Advice for First Chicken Smoke?


 
M

Matt Ellis

New member
Hey all,

A few weeks ago I pulled off my first smoke, some spareribs that turned out great. A lot of (ok all!) the credit goes to this community and the info I found here.

This weekend I'm looking to smoke up some chicken and just curious on what tips everyone has for that? I'm thinking I'm gonna spatchcock a full bird and rub it. Reading on the VWBB recipe section it seems like I don't have to be too particular about temp for this one right? Is there a specific ball park I should be looking for though? I'm assuming it's something in the range of 300-350. If it is, how full do y'all get your charcoal grate and then how many lit briquettes do you toss on? I went with the tin can Minion method for the ribs and that was great, but assuming I should just go traditional Minion for this cook as I want to get the temp up more than where it was for the ribs.

Thanks!
 
Brine that bird. Brine can be as simple as a cup of salt, a cup of sugar and a gallon of water. Or, you can dress it up with fruit juices and other spices and flavorings. Salt is the key, though.

And don't overcook it.
 
Good point on the brine, I hadn't considered that. I'm familiar with brining a bit so should be an easy step to add.

Another question I just realized I had - what grate do you all place the chicken on? Looking at Chris' recipe for "Basic Barbecued Chicken" looks like he placed it on the lower grate right above the coal to crisp the skin at the end, but which one do you start with, the top?
 
I prefer to run poultry in the 325 - 350 range to minimize time in the "danger" zone 40 -140 range. But that's me. At that temp, it will be about a 2.5 to 3.5 hour cook, depending. I go with at least half way up the ring. Light about 15 - 20 to dump in the middle. Easy on the smoke wood. Assemble and go.

A simple salt / brown sugar brine then on the smoker or kettle.

Works for me.
 
I like Chris's hot and fast chicken best, cept I don't sauce at the end, serve sauce on the side. Its the only way I've smoked yardbird in the last 3 or 4 years. Take out the water bowl. Use a chimney of coals and then add another 1/2 chimney of unlit. When they all ash over, add cherry or apple wood and put birds on the top grate.

I learned a trick a couple months ago, that I think adds a lot of flavor. Schmear the birds with squeeze butter before you add rub. Try to get butter and rub up under the skin, though that can be more trouble than maybe its worth.

High heat yardbird takes about an hour to an hour and fifteen.
 
300-350 degrees. Dry brine or liquid brine works well. Injection is ok too. Just use the flavor of the coal, no smoke wood. Even a little wood can sometimes overpower the chicken, so I suggest skipping it on your first run.
 
I wouldn't expect much difference between white and light brown sugars, maybe a bit between white and dark brown sugars. I've just used a basic white sugar. As much as I love molasses flavors, I'm generally not much interested in those flavors on meat.

Side note: if you deep fry a turkey, brining is still a really good idea, but leave out the sugar completely (or cut it back drastically.) The sugars will over-caramelize, or just plain scorch, leaving you with a nearly black bird, and not necessarily good.
 
At the end if you don't have the crispiness of the skin you want, simply remove the middle part of the smoker, set the grill grate on top of the circular coal ring, and grill for a couple minutes (careful to note it is VERY hot down there and cooks anything really quickly). I do this with my chicken wings. As an aside, if you're in a pinch, you can use this setup for regular grilling too.
 
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