bone-in chicken breasts?

1. Not necessary to pre-heat but would probably work well
2. Assuming you are not using an FEC, go as high as your smoker will go.
3. Remove at 160*, allow the breasts to sit for at least 20 minutes to redistribute juices.
4. Probably looking at 2-2.5 hours. Watch the probe
5. Personally I like hickory, some think it's too strong. Might try pecan first and do hickory next time.
6. Start with no more than 1 oz unless you like very heavily smoked chicken. Always best to start small and work your way up.
5. The skin is up to you. If you are using a Smokette or 150/155 the skin will more than likely be rubbery. The skin will peel off effortlessly.

Take good notes and use them to improve your next smoke.

Hope this help a little!

Good luck & let us know how it turns out.

Thanks for the tips. I rubbed olive oil and garlic salt on the chicken breasts. Smoked them for about 1.5 hours with SM08 set to 250 (I think in my SM08, 250 degrees is probably closer to 280 actual degrees).

After the smoke, decided to crisp them up and finish on the propane grill. Wowzers, it was like a scene from the movie 'Fire Starter' (Drew Barrimore). Guess the olive oil didnt agree with the grill. Luckily I got them off fast enough that they were only slightly blackened.

Fat & oil in chicken skin will go a blaze in a hurry on a hot grill. Nice to have a spray mister handy to douse the flames.

How much wood did you use? What kind? Did you like the finished product?

I used about 1.3 ounces of pecan to smoke the 4 chicken breasts. They tasted ok. My neighbor really liked them. Next time, I may try brining the chicken breasts. They sure do come to temperature fast.

On the mister, do you just use a plant mister with water?

The goal of the mister is dousing flames.

Worst case, you can always spill a little of your cold drink on it.

It won't be the first time.

There is rumor that many great bastes/marinades were invented this way.

quote:

Originally posted by exit174:
They tasted ok...

Why okay?

Not enough smoke?
More flavor in the rub?
More flavor in the chicken?

Brining will help with the chicken part.

For the mister, you can put almost anything in there. Some like to add bourbon and other flavors. Just make sure to have one bottle for flames and one for flavor.

Don't use the bourbon on the flames

I guess i like my chicken flavored more strongly than what I produced. The smoke flavor was fine but the chicken needed some zip to it. I used olive oil/garlic salt/cavenders and let it sit overnight.

White meat will never have a strong taste without brining, it just doesn't.

try a brine and add some of those ingredients to the brine and see how it comes out. For spicy, just add some crab boil to the brine for a little kick.

Like Smokin' says,white chicken is pretty much a tasteless foil for whatever direction you wish to take it.

Many folks will cook it without wood,to just let the coating on the cooker walls give it a slight hint of smoke.

White chicken is often cooked so quickly that it picks up very little flavor from the process.

The great percentage of grocery store chicken is already heavily injected with a salt water.

One, this adds to the store profitability.

Two,it might even help today's cook, that may be prone to overcook very lean meats.

Sounds like you were making a Greek chicken?

When you become as comfortable with brining,as Smokin' is,it becomes second nature to quick brine white poultry and lean pork at every cook.

Have ya tried the crab boil addition at a competiton Okie? I am just curious, I am not a competitor any way, shape or form. I do it often around here for our cooks when I know people will like it taken up a notch or two.