My brother-in-law and family are coming over for dinner tonight. So, I thought we would do some smoked chicken. Winn Dixie has whole roasters on sale for .88/lb. So, yesterday I stopped and picked up two whole roasters. Last night I opened, cleaned and brined the two chickens. This morning I got them ready for the smoker.
Here are the chickens after brining overnight.
Brine recipe:
1.5 gallons of water
1.5 cups kosher salt
1.5 cups regular white sugar
1/4 soy sauce
1 tbl dried rosemary
3 tbl black pepper
3 tbl red pepper flakes
1 tbl cumin
dash of this dash of that
After the brining, pull the chickens and wash inside and out (to remove excess salt). You only want the salt that the chicken absorbed.
Next step is to prepare the stuffing:
Two limes, fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, 1/4 large red onion, missing from the picture are 6 cloves of smashed garlic.
Here the birds stuffed but not tied yet:
Now it's time for the rub: Each bird will have a different rub. Bird 1: South West Chipotle; Bird 2: Rub recipe from Israel (made from scratch)
Bird Rub 2 spices being warmed to intensify flavor. They they are ground in a spice mill.
Here are the spices used for the rubs:
Rub 1: Prepackaged SW Chipotle - I am concerned about this rub since it has salt and I already brined the birds. We'll see if it is too salty.
Rub 2: Red Pepper flakes, Cardamom, Coriander, Paprika, Oregano and Cumin.
Here are the birds rubbed and ready for the smoker:
Also, I am going to do some smoked sausage (seen at the right of the picture). These were left over after a recipe for dinner yesterday.
The birds are going to go on at noon. They should be ready sometime between 5 and 6 pm. Temperature will be 225 to 250 for 5-6 hours. They will be finished when the breasts are 162 on my digital thermometer. I will pull them an let them rest 15 minutes before serving.
Updates to follow.
Here are the chickens after brining overnight.
Brine recipe:
1.5 gallons of water
1.5 cups kosher salt
1.5 cups regular white sugar
1/4 soy sauce
1 tbl dried rosemary
3 tbl black pepper
3 tbl red pepper flakes
1 tbl cumin
dash of this dash of that
After the brining, pull the chickens and wash inside and out (to remove excess salt). You only want the salt that the chicken absorbed.
Next step is to prepare the stuffing:
Two limes, fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, 1/4 large red onion, missing from the picture are 6 cloves of smashed garlic.
Here the birds stuffed but not tied yet:
Now it's time for the rub: Each bird will have a different rub. Bird 1: South West Chipotle; Bird 2: Rub recipe from Israel (made from scratch)
Bird Rub 2 spices being warmed to intensify flavor. They they are ground in a spice mill.
Here are the spices used for the rubs:
Rub 1: Prepackaged SW Chipotle - I am concerned about this rub since it has salt and I already brined the birds. We'll see if it is too salty.
Rub 2: Red Pepper flakes, Cardamom, Coriander, Paprika, Oregano and Cumin.
Here are the birds rubbed and ready for the smoker:
Also, I am going to do some smoked sausage (seen at the right of the picture). These were left over after a recipe for dinner yesterday.
The birds are going to go on at noon. They should be ready sometime between 5 and 6 pm. Temperature will be 225 to 250 for 5-6 hours. They will be finished when the breasts are 162 on my digital thermometer. I will pull them an let them rest 15 minutes before serving.
Updates to follow.
