Just got a Brinkmann "ECB" smoker/griller last week. I've started on the recommended mods, added more ventilation to the bottom of the charcoal pan along with a gate to control airflow (I hope). Anyway, to break it in, I did a pork roast last Thursday, and tried a chicken tonight. The chicken was about 4.5 lbs (2 kilos), and I injected it with something called "Tony Chachere's Creole Style Butter Marinade," which I bought the last time I was back in the states because it came with an injector. Not going to find those here in Japan, I'm pretty sure. Didn't do any brining, and I didn't really let it sit very long, which may have been a mistake.
Loaded up the grill with a mix of natural chunk charcoal and something I'm going to call "Japanese Matchlight," which is little charcoal tubes that have a coating on them that gets them started. Smells a little bit like smokeless powder, and a little bit like chlorine or something,but they go grey quicker than a first term president, so I use them to get things kicked off.
Once the fire was going, I added my Smoke Wood, which is basically compressed blocks of sawdust. I tried Japanese Cherry (sakura) this time, since I thought it might go well with poultry.
My smoker started off around 310F, which I know is too high for meat, but I've read that low and slow will dry out poultry too much, so I let it go. After a half hour or so, it settled down to around 275, held there for about an hour, and then started dropping off pretty quickly. I thought I might have clogged my airflow, but it looked OK, so I lit a couple more of the matchlights (outside the smoker, chemicals and all), and when I put them in, the temperature popped up to around 300 again. I had my thermometer stuck between the thigh and body, and when it hit 168, I pulled it out and put it in the breast just to make sure. 172, and we're done!
And sliced open:
It came out very tender and juicy (I think some of the injected marinade just poured out when I cut it), but, well, not very smoky. It was on for almost 3 hours, I had smoke going most of the time (had to put the smoke wood blocks on the same level as the charcoal, but off to one side, there was no oxygen higher up), the color is pretty nice, but I'm a little disappointed with the lack of "smoked" taste. I'm thinking that I should have left it in the fridge overnight to form a pellicle, but I'm not sure. Any suggestions would be welcome.
-val
Loaded up the grill with a mix of natural chunk charcoal and something I'm going to call "Japanese Matchlight," which is little charcoal tubes that have a coating on them that gets them started. Smells a little bit like smokeless powder, and a little bit like chlorine or something,but they go grey quicker than a first term president, so I use them to get things kicked off.
Once the fire was going, I added my Smoke Wood, which is basically compressed blocks of sawdust. I tried Japanese Cherry (sakura) this time, since I thought it might go well with poultry.
My smoker started off around 310F, which I know is too high for meat, but I've read that low and slow will dry out poultry too much, so I let it go. After a half hour or so, it settled down to around 275, held there for about an hour, and then started dropping off pretty quickly. I thought I might have clogged my airflow, but it looked OK, so I lit a couple more of the matchlights (outside the smoker, chemicals and all), and when I put them in, the temperature popped up to around 300 again. I had my thermometer stuck between the thigh and body, and when it hit 168, I pulled it out and put it in the breast just to make sure. 172, and we're done!
And sliced open:
It came out very tender and juicy (I think some of the injected marinade just poured out when I cut it), but, well, not very smoky. It was on for almost 3 hours, I had smoke going most of the time (had to put the smoke wood blocks on the same level as the charcoal, but off to one side, there was no oxygen higher up), the color is pretty nice, but I'm a little disappointed with the lack of "smoked" taste. I'm thinking that I should have left it in the fridge overnight to form a pellicle, but I'm not sure. Any suggestions would be welcome.
-val
