Milwaukee Area Meat-Man Needs Help, LOL!

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jacksonface9

Newbie
Original poster
Nov 27, 2012
6
10
Hi!

My name is Jordan! Im a 30 year old male. I love cooking, grilling, crock pot stuff...you name it! I have  alove for southern cooking, especially. I was given a smokin'n' grill by my brother. I was all excited so I figured I'd give it a go and start slow with some chicken this weekend! My problem is, im going in completely blind! I got some chicken legs, apple wood chips, big bag of charcoal and  good brine. I have a GENERAL idea on how to complete this process, but Im not sure A) How long to smoke these legs for B) At what temperature to let the smoker heat up too and C) At what rate should I allow the temperature increase while doing this? Is anyone here able to help me with my first run with this smoker?! Id greatly appreciate any info or feedback I can get. Thanks everyone! Dont be a stranger!
 
Welcome to SMF. I'm learning myself on things but have made some great bbq. You want your smoked 250-300 the higher the better so you get a nice crispy skin. If not it will be rubbery. I would get your smoker up to temp before you put any meat on. It shouldnt take but around 1.5 hours to smoke legs but always go by temp not time. Temps for chicken should be 165. I just smoked a turkey and used a brine for the first time and that was the best turkey I have ever had and im not a fan of turkey so i recomend brining poultry for sure. Good Luck. Hope this helped. Oh and one more thing. Your best bet is to get a digital thermometer cause the one on your smoker more than likely is not accurate. I have the maverick et-732 and it works flawless. You take it in the house with you and can monitor the temps from there.
 
Hi Jordan! 
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to SMF!!! We're happy you found us! You've come to the right place, we have over 40,000 members and over 800,000 posts so you should be able to find almost anything you want to know. Remember the search bar at the top can be your best friend for finding answers fast!

Would you do us a favor and update your profile to include your location, Thanks!

Here is Jeff's Free 5 day E-course  that JJ mentioned, it will teach you all the basics and a whole lot more!
 
Thanks guys! This place is awesome! well, as you read, I am very into southern cooking and grilling. My brother gave me an old "Smoke N' Grill" this last weekend, and Im gonna be giving it a test run this weekend with some chicken and some brine I bought. Honestly, I think the temperature part, and cooking part, I have figured out (THINK being our key word, here lol) but i keep getting different answers as far as how to do the chips. My brother says to soak them for a few hours and to layer them over the smoldering coals before I put the meat on. My grandpa says to light the chips and to let them smolder and dont use coals at all. The bag that the chips come in, say to put them into a "pouch" made of tin foil...which one of these is correct? Im doing 10 chicken legs, just to try to figure this out. Can anyone help me?
 
Thats awesome! So, the Maverick is the name brand of the digital thermometer? Obviously it has a remote sensor? I might have to look into that!
 
So, the smoker is sitting at 200 degrees as we speak. would it be a good idea, to give it maybe 15 more minutes and then add some coal, if I want to bring that up?
 
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