"Designated Driver" Can Chicken

[geek with fire]

I did some can chicken this weekend using Dr. Pepper, instead of beer. Turned out pretty good. Here's what I did:

Dry Stuff:
1 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Dry Mustard
1 Tbl Thyme
2 Tbl Turbinado Sugar (powdered in a coffee grinder)
1 Tbl Course Sea Salt (powdered in a coffee grinder)
1 Tbl Black Pepper (cracked)
1 Tbl Garlic Powder
2 tsp Sage

Wet Stuff - For the can:
1/2 can Dr. Pepper (I used diet....it's what I had)
1/4 cup EVOO
1 Tbl Spiced Rum
1 Tbl of the "Dry Stuff"

Wet Stuff - For injection (continue to mix well):
1/2 can Dr. Pepper (I used diet....it's what I had)
1/4 cup EVOO
1 Tbl Spiced Rum

Prep Process:
(brine before hand if you like....I don't)
Coat all surfaces of the bird with maple syrup. Using a shaker, apply the dry stuff excessively to the skin. Pat in the dry stuff in the cavity.

Carfully inject the wet stuff into the bird, under the skin (without breaking any of the skin). Before injecting, make sure the wet stuff is well mixed (the oil will float to the top). Inject until it will no longer hold juice. Seal in a zip top bag and store in the fridge over night.

Smoking:
Smoke at the appropriate temperature depending on how you like your skin. I smoke at 250 to impart more smoke flavor (but I also remove the skin). Smoke at 350 if you like crispy skin. Either way, I smoke to in internal temp of 170-175; foiling the bird when/if the skin starts to burn. Foil and let rest for at least 30 minutes after removing it from the heat.

EDIT: I had the wrong temperature in the first time. 250 is the temp the birds were smoked at

Here's a shot of the finished birds:

 

[bigarm's smokin]

Dang Josh, looks and sounds pretty good.

 

[kew_el_steve]

Nice looking birds!!! 2 questions.

1) You say that you remove the skin but these have skins on. Please elaborate.

2) Were these smoked at 225? If so, how long did it take?

 

[richtee]

"Man- am I fried after that party last night!" "Ugh..shush up and pass the terlit paper, Foghorn"

 

[geek with fire]

OK, I'm a complete moron. I just checked my data log to find out
how long I cooked the bird and realized that my 225 was wrong.
I smoked it at 250, for about 3 hours. The last 30 minutes, I
ramped it up to 300 just for kicks.
As far as the skin goes, I just meant that I remove the skin
when I'm carving......Dr.'s orders....can't eat anything that's
crispy and tastes good.

Data Log:
Blue = Pit temp
Magenta = Temp to Maintain
Yellow = Chicken Temp

(the little blip at the end was when I moved the probe to the other bird.)

 

[richtee]

How COOL is that?!? Dayumm! :{)

 

[blackhawk19]

Great lookin birds

 

[jts70]

Looking good!!

 

[Deer Meat]

Damn Geek......I would hate to see how long that data log is for a Brisket, Or can you shorten the times to like 5 or 15 minute intervals?

just wondering, I think that is cool as hell.

 

[geek with fire]

Yea, I can set the interval when I'm running the program. In this case, it was set on 15 second intervals because I was trying to see how well tuned the PID loop was with the new thermocouple sensors. Normally for a long cook, I use 30-60 seconds.

 

[squeezy]

I like to do my birds @ 325º for BB chickens ... usually takes about 1½ hrs. I find that there is no benefit to cooking at lower temps for BBs.

 

[geek with fire]

Yea, you don't benefit specifically from the temperature being low (like in pork where you want to melt the connective tissue). However, since it reduces time, you get more smoke time. I use chips when smoking chicken (the only time I use chips) and do it really light. So at the temperatures used, the smoke isn't too heavy on the outter tissue, but still gets some depth......at least that's my theory.....perhaps total hooey.

 

[hawgheaven]

Josh, the chickies look fantastic! Nice job dude!

 

[squeezy]

Oh! ... forgot to ask ... why do you put so much on the skin and then throw away?

 

[geek with fire]

The skin just serves as a place to hold the rub; It still penetrates the meat. If I could figure out how to get rub under the skin, I'd try it.

 

[richtee]

Blown is nice, but I'd rather be injected- Old hot rodder's saying

On edit...it's reversed. But the point was try injection.. oops!

 

[squeezy]

Injection and rub in the cavity works .... but rub going through the skin ... I think not!
You can take something like jerk paste, mix it with butter and carefully push it around between skin and flesh ... that works very well!

 

[richtee]

What Squeezy said!

 

[geek with fire]

So I guess the answer to your question is, it makes for good q-view!

I suppose I'll have to do some side by side testing, but I'm skeptical at this point (that's my fault, not yours.....I'm just built that way).

Thanks for the info.

 

[richtee]

Dat's why I love ya , man!