Popping my Smoked Chicken Cherry

[jseymour84]

Today I am doing my first ever chicken smoke :)

I soaked 2 chickens in a salt-water brine with garlic power, onion powder, and black pepper for 24 hours, and then rubbed with light brown sugar, salt, black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper. 

Seasoned Chickens.jpg

• jseymour84
• Mar 16, 2013

I know my photography isn't the greatest, but my parents and wife were rushing me to get these chickens in the smoker so they could eat them sooner.

I am planning on smoking for 3 hours over cherry (hence the pun in the subject line, hey, it's bad joke Saturday :D) wood at 220*F and if the IT is not high enough at that time to finish over a charcoal fire on the grill. It is pretty cold out today in northern WI so not sure if my little smoker can get up to temp in time, hence the charcoal contingency.  Either way I was planning on using the grill to crisp up the skin.

Here is a pic of my little electric smoker.

Smoker with Cherry Wood.jpg

• jseymour84
• Mar 16, 2013

Once the chickens are done I'll post up another pic with the details on how they turned out.  Planning on baked potatoes and corn bread with the chicken so hopefully the chicken is good.

 

[kingfishcam]

Sounds good to me! I have not yet tried chicken either. Maybe next weekend.

 

[jseymour84]

After 3.5 hours the IT in the breast is still only 145*F.  I put it in the oven at 400*F so hopefully it will get done soon.

Here are some pics after taking it off the grill and before putting it in the oven.

photo.JPG

• jseymour84
• Mar 16, 2013

photo.JPG

• jseymour84
• Mar 16, 2013

 

[s2k9k]

Nice spatch! The hot oven should do the trick for crisping the skin!

 

[pgsmoker64]

Great looking chicken!

I always smoke my chicken between 275 & 300 and they get done in about 2.5 - 3 hours and the skin is nice and crispy!

The oven will definitely finish them off nicely!

Good luck,

Bill

 

[oldschoolbbq]

Good job, Seymore. And a hearty 

 ,from us all.

Hope you enjoy our company and decide to call this home. And keep sending mouthwatering Q-view like this round of Chicken...

Have fun and as always...

 

[jseymour84]

Here are the finished chickens

Finished Chicken.JPG

• jseymour84
• Mar 16, 2013

The thermometer only read 147*F when I took them out of the oven, but I noticed that the juices were mostly clear so I cut out a chunk of the breast to check.  Wife saw me take the chunk out and snatched it off the knife before I could even blink, so I figured that meant they were ready to serve.  Very juicy and tender meat, and the two lessons I learned today was that the little electric smoker just doesn't get the job done in cooler temperatures, and never trust only one method of checking if the meat is done or not.

This was my first time spatching a chicken and I used a butcher's knife to do it.  It was tough to cut through some spots along the backbone so I am going to get me a good pair of kitchen shears for future spatch jobs.  I am definitely going to be sticking around on these forums - summer is on the way and I need someplace to show off my projects :)

 

[jarjarchef]

Looks great!

I usually don't keep the chicken intact. I usually just split it all the way........