Two Chicks came to me for tanning and left without tan lines (NAKED BIRDS) Q-View, Recipe (FINISHED)

[forluvofsmoke]

A little food porn for ya today...with pics and ALL the dirty little secrets...

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These ladies are fresh from the mountains of Tibet and came to Wyoming for some warmer summer weather, but they're still shivering (3.5 days into a 36* fridge thawing from a -20* freezer...still have ice crystals. Minimally processed birds...hmmm...we'll see how this works out today):  ...still have ice crystals

Soaking in a mineral bath to get 'em warmed up before completely stripping down for their modeling debut (3/4 cup salt & 6 qts cold water in a covered 5-gal food-safe bucket and back to the fridge. I'll give 'em 4 hours to finish thawing, then continue forward. I didn't want to do an actual spiced brine on these, just salt to keep the nasties away while they finish thawing):

I think their frost-bite is going away now (4-hr soak):

Time to get naked...if you look closely, you can see they are now wearing very, very skimpy string bikinis  ..:

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Ah, what a pair of beauties...I wonder if they have any previous modeling experience? LOL! These were 10.22lbs overall weight...should be about the perfect candidates for some low & slow smoking based on maturity...still had just a touch of ice crystals inside when I pulled the giblets, so they're plenty cold enough to work on for awhile.
 

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A quick shower, and they're ready to dry off before getting oiled-up. I rubbed 'em down ALL OVER with some tanning oil (olive oil, then, dry rub)...:  

I coated them everywhere a couple times around, then, piled the remaining rub in my shaker on top of the birds for good finish coating. The sugar should slowly melt away and carry it all down the sides a bit...we'll see.

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NAKED CHICKS DRY RUB

4 Tbls coarse ground red bell pepper

4 Tbls powdered light brown sugar (ground)

1 Tbls ground rosemary

1.5 tsp ground thyme

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp ground oregano

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 Tbls ground black peppercorn

1/2 Tbls ground garlic

1.5 Tbls paprika

1/2 Tbls chili powder

2 Tbls kosher salt

***Apply a light to moderate coat of olive oil to the skinned/prepared bird, then apply dry rub.  

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I sent 'em to the sauna, then to the tanning salon (apple/pecan @ 225* and wet pan in the Smoke Vault 24...going low & slow for smoke reaction until 140* I/T, then I'll see how close we are on timing and color of their "tan"...I may yank the temps to about 350-400* for the finish. I'll stab probes into the thighs after about 2 hours and play it out from there)...:

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Smoke is on @ 3:00pm.

The dry rub was just concieved about 90 minutes before the birds...er...uh...chicks came out of the mineral bath to hit the showers for prep, so it's another fresh one. I don't generally use sugar in my dry rubs, but I wanted it for darkening the birds towards the end of the smoke. The sweetness it will add should be nice with the spices, but the red bell pepper has a natural spicy-sweetness all it's own, so the sugar could be omitted.

I smoked a skinless whole bird awhile back...think it was 6lbs...tough old roasting hen. It worked pretty well, and I don't smoke birds often, so I haven't had the chance to try it again since then. I've smoked skinless quarters and pieces as well...all good stuff.  

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Come on back later, and see if they have any bikini tan lines! Ha-ha!!!

Eric

 

[Bearcarver]

Great start Buddy !!!!

Nice pair of Boyds!!!

I got both of my smokes posted, so I can just ---------------- 

Bring it on Eric!!

Thanks,

Bear

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Thanks Bear!

Probes are in @ 2 hours, and what a nice dark, copper-colored tan they're getting!!! I don't think I'll need to bump temps up to get the color we're looking for here. That heavy coat of rub on top has soaked up some moisture and is gettin' happy already, too:

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I staggered the birds on the grates so they'd both be pretty well centered in the smoke chamber, but neither one would get drippings off the other...so nothin' but smoke, heat and humidity for these ladies today.

Temps are in the mid to lower 130's, so coming along slow and easy.

Eric

 

[meateater]

All naked with nothing but gloves on 

 I like it ! This is gonna be good. 

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Thanks Meat...I was wondering if anyone would notice that one...Ha-ha-ha!

5.5 hour update...

I bumped the vault up from 225* to 275* after hitting 140's in the thighs. Then, took it to 300* after probing the breasts.

A plateau in chicken breasts??? I don't smoke whole yard birds very often, but I don't remember this one...

I brought the thighs up to the mid/low 160's, probed the breasts and had mid to upper 140's??? Then, the breasts climbed to 1568, and dropped off a couple degrees 30 minutes later @ 5 hours, and are still hangin' there @ 5.5 hours in.

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The dry rub seems to be holding up to the higher chamber temps nicely, so far...hmm, it actually looks kinda tasty right now:

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So...

...back with the finish, soon, I hope....TIC-TOC---TIC-TOC...

Eric

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Final log for this smoke, with the finish...

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6 hours and they were @ 162 & 163...took a big jump in the last 30 minutes, so dinner is coming soon, and, both birds will finish at the same time, for 165* in the breasts...gotta love that. I am a little concerned about the thighs, with most of the fat and all of the skin removed...may be in the mid-190's...hopefully the dark meat will hold up and not dry out...(fingers crossed).

I've only done a couple skinless whole birds, so well find out how the thighs handle it. I may want to only do the skinless method for quartered birds from now on, as it's much easier to get the dark/white meats out when they're done, instead of holding out for everything to finish while part of it is already done. Not every smoke will act the same, even with a revisit to an experimental preperation like this one, so if I can get repeatable results, then it'll be one to keep going with.

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6.5 hours into the smoke, and they were reading 165* & 166*.

Time to show us your stuff, ladies:

There ya go...work it, girl, work it...:

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WARNING: DUE TO THE GRAPHIC NATURE OF THE FOLLOWING PHOTOGRAPHS, PARENTAL DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

OK, OK, it's just more food porn...and, the finish with review.

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OK, now, string bikini off please, ladies...:

Well, I guess they did OK until they just completely fell apart without the bikini...hmm...LOL!!!

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Ah, OK, they do look better in paradise...steamed/buttered red bell pepper, yellow carrot, orange carrot and green beans on the side...:

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OK, enough with the mild adult entertainment and on to the heart of this smoke...I'm looking at a very light pink, deep smoke ring here...a half inch would be a shallow area, while much of this breast is carrying close to an inch...I won't complain...btw, juices on the plate and in the meat was the real deal...:

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Don't let anyone tell you that a smoke ring isn't possible with poultry...just go skinless...with the skin and fat on the meat, NO2 penetration/reaction is minimized. And, don't let anyone tell you that skinless poultry will be dry. This isn't my first time around with skinless chicken, either with pieces, quarters or whole, and I get great eating bird as long as I can keep the internal temps in check...that's the key to a juicy bird, not the skin, nor basting/mopping/saucing...juiciness is all about internal finished temps. If it's dry, it's overcooked, plain and simple.

The crust on the breast was down-right delicious...some crispy spots, some a bit chewy, with a wicked-good flavor from the smoke and rub. Spicy-sweet galore, with just a touch of heat, mostly from the black pepper and garlic. Hmm, I really like this new rub, and I'm not much on added sugars in a dry rub...I'll be danged if I can screw one up! Ha-ha!!!

The upside to skinless poultry, other than everything else I describe and show here? No rubber-skin syndrome, and reduced pre-cooked fat content for a healthier eating bird. So, with that behind me, is there a real reason for me to be smoking skin on birds? Not really. Maybe someday I'll come up with an excuse to do another skin-on bird again...one of those really lazy smokin' days where I don't feel like spending an extra 3 or 4 minutes to prep the bird? Yeah, that'd have to be my only real reason I can think of at this point in time.

If you like skin-on, and can get a crispy skin, either by high smoke chamber temp, butter basting or other mid-smoke treatment, or by tossing over a super-hot grill for the finish (or any combination of those methods), then all I can say is that you should do what you like and what works for you. If you don't try skinless, you'll never truely know the potential of what you're missing...  

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Well, a ton of eye-candy for sure, and a ton of great eating bird. Hope you enjoyed lookin' & readin' as much as I enjoyed writin' & eatin'...good stuff!!!

OK, you can stick a fork in me, cuz I'm done...HA!

Great smokes to all!

Eric

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the wife and kids said the dark meat was still juicy, tender and delicious...even though I didn't take final temp readings in the thighs, so no harm done, there...wheew!!!

 

[nwdave]

Eric's back and in good form.  Another excellent dissertation on the application and technique of smoking a chicken or two.

 

[africanmeat]

Eric This is a good looking bird .and a yummy plate of food 

 

[SmokinAl]

Looks great as always Eric!

 

[Bearcarver]

OMG!!!!

Another one of your outstanding tutorial episodes----Unbelievable!!!

And BearView Galore to boot!!!!

Poor Chicks------I knew they were in trouble, after 2 hours, when I saw the IVs in them!!!

Thanks for another Great One, Eric!!!

Bear

 

[dave54]

Looks great But I like tan lines !

 

[hardslicer]

Impressive presentation Eric.......I will certainly go 'freebird' with my hens next time out.  Thanks for taking the time to put this on the site......I have printed it up and will be keeping it in my log book for future consideration! 

 

[venture]

Looks great!

I never considered skinning them before smoking.  I'll have to try that.

Good luck and good smoking.

 

[roller]

Nice breast !!!!!