SM008 - Chicken

Rauz, read your instructions that came with the smoker.

You must season the smoker before using it for the first time.

Also there are some 101's on smoking just about everything here on the forums....good advice.

Are you going to leave your chicken whole, or split?

Do you have a remote thermometer? If not get one so you can see the temps of the meat with out opening the door.

REPEAT, DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR DURING THE SMOKING PROCESS......PERIOD.

No need to baste either.

If it were me, I'd use a basic rub of salt, pepper and garlic. Load in smoker, use a few ounces of apple wood, set the temp to 225 degrees, MAKE SURE YOUR DRIP PAN is in place....insert your remote probes, shut the door and walk away.....

Remove the chicken at 185 degrees in the thighs, or sooner then crips up the skin on a hot grill or oven. Make sure jouices run clear from the thighs.

good luck and tell us how it all turned out!!


dan

You'll find a LOT of advice if you do a search on chicken. If you haven't done it, go to the top of the page and click on "FIND" and type in "chicken".

That said, I'd go to, and bookmark the MainlyDave website. He ha a ton of great/fun tutorials of what he has done. edit.. Forgot to mention, there are some more good tutorials in Smokin Okie's Guides

I do a lot of chicken in my 008, usually drums and thighs. Typically I don't do anything to the drums but I trim all the visible fat and excess skin off the thighs. Then I pat them dry or put them on a cookie rack, spaced so they don't touch each other and put in refrig overnight (certainly not necessary, just dry with paper towels). Then I rub with "EVOO" and sprinkle with my favorite rub. I crank up the temp to the top. I do have a probe thermometer that I run thru the door (others run thru the smoke hole on top of the smokette) and cook till the probe reads 180ºF if I plan on crisping the skin in the oven. If not, I run to 190ºF. Should take abou 2.5-3 hrs.

Oh yeah.. don't use much wood. I blew it on my first batch of birds by putting in about 4 oz of wood.. I now only use about 2 oz. Chicken and turkey takes on smoke very easily and can easily get oversmoked. Use a light wood like BaltimoreBayside mentioned. I like oak and apple but have used hickory and only once tried mesquite

If you are going to cook hole you might still dry thouroughly and rub with "EVOO" followed by your favorite rub.. but maybe put a slice or two of apple and onion or maybe orange slices in the cavity. VERY LITTLE because you don't want to keep heat from penetrating the inside of the bird.

Thank you for the information.

The chickens will be whole.

I would also recommend Smokin's "Brining 101" tutorial. It will guarantee a moist bird. As Smokenque mentioned, go light on the wood. Chicken seems to absorb the smoke easily. Please note that our smokers will not crisp the skin. Once you are done with the smoke, toss them on the grill for a few minutes if you want perfect skin.

To address your questions:
1) as previously mentioned, season the new smoker by smoking 4-6 oz of wood (smoker empty) for 6 hours or so. It is recommended that you smoke a few fatty cuts like pork butt/shoulder to further season the CS. To smoke meats, line the bottom of smoker and the top of the wood box with HD foil. Make sure that you poke a hole in the foil where the fluids drip out of the unit (on the floor near the center).

2) I butterfly my whole birds by removing the spine and keel bone. this makes the bird lay flat...roughly 3" thick across the entire grate. Toss in 1.5-2 oz of wood (you may like a little more). Set it to 250*. I take the breasts to 175*. I then crisp the skin in the oven with the broiler set to 400* with the birds 8" from heat source. This takes 4-10 minutes.
HOW TO BUTTERFLY CHICKEN - It takes a little work, but well worth it!




Brining 101

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JustADude:
HOW TO BUTTERFLY CHICKEN - It takes a little work, but well worth it!
QUOTE]

Yep, that's how I do it.. and I save the backbone meat and the keelbone in a ziplock along with the giblets/neck for soup stock later.

I keep forgetting about that VWB forum.. they have some good photo tutorials there

Thank you for the information. How long do you typically smoke a butterfly'd chicken?

Don't know about anyone else.. but mine are usually done in about 2.5-3 hours plus about 10 minutes on the grill to crisp up the skin.. but, I usually don't do that.. I just toss the skin. After about that time check with an instant read thermometer.

I agree with the 3 hours, if turned up all the way. (Smokette-008,009) I stuffed my Smokette full of birds (4) once and went 4.25 hours until the largest was 170* in thigh. All the way up in mine is right at 235*F.

Another thing to make your smoked chicken really stand out is Big Bog Gibson's Alabama White Sauce. It's still a family favorite.

Dennis, just ordered some per your recommendation. Do you treat this just like standard bbq sauce? Do you add it near the end of the smoke?

Thanks

At Big Bob Gibsons, they dunk chicken halves in the white sauce near the end of the cook. Since the primary ingredient of the sauce is mayo, and the primary ingredient of mayo is oil, it helps crisp up the skin.

I do the same and baste the chicken with it for the last 30 minutes or so. Then serve it on the side.

There are recipes for it floating around on foodnetwork.com.

Good luck.