Jim Beam-injected Chicken

[Count Porcula]

Today I decided to answer my own question: is Jim Beam good for flavoring chicken?

I used to smoke chickens a lot, but it has been a long time, so I am starting over. I tried doing quarters last week, and they were not all that great.

Today I made a mixture of Jim Beam, Sweet Baby Ray's, brown sugar, salt, fresh garlic, and Frank's Red Hot. Shot the chicken full. I greased the outside with bacon grease to keep the skin from drying, and I put my regular rib rub on it. I think I may pull it out in an hour and apply more grease. It's hard to get rub

I'm using some hickory I got at the grocery store. I'm surrounded by thousands of tons of oak, but none of it is dry and ready.

I am not a huge fan of shoving beer cans up chickens' rear ends. Maybe I'm wrong. I stuck a Busch tall boy next to the fire box, under the bird.

Hope this works.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

Beer can chicken is alcohol abuse.
Save the beer for drinking while smoking the yardbird.

 

[Count Porcula]

It will still end up in me.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

It will still end up in me.

 

[chopsaw]

Did you boil the bourbon first ? Just wondering .

You got the flavors for sure . Should be good . Makes a great glaze . Got a chicken going on the weber in a couple minutes .

 

[Count Porcula]

I did not boil it. Years ago, I used to reduce bourbon for this purpose. Didn't know anyone else did it.

I hope this thing works. I remember how good they used to be in the past.

 

[cornman]

I’m interested in how this pans out...good luck!

 

[chopsaw]

I boil to get rid of the alcohol .

 

[smokinstubbs]

I drink the whiskey and throw on the Jack Daniel's do the work on the cook! Good Luck

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[Count Porcula]

The recipe is excellent, except that it needs more salt in the stuff I inject, and I needed to inject more of it. Unfortunately, I took the chicken out too soon, and it wasn't completely tender. The thermometer read 165, but I guess it needed to go higher.

 

[Count Porcula]

The chicken also got a little more smoke than I think it needed. The information Smokin-It sent about weighing the wood is really accurate, and I ignored it. Next time I'll use a scale.

 

[yankee2bbq]

The chicken also got a little more smoke than I think it needed. The information Smokin-It sent about weighing the wood is really accurate, and I ignored it. Next time I'll use a scale.

Thanks for sharing. I was wondering how this turned out. It’s trial and error. I’m still trying and learning new things with smoking/bbq food.

 

[Count Porcula]

I would say I shot 6 ounces of the mixture into the chicken, and I thought I was overdoing it, but it needed more. I expected to open it up and see sauce residue everywhere, but it wasn't like that.

I guess I used around 4 ounces of Jim Beam, a tablespoon of salt, two tablespoons of sugar, three tablespoons of Sweet Baby Ray's, and a tablespoon of Frank's. Plus garlic.

I wish I had had beef fat to rub the skin with. I used to do that in the past, and it was really good.

The rub was great. I wouldn't change that. I suppose any generic rub would work.

 

[SmokinAl]

Very interesting!
I’ve thought about using bourbon in my injection, but never tried it!
Al

 

[chopsaw]

The recipe is excellent, except that it needs more salt in the stuff I inject,

I would say I shot 6 ounces of the mixture into the chicken, and I thought I was overdoing it, but it needed more. I expected to open it up and see sauce residue everywhere, but it wasn't like that.

I guess I used around 4 ounces of Jim Beam, a tablespoon of salt, two tablespoons of sugar, three tablespoons of Sweet Baby Ray's, and a tablespoon of Frank's. Plus garlic.

One of the guys put together a calculator for doing the ham curing injection .
I use it for curing , but also for making injections . Just leave out the cure 1 .

Looking at your picture , I'm guessing that's about a 5 lb bird .
Using that weight in the calculator , and converting your numbers to grams ( or a close guess )
Liquid should be 225 grams . So if " 6 ounces " was liquid you were close , but a bit under .
Sugar = 22 grams . You used 28 , so right there on that .
Salt = 45 grams . You used 14 . I think this would have an effect on flavor coming thru .

So If that was close to 5 lbs. and the total liquid was 6 oz. the only thing you really missed was the salt .
No salt stock makes a good base for injection , but if you want to stick with bourbon you might try a cheap bottle . My rule is , if you won't drink it don't cook with it , but boil off the alcohol then steep in some flavor . Maybe lemon slices or some cherries . Strain it off ( cool ) then add your sugar and salt .

 

[Count Porcula]

Thanks for the help. I was winging it, which is appropriate for a chicken.

The bird was right at 5 pounds, but the guts I threw out probably weighed half a pound.