Saturday smoke change

[gardenfish]

Smoke changed a little bit for today. We are going to grandsons birthday party this afternoon so not enough time to do the shoulder. I did get 4 nice chickens and yesterday afternoon I quartered them and dry brined them and I will smoke them today when I get home from work. I have done a couple batches of quartered chickens before and used Memphis dust and loved them. I am going to do half with Memphis dust and half with Simon and Garfunkle rub this time. I will smoke this morning, eat some for lunch, and then vacuum seal the rest of the pieces. This time I cut the wing off the breast and vacuum sealed them and next time I will do the same and then I will try a wing smoke .

The other two chickens I did I cooked at 250°-275° with a probe in one breast and a probe in one thigh section. I have been reading most cook at 325° for chicken. I was quite happy with the results from the lower temps on my first two so I am wondering your thoughts on trying it at 325° this time or keeping it around 250°? Would there be a difference other than time?

I did dry brine the Boston and Picnic yesterday (11# each before trimming) so they will get a 48hr brine and tonight before I go to bed I will coat in Memphis dust for a Sunday morning shoulder smoke. So we still have a smokey forecast for the area .

Thanks Rick

[smarkley]

yeah plans change... flexibility is the name of the game in our house LOL. I always shoot for 325+- it makes the skin nice and crispy!

Still have burn ban here... really smokey air, hard to function outside for long periods

[gardenfish]

smarkley Yeah we get a few no burn days here when the air just settles in the valley over the city and there is no air movement. I pull the skin off the breasts so no skin there and most of the thighs we have eaten lately we have pulled the meat for making chicken tacos or enchillladas or even just mayo and horseradish for chicken salad sliders so I am thinking I am going to pull the skin on the thighs this time to keep all the rub flavor on the meat.

I will probably try for 325° for more practice on temp control. I think I have the 225° down so it will be fun to try a new temp. I did keep 1-1/2 hrs at 350-375° last week on the kettle to bake potatoes so It will be interesting to see the difference between the kettle and the smoker.

[mackdaddy]

I did two chicken breasts without skin to make chicken salad with at 320. The outside got brown, but I was surprised that the inside was still nice and juicy. pulled at exactly 158 to allow for some after cooking action. Next time if there is no skin will try maybe 275 F to see what happens.

[smarkley]

Chicken without skin??? Blasphemy!!!

J/K

[gardenfish]

I did two chicken breasts without skin to make chicken salad with at 320. The outside got brown, but I was surprised that the inside was still nice and juicy. pulled at exactly 158 to allow for some after cooking action. Next time if there is no skin will try maybe 275 F to see what happens.

Well maybe since my first two came out so well I will stay with the 250-275° temps. Without skin I don't really need brown meat . Maybe be better to do the different temp with a piece or two instead of 16 pieces just in case.

[gardenfish]

Chicken is on! I did Simon and Garfunkle thighs/legs and Memphis dust breasts. The breasts are on the bottom cooler rack thighs on hotter top rack. 1 probe is in the biggest thigh and 1 probe in the biggest breast alarms set for 160° and 170°. Grill probe is in the grommet which places it between the two racks. Temp at moment is around 215° and rising. Water in water pan. Been on about 20 mins and thighs are already 115° and breasts 93°. When alarm goes off I will use the Thermo pen on a few pieces to see the temps.

[gardenfish]

Thighs done, pulled and covered....... Breasts at 158°

Avg cooking temp was 240°

[gardenfish]

Pulled the breasts at 162° covered and setting nicely.

The first time I did chicken quarters I put them in an aluminum foil pan, thighs on top and breasts on bottom rack. A small amount of juice collected in the pan and I split it among the pieces when I vacuum sealed them. This time I put them on a grate with no pan. By looks I would say the chicken cooked in the pan was a little more moist. I have only smoked chicken 3 times so I cannot really say if there is truly a difference. Now though, as I am better at keeping temps and control I think I will try a couple experiments with and without pans to test the difference. Has anyone elese cooked them both ways and noticed any difference?

Did I mention Smoking is fun!!!!?

Smoked chicken and grandsons Birthday party today....... Pork shoulder smoke tomorrow .

Rick

[grillinglen]

Hey Smarkley, nasty yesterday huh. Weve been evicted to an outside pavilion while our store in Meridian is being remodeled. Upside is that the smoke from famous Dave's drifts down in there and the smell of burning hickory overpowers the smell of burning rangeland

[grillinglen]

We're in Idaho there's a big ass range fire near here last time I heard it was 200,000 acres. I think it's been going for most the two weeks

[fzxdoc]

Wow, Steve smarkley and grillinglen , the fires sound terrible, and not being able to spend time outside because of breathing in the smoke particles--yikes. I wish someone could magically put out the fires and immediately restore clean air to where you live. If only I had a magic wand, it would get put to work on that and a whole lot of other things! I wish you both the best of luck as you cope with this.

Kathryn

[Danjohnston949]

My sympathies as well! It may sound petty but your smoke is making my Sky hazy. Dan

[smarkley]

things are a little better today... I see blue sky.. that is a plus!

[grillinglen]

We get a lot of fires every year so we have a lot of smoke days. some years are worse than others but this is far from being the worst. The rangeland and forest get pretty crispy this time year since we get basically no rain from 1 June till late fall so we get some doozies this time year