Smoke, Food Seal & Freeze Bone-In Chicken Halves?


 
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Gene_N

TVWBB Fan
Has anyone tried freezing freshly smoked butterflied chicken halves? My kids love my smoked halves but making them to order during the week is problematic. My thought is to smoke 2-3 butterflied wholes halves on a weekend then seal in Food Saver bag and freeze. I know this works boneless, anyone try freezing a chicken half bone-in? I would then reheat using a pot of 180-190F water or unwrapping and heating in a 300F oven. I would add the sauce afterwards. Thanks. :)
 
Sounds reasonable to me, I would thaw it rather like one thaws fish though. Thaw very slowly in the bottom of the fridge, maybe 24 hours. Thawing too quickly might make the meat mushy.
 
I do this all the time with bone-in chicken. Thaw it in the fridge first, like mentioned. I reheat by wrapping in foil and warming in the oven at 325.
 
I do this with wings. I smoke around 65 to 70 wings (separated) at the time and vacuum seal in packs of 15 or so. Then let them thaw in the refrigerator and heat in the oven unwrapped for 10 or more minutes at 350. The 350 tends to crisp them up a bit. Just as good or better than fresh off of the WSM.

No reason it would not work with halves - maybe re-heat at a little lower temp for a little longer time.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this should also work with turkey breasts right? The meat won't end up being too dry once thawed and heated right?

(Background: My wife bought a couple of breasts with the intent that I smoke/cook them so that we have them available for easy meals. I freeze pulled pork all the time, but am worried that poultry would be too delicate to withstand the freezing/thawing process after being smoked. I don't want to be eating dried up turkey breast if I can avoid it.)
 
jfortson said:
I do this with wings. I smoke around 65 to 70 wings (separated) at the time and vacuum seal in packs of 15 or so. Then let them thaw in the refrigerator and heat in the oven unwrapped for 10 or more minutes at 350. The 350 tends to crisp them up a bit. Just as good or better than fresh off of the WSM.
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This is surprising to me........
 
Sounds reasonable to me. I can see where it would be handy and an excellent way to use up that extra space on the smoker I seem to always have.
 
Yes, I've done this many times with beer can chickens, but we usually cut them into quarters instead of halves. We often reheat by putting the (thawed) chicken on top of a layer of rice in a cast iron skillet and slowly heating the whole works on top of the stove. The chicken comes out moist and tender.
 
Larry D. said:
Yes, I've done this many times with beer can chickens, but we usually cut them into quarters instead of halves. We often reheat by putting the (thawed) chicken on top of a layer of rice in a cast iron skillet and slowly heating the whole works on top of the stove. The chicken comes out moist and tender.
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Very interesting! I assume it is cooked rice? Do you cover the skillet with a lid or foil? How long?

So I bought a Costco 2-pack of fryers, watched Chris' video to brush up on butterflying birds and cooked them on my gasser yesterday morning. I sealed them up and put three of the halves in the freezer. The remaining half is tomorrow's dinner. Cool beans :)
 
Gene_N said:
Very interesting! I assume it is cooked rice? Do you cover the skillet with a lid or foil? How long?

So I bought a Costco 2-pack of fryers, watched Chris' video to brush up on butterflying birds and cooked them on my gasser yesterday morning. I sealed them up and put three of the halves in the freezer. The remaining half is tomorrow's dinner. Cool beans :)
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Yes, it's cooked rice, and the skillet is covered with a lid. I don't know just how long it takes, my wife could answer that. I do know that if you do it right (and I think this requires some butter in the bottom of the skillet) you can get the rice to develop a crispy crust on the bottom that greatly adds to the appeal of the dish.
 
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