I have never been much of a chicken cooker. Or even much of a chicken-on-the-bone eater to be perfectly honest.
However, I want to start competing in IBCA competitions and smoking a half-chicken is one of the required meats. This documents my first attempt. Since I had two birds and was going to halve them, I decided to attempt 4 different styles.
Birds: One 4.5lb Sanderson Farms Fryer Chicken
One 4.1lb Smart Chicken Air-Chilled Fryer Chicken
Rub: For my rub I used a modified version of the Slap yo Daddy All-Purpose Rub. I did not include the Cumin or Orange Tang, but everything else was the same.
Brine: Cup of Kosher Salt and Cup of White Sugar to a gallon of water for each bird. Plus a couple tablespoons of the SYD Rub.
Sauce: Stubb's Spicy & Stubb's Honey Pecan
Injection: Stubb's Texas Butter
Pit: WSM 22.5"
Charcoal: Kingsford Blue
Wood: Apple
Beer: Blue Moon
Style #1: SYD Rub only
Style #2: SYD Rub and glazed with thinned Honey Pecan Sauce
Style #3: SYD Rub and Injected with Texas Butter
Style #4: SYD Rub, Injected with Texas Butter, and glazed with thinned Spicy Sauce
Process: Brined both birds for 8 hours whole after a good rinse. I then spatchcocked the birds and cut them in half. I put the rub in shaker and put it on all four halves. Two of the birds were injected with the Stubb's Texas Butter. I put them on the pit at 275 degrees. When they got to an internal temperature of around 145, I glazed two of them. I planned on pulling them at 165ish, so I figured glazing at them at 145ish would give the glaze time to set. I thinned down my sauces with Blue Moon. When the four halves got to internal temps of 165-175, I pulled all of them. They were on the smoker for about 90 minutes.
Results:
Style #1: I did not like it. It was much to dry, the skin was completely rubbery and there wasn't much spice flavor in the bird. There was some decent smokey flavor on the white meat, but it was definitely the worst of the bunch.
Style #2: Visually, the most appealing of all four. The Stubb's Honey Pecan Sauce I thinned down looked fantastic. In the bottle, it was thick and had a weird taste. Too sweet for me. Thinned with Blue Moon and then glazed on the bird, it tasted a lot better. Still, the chicken was too dry and the skin was too rubbery.
Style #3: Kind of ugly on the outside, but it made up for it in flavor. The bird was much juicier than the first two thanks to the injection. There were definite pockets of injection that I wish would have been more spread out throughout the meat, but it tasted good. Skin still rubbery.
Style #4: Very similar taste wise to #3, but with a better color. Only #2 looked better than this one. Skin still rubbery.
Judging my cook, I give myself a 4/10 on appearance, 7/10 on taste, and 1/10 on bite-through skin.
Pictures:
Getting ready to inject
During the cook
All four chicken halves done
Style #2. Best color of the bunch.
Showing the butter injection
I would like some constructive criticism. I know I have a lot of work before I can dream about doing well in the chicken category at a comp. For those of you that have done IBCA comps, do injected chickens score poorly? I like injected birds, but I can understand just wanting the chicken and smoke flavor.
Next time I plan on smoking the birds at 275 for 50-60 mins and then finishing on the grill at 375 for > 10 minutes.
However, I want to start competing in IBCA competitions and smoking a half-chicken is one of the required meats. This documents my first attempt. Since I had two birds and was going to halve them, I decided to attempt 4 different styles.
Birds: One 4.5lb Sanderson Farms Fryer Chicken
One 4.1lb Smart Chicken Air-Chilled Fryer Chicken
Rub: For my rub I used a modified version of the Slap yo Daddy All-Purpose Rub. I did not include the Cumin or Orange Tang, but everything else was the same.
Brine: Cup of Kosher Salt and Cup of White Sugar to a gallon of water for each bird. Plus a couple tablespoons of the SYD Rub.
Sauce: Stubb's Spicy & Stubb's Honey Pecan
Injection: Stubb's Texas Butter
Pit: WSM 22.5"
Charcoal: Kingsford Blue
Wood: Apple
Beer: Blue Moon
Style #1: SYD Rub only
Style #2: SYD Rub and glazed with thinned Honey Pecan Sauce
Style #3: SYD Rub and Injected with Texas Butter
Style #4: SYD Rub, Injected with Texas Butter, and glazed with thinned Spicy Sauce
Process: Brined both birds for 8 hours whole after a good rinse. I then spatchcocked the birds and cut them in half. I put the rub in shaker and put it on all four halves. Two of the birds were injected with the Stubb's Texas Butter. I put them on the pit at 275 degrees. When they got to an internal temperature of around 145, I glazed two of them. I planned on pulling them at 165ish, so I figured glazing at them at 145ish would give the glaze time to set. I thinned down my sauces with Blue Moon. When the four halves got to internal temps of 165-175, I pulled all of them. They were on the smoker for about 90 minutes.
Results:
Style #1: I did not like it. It was much to dry, the skin was completely rubbery and there wasn't much spice flavor in the bird. There was some decent smokey flavor on the white meat, but it was definitely the worst of the bunch.
Style #2: Visually, the most appealing of all four. The Stubb's Honey Pecan Sauce I thinned down looked fantastic. In the bottle, it was thick and had a weird taste. Too sweet for me. Thinned with Blue Moon and then glazed on the bird, it tasted a lot better. Still, the chicken was too dry and the skin was too rubbery.
Style #3: Kind of ugly on the outside, but it made up for it in flavor. The bird was much juicier than the first two thanks to the injection. There were definite pockets of injection that I wish would have been more spread out throughout the meat, but it tasted good. Skin still rubbery.
Style #4: Very similar taste wise to #3, but with a better color. Only #2 looked better than this one. Skin still rubbery.
Judging my cook, I give myself a 4/10 on appearance, 7/10 on taste, and 1/10 on bite-through skin.
Pictures:
Getting ready to inject
During the cook
All four chicken halves done
Style #2. Best color of the bunch.
Showing the butter injection
I would like some constructive criticism. I know I have a lot of work before I can dream about doing well in the chicken category at a comp. For those of you that have done IBCA comps, do injected chickens score poorly? I like injected birds, but I can understand just wanting the chicken and smoke flavor.
Next time I plan on smoking the birds at 275 for 50-60 mins and then finishing on the grill at 375 for > 10 minutes.
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