, 2009

The finale..

Rested while at garden

Garden-I posted alot more in garden section over last few months

Mom in the maters

Got the goods

tender and juicy breasts

Mixed the smoked breasts with veggies and bow tie pasta and some fontana cheese.

earache_my_eye · Jul 10, 2009

Looks mighty tasty!!

What did you think of the Wicked Good charcoal??
I really like the stuff, but, it's a bit on the expensive side...

L8r,
Eric

alx · Jul 10, 2009

IMHO, Eric, the Wicked Good was high quality, burns hot and clean for a smoker like mine- WSM.

My thoughts exactly on liking the stuff/expensive-used it twice-.

Unless i win a lottery, i couldn't afford for just hamburgers etc.
I can get royal oak lump at restaurant depot for 10 dollars a 16 pound bag-which i do for general grill/smoking
Have had excellent results lately with the new kingsford competition/natural briq-and can get 2 16 pound bags at costco perty cheap.

Very good Stuff (Wicked Good -definetly Comp Grade) IMHO.

forcedsquint · Jul 10, 2009

Awesome garden and chicken. Would love a view like that from my back yard.

ericjeeper · Jul 10, 2009

I did not see one weed in sight..Tell me how.... Is it just good quality beach sand?LOL

alx · Jul 10, 2009

My garden is about 500 yards from severn river-Naval Academy is on the mouth of severn.

I call it sandy/loam-LOL.I add 5-6 shovels of my compost to each planting hole-

I till lightly between rows and hoe around cages.

About 3 miles from garden is an old sand pit that masonry companies mined for 60 years.

It has not rained for 8 days,but weeds will be back with moisture.I have mulched with shredded leaves last few years, but feeling a little Lazy.Had record rain in may/june so plant size is shading some weeds out.

I also use a heavy annual rye cover crop.Totaly organic garden.

cajunsmoke13 · Jul 10, 2009

Nice looking chicken and garden...

albeesmokin · Jul 17, 2009

Ok, let me start by saying this recipe is AWESOME, Thank you ALX!
To bring everyone to speed I was trying to use my Kenmore 3 burner grill and a cast iron smoker box sitting just above the flame deflector.

1) Ordered a temp probe but it did not show up so I was working with a digital meat fork and the thermometer on the grill.

2) Soaked 2 handfuls of cherry wood chips and turned on all 3 burners to high. after about 10 min the chips began to smoke...it looked nice and thin blue. I was pretty happy about that. The Grill thermometer read 600, Yikes!

3) turned 2 burners off, left the one below the smoker box on, turned down to low. Grill stayed at 400, wouldn't drop below that. So I opened the cover a bit, that dropped it to around 300 (remember this is the therm on the grill

4) placed the chicken on the top rack, opposite side of the grill and did my best to keep the grill at around 300, but it was mostly 375ish.

5) when the grill was turned down all the way the chips stopped smoking..ugg

6) left chicken on 40 min, checked temp with my meat fork...read 130
7) let chicken cook another 15 min...about 145
8) let it cook another 15 and it read 161. Good enough for me. I was hungry.
9) placed chicken in foil, and let sit about 15 min.

10) put chicken on the plates..it looked great!! However it was one step below chicken jerky...so dry. GREAT flavor...no juicy or moist portions at all.

Is this catastrophic smoking attempt all my fault?
What would you guys do differently?
From what I can tell the chicken prep was perfect...everything went wrong with smoking/grilling process.

HELP :(

-Bryan

alx · Jul 17, 2009

Albeesmokin i think the problem was the temp spikes.

Gas grills can give a much more direct heat-then say my smoker used as a grill.

Definetly get a good digital probe and place where meat will be cooked for accurate cooking temp.I dont use mounted grill therms.

The wine and lime just tenderize and would not dry the meat.The last pic of the one breast had no sauce or anything but looked it...JUICY

That was probably my 500 time at least grill/smoking chicken-done alot of competition practice and home smoking over the years, so the only other advice would be patience and practice...Good Luck and welcome to forum.

ugaboz · Dec 5, 2010

looks great

Wicked Good Smoked Chicken Breasts

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