I’ve been itching to try out some ideas I’ve had brewing to feed the masses at a weekend birthday on Saturday. Decided on a dual meat situation with chicken and pork, both pulled for sandwiches. But the flavors have to be contrasting I figure if they’re going to try both. I have a pork recipe that’s pretty dern good and I don’t want to mess with it much, but chicken is definitely not my forte. My dad just did some chickens and made up a paprika cayenne rub that’s a little more salt than sweet so I figured that would be where I would start.
I brined. These are two whole Amish chickens, decent sized, I really wanted to make sure we hit the mark. I’ve never brined. So, I sort of looked at a bunch of different recipes and got the gist of what I was doing and then threw a curve in with apple cider vinegar. So the brine was basically a gallon of water, a cup of brown sugar, half a cup of canning salt, and half a cup of cider vinegar. Left overnight.
Washed them off, dried, rubbed. Then I got a wild hair and figured I went so far as brining why not inject? So I melted a half stick of butter, then got to looking for my kids apple juice box but couldn’t find any so I used fruit punch. Not sugar water it’s 100% juice, mostly apple and grape I think. Used about a half cup. Then added some rub for boost.
Smoked the birds at 250 with exclusively cherry wood until they hit 165 and then took them out and wrapped in foil for a half hour before starting the pull.
The chicken literally fell apart in my hands. I kid you not it might be the most tender meat of any kind I have made. And the flavor is crazy good. The savory rub works really well with all the sweetness and fruit flavors. I even wrote the recipe down which is not normal for me lol.
I brined. These are two whole Amish chickens, decent sized, I really wanted to make sure we hit the mark. I’ve never brined. So, I sort of looked at a bunch of different recipes and got the gist of what I was doing and then threw a curve in with apple cider vinegar. So the brine was basically a gallon of water, a cup of brown sugar, half a cup of canning salt, and half a cup of cider vinegar. Left overnight.
Washed them off, dried, rubbed. Then I got a wild hair and figured I went so far as brining why not inject? So I melted a half stick of butter, then got to looking for my kids apple juice box but couldn’t find any so I used fruit punch. Not sugar water it’s 100% juice, mostly apple and grape I think. Used about a half cup. Then added some rub for boost.
Smoked the birds at 250 with exclusively cherry wood until they hit 165 and then took them out and wrapped in foil for a half hour before starting the pull.
The chicken literally fell apart in my hands. I kid you not it might be the most tender meat of any kind I have made. And the flavor is crazy good. The savory rub works really well with all the sweetness and fruit flavors. I even wrote the recipe down which is not normal for me lol.
