Mega-load of chicken quarters - great success


 

Keri C

TVWBB Wizard
Hi, all,

Just thought I'd leave a quick note about my experience of running about 23 lb of chicken through the WSM at our weekend cook/campout this last weekend, where we fed about 150.

I had 2 10-lb bags of chicken leg quarters and a pkg of about 25 thighs that I was trying to get cooked to go along with a few cases of ribs, 4 fried turkeys, and 25 lb of sausage (NOT all on the WSM - we had two trailer rigs cooking too). A gas grill took up what I couldn't get on the WSM.

I had marinated my quarters in italian salad dressing for about 24 hours after forcing the joints apart, which helps quarters cook better in that joint. I then started arranging chicken pieces on the 2 regular WSM racks and 2 spare racks. I couldn't get them all to fit, so a gasser had to take about 10 thighs. Two chimneys of hot Kingsford and a big handful of cherry chunks went into the smoker, using sand in the pan. I had temp up to 340 in no time, arranged the four racks in the cooker by about 3:00 pm, and off we went. I've never cooked that much chicken at once, so I had my fingers crossed. That amount of meat did cool the cooker somewhat, but I was able to maintain 290 - 300 for the entire two hours it took for all pieces I tested from various levels to read 180. The color was beautiful, the pieces were juicy, and the flavour was great. I would like to have had nice crispy skin, but at least it wasn't rubbery.

And, yes, I used my hi-tech rack-stackers for the cook. 6 soup cans, 3 for each stacked rack. If I'd break down and put together some narrower supports, I could probably get another few pieces of chicken on each rack. Nevertheless, we fed 150 with plenty for 2nds, and a good time was had by all.

Keri C
Smokin on Tulsa Time

--Oh, and that peanutbutter chocolate marbled cheesecake I made about 2:00 am during that all-night brisket cook last Thursday night was just downright tasty too. It was my own personal birthday cake, made as a gift to myself. /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif
 
Well, thank you kindly, Mr Minion, sir! I'm 43 for the 1st time.

Don, I did think seriously about doing that cheesecake in the smoker, but I wasn't sure how smoke would affect the flavour of chocolate.

I HAVE baked biscuits in the WSM, though... does that count? /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

Keri C
 

 

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