First smoke on this work of art. I finally got the time to unpack my KBQ, what a machine!
Having an over abundance of rabbit this was my first smoke on the KBQ. We took 4 twelve week old rabbits and gave them a dry rub of 50/50 kosher salt and raw sugar then vacuum packed them for 24 hours in the refrigerator. Took them out and put them in the KBQ with apple wood at about 200 degrees for 3 hours, set for over smoke. Internal temperature was 150-155 when I pulled them. Had a nice firm exterior and moist interior. The legs and thighs were perfect but the loin was a little mushy but still good. The temperature was taken in the plenum of the control box.
The plan is to bone out the other 3 rabbits and use them in pasta and paella in the coming weeks.
I'm really looking forward to smoking up some of the meat we have in the freezer but the rabbit is a low risk way to start this adventure.
I agree with Ernest, rabbit is very mild. Hare on the other hand? Now we're talking gamey. Hare needs hanging for a few days, or soaking in milk to get some 'rawness' out of it.
It's been a loooooong time since I ate rabbit I remember wild rabbit is gamey, domestic not so much. Never had it smoked, instead fried like chicken, and yes domestic did taste like chicken. Looks like it turned out good.
I think if you try hang them next time you might get a lil better results and not have as much of the mushiness in the loin. Maybe try let them go a lil longer too. I took the cue from Ernest and started hanging my birds and it helped a lot !!
I was going to fire the KBQ up today for some roast chicken, and had a question. Earlier in this thread are some beautiful whole chickens hung with hooks. Is that a method preferable to spatchcocking? What's the reasoning behind it vs doing a spatchcocked chicken? Thanks!
cookingmadly I prefer splitting in half and hanging like the pit barrel cooker in the KBQ. Obviously you will get a more even cook by not leaving whole. Clean up is much easier cuz only a hook. My kbq is 30° warmer in the bottom. I prefer the dark meat lower for that reason. I would only leave it whole for presentation
cookingmadly might just be in my head but hang bird cooks evenly for me. I was coming from a PBC so I just found it amusing to hang the chicken. I don't spatchcock my birds though. I see no difference there as well
It would be interesting to try them side by side, either whole and spatchcocked or whole vs. halved like @SacredSmokeBBQ suggests. I guess the only answer is to smoke a lot of chicken and see the differences it makes!
I did that in the PBC. The difference was negligeable to me.
I get a juicer breast when left whole. That alone is enough for me to keep it whole.
You should cook whole and cut at the same time. See which one you prefer.
cookingmadly I prefer splitting in half and hanging like the pit barrel cooker in the KBQ. Obviously you will get a more even cook by not leaving whole. Clean up is much easier cuz only a hook. My kbq is 30° warmer in the bottom. I prefer the dark meat lower for that reason. I would only leave it whole for presentation
Interesting on the temperature difference. I knew there was some, didn't realize it was that much, but it makes sense. I'll split in half and hang. Thanks!
The first chicken I cooked in my KBQ I hung. I was sitting outside reading near my KBQ and heard a "bang". I just thought that perhaps one of the logs in the fire box had fallen down into the coal bed and just kept on reading.
A while later when I was adding more wood I thought I would go ahead and check the temp of the bird to see where it was in the timeline and when I opened the door I saw my bird sitting on the bottom of the cook chamber. Oooops!
Apparently I didn't put the hook far enough into the cavity to hook under some of the bigger/stronger ribs. No worries - just hooked it again to be under the bigger ribs and finished up.
The next time I used one of my wireframe chicken stands to support the chicken. It came out fine. The only difference I noted was that the skin in the "crotch" where the leg is pushed up against the breast was not quite crispy.
I've not yet spatchcocked a chicken in the KBQ. I rarely spatchcock anyway - if I am going to grill a chicken and don't want to keep it whole I go ahead and cut them in half as they are easier to arrange/maneuver around the grill.
I'm not the sort of person that always wants a smokey flavor on my meat and my favorite way to cook a whole chicken is still using my propane fired Char Broil Big Easy infrared fryer. Quick and easy and hands off which sometimes appeals to my inner laziness.
My next favorite chicken is using my rotisserie. I've thought about rigging up my KBQ so I can spin a chicken in it but since there is no direct infrared heat radiation or coals for fat to drip onto I doubt there would be any advantage to spinning a chicken inside a KBQ.
Ok, I am not the most mechanically gifted person. After a number of cooks, I would like to do a deep clean on the fans and control box. Spinaker , you have mentioned taking the fans off. I tried today with a pair of lock grips holding the nut. Man, I could not get them to move...
So, what kind of socket should I purchase and what direction do those nuts unloosen???
Do you hold the fan blade and try to back off the nut?
The last thing I want to do is break the control box assembly!!!
ps: I am going to Fremont CA this week. I am going to grab (hopefully) a Costco Prime Full Packer when I am there. I am going to pack an insulated bag and put some frozen cooler inserts for the plane ride back to Rochester NY. Wish me luck!
Me three. I haven't found them either at my Costco. i have to pay mucho $ for beef ribs here in MN. But I have Prime Full Packers, so I am not really in the position to complain. hogdog6 @BlackBeltBarbeque
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