My first time smoking anything and I picked 'whole chicken'...

[marklog]

As mentioned in the Roll Call, I have a Little Chef tin box electric smoker that, as far as the literature shows, isn't going to get much hotter than 165 degrees.  Before I figured that part out I brined a chicken for 24 hours using a brine listed here, and tossed it into the little fella.  So here's my question. It's about a 5 pound bird, what's the best guess as to how long I'm going to need to keep it in there?  Will it even cook all the way through at that temp?  Did I choose a meat a little too.. meaty for this smoker? 

Finally, what can I do to turn this into something really tasty?

-Marklog

 

[daveomak]

Mark, morning and welcome to the forum....   What brine did you use ??? Does it have cure #1 in it ???   The reason I ask is.... cooking any meat at 165 degrees is too low a temperature without cure.... the meat will stay in the danger zone (40-140) for too long and the chance of bacteria and pathogens to grow is significant..... the meat may not be safe to eat....  

About the smoker temp....  You could try a welding blanket to insulate the smoker to elevate the temperature to a safe 225 or higher...  Chicken does even better at 275 - 300 to keep the skin crisp.....  

More information would help....    Dave

 

[marklog]

I used the brine listed on one of the threads here- 1 gal water, 1 cup salt, 1 cup brown sugar, etc. 

After about 2 hours of the temp not being where it needed to be, I threw it on the grill butterflied.  Charred the skin and cooked it through with indirect heat.  Though it wasn't my original plan, it turned out great! 

Today, it's going to be something this little guy can handle- a salmon fillet. :)

Thanks for the info on the welding blanket, I might actually have one laying around...

thanks,

Marklog
 

 

[bryce]

I used the brine listed on one of the threads here- 1 gal water, 1 cup salt, 1 cup brown sugar, etc. 

After about 2 hours of the temp not being where it needed to be, I threw it on the grill butterflied.  Charred the skin and cooked it through with indirect heat.  Though it wasn't my original plan, it turned out great! 

Today, it's going to be something this little guy can handle- a salmon fillet. :)

Thanks for the info on the welding blanket, I might actually have one laying around...

thanks,

Marklog
 

Back in the day i had a lil chief. I live in a cooler climate in winter but some of our best salmon runs are also in winter and i wanted to learn how to smoke salmon. Anyhow, despite my best efforts i just couldnt get the lil chief up to any cooking temps during this time of year. Finally, i went out and got some R-13 house insulation and wrapped that sucker up (i was building houses back then.) Anyhow, problem solved and meat cooked. I didnt have the creativity to search out a welding blanket but that would be much better than ichy insulation. :)