I recently recieved my shipment of pecan pellets from Todd Johnson at A-MAZE-N products and I was itching to smoke something with em. It had been so long since I'd smoked with pecan that I couldn't decide what to try it on. After some suggestions from the helpful members here, I decided on chicken.
Started out with some boneless/skinless and trimmed the fat and yucky stuff.
Then I butterflied em and they all went into a 2 gallon ziplock filled with Italian dressing where they rested overnight.
Took em out this afternoon and gave each a generous sprinkle of mozzarella.
Then I added some sausage from a meat locker I go to when visiting the parents.
Wrapped the sausage in the chicken and did a alf hassed bacon wrap on the chicken. IMHO this allows more smoke penetration into the chicken but adds a bit of moisture and flavor as well.
Only had 4 sausages and 6 chicken breasts so I used some johnsonville brats in the last 2.
Got the MES fired up to 230 and added 1 1/2 rows of pecan pellets to the AMNPS. Lit both ends for a nice heavy smoke. I changed the usual placement of the AMNPS and was very happy with the result. I normally place it on the support bars next to the heat element. I have gotten some good smokes that way but I had a couple times where the heat interfered with the AMNPS.
Today I placed the AMNPS on the bottom rack(which I never use anyways) just above the water pan and directly below my makeshift smoke stack. I kept the chicken on the left side of the MES to avoid dripping on the AMNPS. It smoked like a charm!
Both ends chugged along the whole time giving off nice TBS. Used cell phone for this pic.
As the temps on the chicken started to rise, I skewered some asparagus and brushed with EVOO. I like to run 2 skewers through each bunch so its easy to flip as a whole and none of the asparagus spins during flipping.
Sprinkled with garlic salt and a romano/parmesan mix.
On to the grill.
As the chicken hit 165 I pulled it and threw it on the grill for a few to crisp up the bacon a little. This chicken/bacon looks like it went a few rounds with Mike Tyson.
But what it lacks in looks it makes up for in taste. Pecan did an outstanding job.
Bear View
Thanks for looking.
Started out with some boneless/skinless and trimmed the fat and yucky stuff.
Then I butterflied em and they all went into a 2 gallon ziplock filled with Italian dressing where they rested overnight.
Took em out this afternoon and gave each a generous sprinkle of mozzarella.
Then I added some sausage from a meat locker I go to when visiting the parents.
Wrapped the sausage in the chicken and did a alf hassed bacon wrap on the chicken. IMHO this allows more smoke penetration into the chicken but adds a bit of moisture and flavor as well.
Only had 4 sausages and 6 chicken breasts so I used some johnsonville brats in the last 2.
Got the MES fired up to 230 and added 1 1/2 rows of pecan pellets to the AMNPS. Lit both ends for a nice heavy smoke. I changed the usual placement of the AMNPS and was very happy with the result. I normally place it on the support bars next to the heat element. I have gotten some good smokes that way but I had a couple times where the heat interfered with the AMNPS.
Today I placed the AMNPS on the bottom rack(which I never use anyways) just above the water pan and directly below my makeshift smoke stack. I kept the chicken on the left side of the MES to avoid dripping on the AMNPS. It smoked like a charm!
Both ends chugged along the whole time giving off nice TBS. Used cell phone for this pic.
As the temps on the chicken started to rise, I skewered some asparagus and brushed with EVOO. I like to run 2 skewers through each bunch so its easy to flip as a whole and none of the asparagus spins during flipping.
Sprinkled with garlic salt and a romano/parmesan mix.
On to the grill.
As the chicken hit 165 I pulled it and threw it on the grill for a few to crisp up the bacon a little. This chicken/bacon looks like it went a few rounds with Mike Tyson.
But what it lacks in looks it makes up for in taste. Pecan did an outstanding job.
Bear View
Thanks for looking.
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