So this weekend we decide we're going to try the big time and smoke up a chicken. I know chicken is supposed to be a good starter meat, but we don't roast whole chickens, or whole anythings usually... this would normally be a Thanksgiving meal.
So anyway, I find myself a brine recipe... brining is the way to go, so I hear. We whip on down to the market and pick up a nice grain fed whole chicken (if we're doing this, we're going all the way)... so I brine this up with a nice little mixture of Kosher Salt, Sugar, Pepper, and some crappy pickling salt (thank god I finally found a use for this crap outside of melting ice and making bad rubs). So I brine this thing for what I'm thinking is 24 hours... then I jump on here today and read that anything in the 8-12 hour range is ideal, anything over is pickling. I'm thinkng this is bad news since not only did I shoot for 24 hours, but I substituted some pickling salt as well... thank the good lord the wife likes pickles.
So I pop some holes in my charcoal tray and I light up my brand new charcoal chimney... then we run off to the store and get some jalapeno's... we're doing some ABT's this time! So all goes well for hte most part, temperature was a bit low and I had a hell of time keeping it up... I'm not sure if it was the new lump charcoal I bought or the holes I drilled.... either way we finally did manage to sette it in around 220ish and we sat there for three hours... then another three (thank god there was beer) and let our chicken, ABT's, and sausages smoke. Man, it was all top-notch.... it was like I couldn't go wrong tonight.
The only downside really was in the ABT's... I bought four jalapeno's, had six in my bag, but my wife figured they looked nasty ass so to just get four in case they were yucky and we could always just give the last two to the neighbors... that was my plan too, but I wanted to eat a couple before giving them away. So anyway, we eat the first round, and were both amazed... should we give these last two to the neighbors or just eat them? So of course we ate them... I will have to buy more jalapenos for sure, I had no idea they would be that good. We've had Jalapeno Poppers, but you can't compare, these things were awesome.
So in closing, and sorry for keeping you during my boring adventure... here are some pictures... I hope.
Thanks again for everyone's help, you guys are awesome.
So anyway, I find myself a brine recipe... brining is the way to go, so I hear. We whip on down to the market and pick up a nice grain fed whole chicken (if we're doing this, we're going all the way)... so I brine this up with a nice little mixture of Kosher Salt, Sugar, Pepper, and some crappy pickling salt (thank god I finally found a use for this crap outside of melting ice and making bad rubs). So I brine this thing for what I'm thinking is 24 hours... then I jump on here today and read that anything in the 8-12 hour range is ideal, anything over is pickling. I'm thinkng this is bad news since not only did I shoot for 24 hours, but I substituted some pickling salt as well... thank the good lord the wife likes pickles.
So I pop some holes in my charcoal tray and I light up my brand new charcoal chimney... then we run off to the store and get some jalapeno's... we're doing some ABT's this time! So all goes well for hte most part, temperature was a bit low and I had a hell of time keeping it up... I'm not sure if it was the new lump charcoal I bought or the holes I drilled.... either way we finally did manage to sette it in around 220ish and we sat there for three hours... then another three (thank god there was beer) and let our chicken, ABT's, and sausages smoke. Man, it was all top-notch.... it was like I couldn't go wrong tonight.
The only downside really was in the ABT's... I bought four jalapeno's, had six in my bag, but my wife figured they looked nasty ass so to just get four in case they were yucky and we could always just give the last two to the neighbors... that was my plan too, but I wanted to eat a couple before giving them away. So anyway, we eat the first round, and were both amazed... should we give these last two to the neighbors or just eat them? So of course we ate them... I will have to buy more jalapenos for sure, I had no idea they would be that good. We've had Jalapeno Poppers, but you can't compare, these things were awesome.
So in closing, and sorry for keeping you during my boring adventure... here are some pictures... I hope.
Thanks again for everyone's help, you guys are awesome.
