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I've marinated them in Zesty Italian dressing, too. I've also used it on steaks and pork chops. :)
I found this marinade recipe for chicken breasts a while back, and I really like it:
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp garlic powder or crushed garlic
½ tsp onion powder or crushed onion
¼ tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
¼ cup lemon juice
1 tbsp thyme
The fun part of smoking meat is trying new & different things. Brine them or not but whatever you do, try something different the next time & see if you like that as well.
yes brine them, no don't use alcohol. very simple brine,
1 gal. of water
1 cup kosher salt
1 cup sugar
mix and bring to a boil, cool to room temp
soak chicken @4-6 hrs. refridgerated
rinse and pat dry
rub with plowboy yardbird or butcherbbq rub
cook at@ 275* to165* to 170*
listen to people brag about your bbq skills.
I don't think you can ever go wrong when brining poultry. I try and do mine overnight and then rinse them off real good. I use the same as BBQhead but use brown sugar and either creole or zateran's crab boil if you like a little spice.
I think being skinless chicken breasts, I'd brine them. For most cuts that are smoked, there is some fat to them. Without the skin, there will be little fat to keep the meat moist. A brine should help that a lot. Either that or put some bacon over it when smoking. I also personally would keep the brine simple and probably wouldn't use alcohol in the brine, but why not try something new and do some with and some without and see what you like. Good luck. Make sure to post a q-view with the results of your brining and if you did the alcohol comparison or not.
Right now I am waiting for payday and hoping I can find something to seal the fire box. The heat from my last smoke waqrped it a little and there is now a gap between it and the main grill.
As far as the q-view, that may have to wait until I can afford a good tri-pod for my camera. I posted pics of the turkey breast I did, and I guess the pictures weren't clear enough, I didn't get any replies after I posted them. lol
Don't know what kind of camera you have, but maybe if you have a sport mode on the camera (usually a figure of a guy running) I'd maybe try that, It should speed up the shutter speed and maybe reduce some of the blur. Just a thought.