Chicken was on the menu, and since firing up the smoker means cooking a lot of something to make the effort worthwhile, I went with two whole (5 lb each) chickens, and 2.5 lbs of wings. I really like the Foster Farms Party Wings...the 2.5 lb bag contained just 15 wing sections, but they were huge!
The whole chickens were injected with Bird Booster Honey injection per label directions, then rubbed with a paste made of olive oil, dion mustard, brown sugar, chili powder, chopped garlic, salt and pepper. They were returned to the fridge for a couple of hours, then cooked as beer can chicken on the smoker. I know, beer can chicken doesn't pick up appreciable moisture or flavor from the beer, but the height of the cans helps keep the chickens from falling over!. And I did use the leftover beer mixed with some chicken stock as a spritz, so the beer did help with the moisture in that regard.
Wings were rubbed lightly with a Mixon recipe chicken rub, then put in the fridge on drying racks for a couple of hours to help dry out the skin.
I cooked on my WSM, using a combination of cherry and pecan smoke wood running the smoker at 230-250F. The whole chickens took about 4 hours, the wings 2-2.5 hours.
To crisp the skin, I transferred the whole chickens to my propane grill, preheated to a fiendish temp--the lid thermometer indicated about 750F, though I didn't put a probe in to confirm temp at the grate. Before adding the chickens--and this is a critical step--turn OFF the burner directly under them, lest the rendering fat cause massive flare-ups. Eight to 10 minutes was enough to crisp the skin, and the chickens were brought in to rest. After 20 minutes, one was carved for dinner, and for chicken Caesar salad the next day. The other was pulled, and sauced VERY lightly with Kinder's Hot Honey sauce. That's good stuff, but I believe sauce for anything going on a bun should be served on the side. We had sandwiches the next day and froze the rest of the pulled chicken.
The wings were sauced in two batches, the first fried briefly in butter, then glazed with a healthy coat of Sweet Baby Ray's Buffalo Wing Sauce. The second batch was glazed in the frying pan with Buffalo Wild Wings Asian Zing sauce. I particularly like the latter.
So maybe this was actually Chicken Four Ways. But everything turned out great!
The whole chickens were injected with Bird Booster Honey injection per label directions, then rubbed with a paste made of olive oil, dion mustard, brown sugar, chili powder, chopped garlic, salt and pepper. They were returned to the fridge for a couple of hours, then cooked as beer can chicken on the smoker. I know, beer can chicken doesn't pick up appreciable moisture or flavor from the beer, but the height of the cans helps keep the chickens from falling over!. And I did use the leftover beer mixed with some chicken stock as a spritz, so the beer did help with the moisture in that regard.
Wings were rubbed lightly with a Mixon recipe chicken rub, then put in the fridge on drying racks for a couple of hours to help dry out the skin.
I cooked on my WSM, using a combination of cherry and pecan smoke wood running the smoker at 230-250F. The whole chickens took about 4 hours, the wings 2-2.5 hours.
To crisp the skin, I transferred the whole chickens to my propane grill, preheated to a fiendish temp--the lid thermometer indicated about 750F, though I didn't put a probe in to confirm temp at the grate. Before adding the chickens--and this is a critical step--turn OFF the burner directly under them, lest the rendering fat cause massive flare-ups. Eight to 10 minutes was enough to crisp the skin, and the chickens were brought in to rest. After 20 minutes, one was carved for dinner, and for chicken Caesar salad the next day. The other was pulled, and sauced VERY lightly with Kinder's Hot Honey sauce. That's good stuff, but I believe sauce for anything going on a bun should be served on the side. We had sandwiches the next day and froze the rest of the pulled chicken.
The wings were sauced in two batches, the first fried briefly in butter, then glazed with a healthy coat of Sweet Baby Ray's Buffalo Wing Sauce. The second batch was glazed in the frying pan with Buffalo Wild Wings Asian Zing sauce. I particularly like the latter.
So maybe this was actually Chicken Four Ways. But everything turned out great!
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