Lemon pepper chicken on WSM?


 
C

ChadVKealey

TVWBB Pro
So, I picked up a couple small roaster/fryers that I'm going to halve and cook up tomorrow. My usual brine for poultry is 1 quart of water, 1/4 cup of kosher salt and 1/4 cup of brown sugar, and I usually hit them with some Memphis Dust before going on. However, I'm trying to expand my repertoire a bit, and SWMBO suggested lemon pepper (I have a small canister of lemon pepper seasoning I got in a combo pack for Christmas).

My concern is that my usual brine doesn't seem like it would lend itself to the lemon pepper treatment. I definitely want to brine, though, so here's my thought: Replace the brown sugar with the lemon pepper seasoning, and maybe cut back the salt a bit (have to see how much of the seasoning is just salt). I'm also not sure how well smoke will lend itself to the lemon pepper flavor. If anyone has done LP chicken on a WSM, I'm very open to advice and suggestions.

In case that doesn't fly, I'm going to do the other chicken up in my traditional brine and rub so there will be a backup plan.

In terms of placement, temp and time, I'm planning to cook them all on the top grate with the lower grate and water pan removed entirely and the cooker in the 325-350 range (or as near to that as I can get) for about 1.5-2 hours. I have some wings to cook as well to take to an event on Sunday, but I think I'll do those on the kettle rather than trying to squeeze them onto the WSM.
 
Not speaking from exact experience, per se, but I did have a couple thoughts...

The basic brine you mentioned normally using won't really clash with any flavor profile, as the brine is just water, salt, and sugar (a little flavor from the molasses component of the brown sugar, but that's a flavor that gets along with anything that's destined for the grill or smoker). So I think you could sub the lemon pepper for the salt component of your basic brine, but still use the sugar - don't leave out the sugar! You might want to increase the amount of L.P. seasoning to more than what you'd normally use for salt in the brine, because the L.P. seasoning is only about 50% salt (my guess), and you want to keep the normal salt/sugar/water ratio in your brine.

A couple other possibilities would include making your normal brine, but then adding whole or cracked (not finely ground) peppercorns and some lemon peels or grated lemon zest. I wouldn't use lemon juice in the brine, as the acidity could start to chemically cook the chicken - that would make it more of a marinade, and that would require less exposure time. If you use the brine with the lemon peel and peppercorns, then after brining you can apply a little bit of the L.P. seasoning to continue the same flavor profile. Or maybe use L.P. seasoning on some of the chicken quarters and your normal rub on the others, to see which you prefer.

BTW, I see no problem at all with combining the flavors of citrus and smoke. I think it will be quite tasty, in fact.
 
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ChadVKealey said:
In terms of placement, temp and time, I'm planning to cook them all on the top grate with the lower grate and water pan removed entirely and the cooker in the 325-350 range (or as near to that as I can get) for about 1.5-2 hours. I have some wings to cook as well to take to an event on Sunday, but I think I'll do those on the kettle rather than trying to squeeze them onto the WSM.
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This is the proper move, and I was going to recommend it. This chicken sounds great! Post photos.
 
Thanks for the advice, Chris. I ended up using 1/8 cup salt, 1/4 cup LP seasoning and 1/4 cup brown sugar in the brine. It smells awfully good. I made my standard brine for the other chicken and a slight variation (added a couple tablespoons of Kick'n Chicken) of that for the wings. They're all in the bottom drawer of the fridge getting happy.

Now, for smoke wood...I have hickory, apple and pecan on hand. I'm leaning toward the pecan since I this is all just for me & mine where nut allergies aren't an issue. A few of our close family and friends are severely allergic to tree nuts, so I have to be careful when choosing smoke wood for food we're serving to guests.
 
ChadVKealey said:
Thanks for the advice, Chris. I ended up using 1/8 cup salt, 1/4 cup LP seasoning and 1/4 cup brown sugar in the brine. It smells awfully good. I made my standard brine for the other chicken and a slight variation (added a couple tablespoons of Kick'n Chicken) of that for the wings. They're all in the bottom drawer of the fridge getting happy.

Now, for smoke wood...I have hickory, apple and pecan on hand. I'm leaning toward the pecan since I this is all just for me & mine where nut allergies aren't an issue. A few of our close family and friends are severely allergic to tree nuts, so I have to be careful when choosing smoke wood for food we're serving to guests.
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Sounds good Chad, let us know how it turns out!
 
See this thread for a pictorial account. I think I went a little too heavy on the smoke wood (I used 5 small pecan chunks), so it was bordering on too smoky. Both chickens were incredibly tender, juicy and flavorful, but despite the photos, the skin didn't crisp up as much as I'd hoped. On the dark meat, it was edible, but the skin over the breasts was pretty rubbery.
 
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