I feel so stubborn. Firsti brined chicken.

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jaynik

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Jan 22, 2006
307
12
Arnold, MD
I'll never not brine again. This was hands down the best chicken I've done to date. It was stupid juicy and my wife was even very complimentary about it being so good. I brined about a 5 lb bird with water, sugar, kosher salt, etc per another recent post. I let it sit overnight and started smoking around lunch time. It took about 4 hours or so for the bird to get to 165/170. I didn't glaze the skin, but it came out very nice, good texture. I did stick it in the broiler for 5 minutes to firm up the skin a bit, but had also removed my water pan for a couple minutes in the smoker to try to brown up the skin some more.

I just did up a pot of chicken soup with the leftovers of this. This forum is paying for itself moreso than the smoker itself. I deleted some pics in other posts, so hope to be able to add these!
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Carl, the rest is soup tonight. Stop on by.

Ron, I thought about that when I walked in the door tonight. That's going to be my next project!
 
Jaynik,thats a fine looking bird.Whole chickens are one of my favorite to smoke.I usually fill the whole smoker up,about six birds,and what we dont eat we freeze for later.Even after freezing them they still wonderfull to eat and stay very juicy.Thanks for the pic and keep it up,David
 
Randy, I've only grilled my rockfish with garlic, butter and lime in a foil packet. I'm sure it's smokeable, but such a delicate flavor. I'll try to get a blue for the smoker next summer. I hear they're great in there. I'd love to get in a trip before the season's over, but everyone's putting their boats up. May have to wait for the spring.

David, thanks. I love these brined chickens. I've done beer can chickens which are great, but had never brined before this. The combination of the two must be fantastic. I too like to smoke more than I can eat at once. It makes both great leftovers and soup. Now that I know how good they can be, I'll pick up a half dozen next sale and load up my smoker as you noted. I need a vacuum sealer now!
 
Well it all is lookin good to me.I get a lot of salmon so everything else is lookin pretty good to me but the salmon has the color I like to see.
 
Here try this on for size

1lb salt
1lb brown sugar
1 container of pickling spice

add enough water to cover bird and brine over night. Then smoke and enjoy a wonderful tasting bird
 
I copied the brine recipe from q3131a.

Here is the brining recipe:
1 gallon of water
1 cup of kosher salt
1 1/2 cups of white sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
3 tbl black pepper
2 tbl onion powder
2 tbl garlic powder
1 bunch of fresh thyme (I grow it on my deck in a pot)

It was excellent! I will try a couple different types (i.e. Cheech's) next time. I figure I might as well smoke a couple chickens next time the smoker is fired up! I'm ready for it already, but I figure I have to give it some time to make the family appreciate it. :-) BTW, the soup with the leftovers was fantastic.
 
After reading so many "brine" posts, I decieded to try brining. Went to store last night and purchased a yard bird. (4 1/2 lb). Using my deep fryer pot, 2 gallons water, kosher salt, sugar, I put the bird in and set outside. Got up little later than usual, so it stayed in brine longer than I wanted. It is now rinsed and in the fridge. Sometime today I'll stick a beer can up it's butt and see how it turns out.
 
Here it is...injected with Yoshida and smoked for 4 hours. Unbelieveable as to how moist it was. The juices just ran clear . It was great. Think all birds will be brined from now on.
 
Looks great! I just put on a turkey at 430 for a luncheon at work tomorrow. I'll smke it until about 830 or 9 and finish in the oven if it's not ready by then. I'm digging the brining thing. With this turkey, I'm worried as it brined from Friday night till 330 today, but was still partially frozen. That should make for an interesting smoke/cook process for this gobbler...
 
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