Chicken Butt


 
C

Chad Dickinson

TVWBB Member
Hi all...

I'm doing my first combo smoke tomorrow night.
I am doing chicken starting about 1-2 pm, and then that evening, when the chicken is done, I'm going to do a pair of butt roasts.

I planned on slathering the butt roasts with mustard, and then using TX BBQ Rub #1. Anyone ever used that rub with mustard slather? Or should I use worcestshire?

Anyway, I planned on using lump. I figure the chicken will take approximatley 4 hours. At this point, I think the lump will be burned down to embers, (the wife mistakenly bought Cowboy Lump, so I figured chicken was a good small smoke to do with that crap) and I was going to use those embers on top of a full bowl of new charcoal... either kingsford, or Royal Oak Lump. From that point, it would be minion method, obviously.


I haven't used lump as of yet, and this is only my fourth smoke. Anything special I should know about lump? I've heard the Royal Oak is good stuff and I shouldn't notice too much of a difference between it and Kingsford with burn temps or times due to its consistent nature.

Are there any chinks in this armor? Ways to do things better?

Thanks!
Chad
 
Chad, your chicks ought to be cooked at a higher temp particularly if skin texture is important. Higher temp=crisper skin. I do many of my chick cooks skinless with good result. You may also want to brine those birds, rinse thouroghly and dry before cooking-go light on the salt in the rub. try a target of 325* with an empty pan. They should be done in about 2 hours.

You will want a full ring of charcoal for the butts. I would recommend pulling all the coals left from the first to one side, Then fill the ring with unlit. Water in the pan would make this easier for this cook.

I have not found lump, what little I've used, to cook much differently. For long cooks I have put Kingsford in the ring first then filled with lump. Lump is usually left at the end of the cook and the kingford is usually burned up.

My preference would be for mustard over worchestershire. tho I rarely use it anymore.
 
Steve...

Thanks for the reply. I decided to make 2 separate smokes, which worked out pretty decent.

I guess I need to get good at using lump. I am using Royal Oak lump, and well.... it went out last night. Well, I guess it didn't technically go out, but WAY down. Down to the point that the smoker said 150 temp this am, and that was at the lid. The butts were at 150 internal temp as well.

So, I stirred coals, and some of em were still going, if just barely. I decided to top off the charcoal ring, and then get about 1/3 chimney of charcoal going. Temps at lid are now climing through 200.

I really didn't expect that to happen! Must not have left the vents open enough.

Anything to worry about here with bacteria or anything? I don't know how long the butts have been at 150. I went to bed at 1am and they were at 140 climbing. Found the "extinguished" smoker at the above temps at 7:30 am.

Live and learn!
 
We use Royal Oak lump 100 % of the time.....

Full Ring with a lit starter full on top......

two vents at 25% third one off after lid says 250 .
gets an easy 10 hours without any effort.!
 
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