Smoking a Chicken

I've never brined a chicken -- just smeared mayo all over it and put some of the Cookshack spice on it or some of my own mix - some rosemary in with the wood (1 or 2 sprigs) and maybe a garlic clove in there once or twice and let it go -- they still turn out great - moist and yummy and I made a chicken salad out of leftovers with chopped walnuts and grapes with the chicken and mayo -- was scarfed right up.

For most cooking methods, I believe that brining definately enhances the moistness and flavor of chicken and other poultry. That said, I've done a lot of chickens, whole turkeys, turkey breasts, etc in my 008 and have never felt a need to brine them. I've never injected either. Like rgs1640, I go with mayo. Mix 1/2 cup of mayo with 2 TBS CS poultry rub (or any other rub you prefer), paint the mix on the bird, throw some garlic cloves, herbs of choice, and onion chunks in the cavity, and smoke it. Comes out extremely moist and great tasting every time.

The key difference between brining and marinading is effect/impact.

The mayo option is a good one. If I can't brine, mayo is good on the white meat. Doesn't take much. The oil in the mayo does the trick. No flavor problems (I don't like mayo, but I do this).

Brining, even a whole chicken for a couple of hours will effect ALL the chicken.

Marinading / Injecting doesn't seem to permiate through like brining does. It tends to flavor the outside or whereever you inject (unless the injection is a brine) That's why when you marinade a steak, the marinade doesn't penetrate very far because it's just a short period. And if you leave it in a marinade, because a marinade is Acidic, it will impact the meat itself and can actually start to cook it.

Try it and see. If you're injecting a marinade, you'll want to strain it or it will leave "injection tracks",

Smokin'

Well, I did two beer can birds last night. I had a few problems/observations maybe you can help me with.

1. Cleaned and patted dry and covered with mayo.
put lemon pepper liberally on one bird and CS poultry rub on the other.

2. Put exactly 2.5 oz of mesquite in the smokebox.

3. Set temp to 250* and set the thermometer beeper to 160* as I've seen some posts say.

Took about three hours for the beeper to go off. I pulled the probe from the breast and the juice ran clear.. so I felt all was fine.

Here is what I found out. Carved the lemon pepper bird. The skin on both birds was a bit rubbery.. the skin was certainly not a nice reddish brown as I've seen in some pictures. Rather it was blackened.. like what happens when you are grilling and grease drops on the hot coals and creates this black sooty smoke that covers everything.

After pulling the skin off the bird.. the meat was, maybe 90% cooked and juicy.. but didn't seem done. (sure was nice and moist tho )

So, after dinner, I put the other bird back in the CS and brought the temp up to almost 180*. I'll see what that tastes like today. I tossed the skin on this one too.. but it was cooked thru.

Is the sootiness on the skin likely caused from the chicken grease falling on the smokebox and burning? Would it make sense to put a pan under each chicken to avoid this?

Soooo.. any pointers will be appreciated.

Bill

Couple of ideas here.

First off, I don't think you need the beer can. In a traditional smoker, the beer would help retain moisture but that won't be a problem with the CS. In fact, excess moisture is why the skin is kind of rubbery. I haven't seen/found/or heard of a solution that will give you good skin, but I have found that a few minutes under the broiler will crisp it up nicely. I cook flattened chickens now almost exclusively. They seem to cook more evenly, and I can get more of them in my 008.

As for the color of the skin, you might want to cut back even more on the wood. These things are really efficient in their production of smoke. I've been reducing the amount of wood I use on almost every cook and I'm still getting the flavor I want but the color is much more attractive. Wings cook up quite nicely also. Skin is pretty decent on them I guess because of lower moisture content. This picture is right out of smoker, before broiler, and there was nothing on them except for CS Chicken Rub.