I preheated the smoker to 235*, placed 2 oz apple wood and 1 oz of pecan into the wood box and placed the hens into the smoker once it started smoking. When the hens reached an internal of 130*, I basted them every 12* with the following Orange/Grand Marnier basting sauce (thanks redoakNC):
Orange Basting Sauce
1.Two cups freshly squeezed orange juice.
2.One cup Honey
3.½ cup Gran Marnier Liquor
4.½ cup Provence seasoning
5.2 Tablespoons of the rub used on the Chickens
6.1 Teaspoon fresh orange rind
7.1 Tablespoon Onion Powder
Bring sauce to a simmer and let simmer for 10 minutes.
When the hens reached an internal of 166*, I removed them from the smoker, rebasted and added some more rub. Here they are waiting to go into the oven to crisp the skin. They look pretty good right out of the smoker.
Preheat the oven to 400* and place the hens into the oven for roughly 7 minutes. Watch them closely. Here are the hens after their oven visit.
They tasted as good as they look. Nice smoke flavor. Very moist, surprising since they weren't brined. The basting must have helped keep them moist. Slight orange flavor with a little spice from the rub. Mrs. Pags and I enjoyed these very much.
I figured the 3 smoker bastings added roughly 30 minutes to the cook time. All in all 2.5 hrs.
Sorry the pictures are so small. I'm still learning this ImageShack thing. If you click on each picture, you'll get a larger image.
