Chicken and Sausage on WSM


 

Eric Work

New member
Hi Everyone-

I'm going in for my second cook on the 22 inch WSM tomorrow. I'm planning on a spatchcock chicken low and slow (225-250) and some sausage. I know the skin will probably not crisp using this method, but my wife and kids don't eat the skin anyways, so I'm gonna go for the juicy and smokey flavor. A couple questions...

1) I'm planning on a 3-4 hour cook, sound right?
2) Should I use a water pan, or go with direct heat for a better effect on the skin?
3) Planning on doing one half with BBQ sauce and one half just rubbed with salt and pepper, when in the cook should I start applying bbq sauce? Or should it be applied before putting the bird on? Or should I just serve it with BBQ sauce on the side and not apply at all during the cook?
3) How long does sausage usually take? If I throw it on after the chicken has been on for 2 hours, does that seem about right?

Thanks in advance for any feedback, I'll post results after the cook.

-Eric
 
I don't think I've ever done a strictly low and slow chicken but 3 hours is probably about right and maybe 1 hour for the sausage. At your cooking temps the sauce shouldn't burn but I'd do it maybe with 30 minutes left to go.
 
I think at those temps the chicken will be closer to 4 hours and 275 won't crisp up the skin. 325+ for that. BUT why worry about the skin if you don't eat it. Keep it simple. I did pre-smoked sausage at 255 and it took 35 minutes but they weren't thick links. At your temps I'm guessing 45 minutes to an hour. Have fun with it.
 
Results are in...I used a full ring of Royal Oak charcoal briquettes with 12 lit briquettes to start her up, minion method. Smoked for about 3.5 hours between 225-250 until a temp of 160, at which point I opened all the vents to spike the temperature until it reached 165, this was to try to crisp the skin a bit...I actually think it worked, but next time I'll try this method at 155 internal temp. All in all, very satisfied, used a half full water pan, chicken was very moist. I used 4 chunks of applewood, this I thought was actually a little too much, a little too smokey, next time i'd go with 2 chunks for chicken. Otherwise, I'd say the slow cook for a whole chicken went excellent.
 

 

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