Smoked Chicken Recipe
Start the fire in your smoker and bring the temperature to 275F before placing your chicken(s) in the smoking chamber. I spray the metal grill the chicken rests on with Pam to keep the meat from sticking to it. I do this before the fire is lit.
.Ingredients:
1 or 2 whole chickens
Sea or kosher salt
Coarse ground black pepper
1 apple
1 medium vidalia onion
Preparation:
Finish cleaning the guts from the chest cavity of the chickens, being sure to get the dark colored glands located just above the tail. Rinse the chicken and cavity well with water. Cut the apple and onion in chunks and fill the chest cavity with equal amount. Season the outside of the chicken liberally with salt and pepper. Once in a while, I'll rub olive oil on the chicken to make the seasoning stick better. Place the chicken in the smoker.
Tips:
Keep the temperature of your smoker between 250-275F, the secret to great smoked meats is "low and slow". Most important though, is you need an thermometer to gauge the internal temperature of the meat. Poultry must be cooked to internal temperature of 160F (medium rare) or more. Once you remove meat from the smoker, it'll continue to cook internally, rising another 10 degrees or so. Removing my chickens at 160F then adding another 10 degrees brings it to 170F, a level I'm comfortable with. You use your own discretion but one thing is sure, don't undercook your chicken!
If your temperature is kept around 275F, your chicken will need to be smoked for about 3 hours or so. Use your meat thermometer to determine when the chicken is cooked, though. Once removed from the smoker, cover with aluminum foil and allow to sit 15-30 minutes before slicing.
I'm often asked what kind of wood I like to smoke with. These are the woods I use: white oak, hickory, cherry, apple, plum and pecan. I think my two favorites though, are pecan and cherry. Sometimes I mix wood and I rarely use hickory by itself because it's very strong. Pecan and the fruit woods are mild and mix very well together.
Some folks like to add barbecue sauce to their smoked chicken. I serve barbecue sauce on the side at the table rather than brushing it on the chicken while its in the smoker. My experience is the barbecue sauce will overpower the smoke flavor. But I like to dip my smoked chicken in barbecue sauce from time to time.
Smoke Chicken Rub:
You may want to use these recipes to rub the chicken with seasonings.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup sweet paprika
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
Combine all the ingredients to a zip lock bag and mix thoroughly. Rub on the outside and sprinkle generously in the breast cavity. Store unused rub seasoning in a tightly sealed container.
For a Cajun flavor, use Tony Chachere's seasononing. It's available in any supermarket.
To your success,
|
HTML Comment Box is loading comments...
|