Smoked Chicken

I started with a good sized bird.  This one retained some water from the chilling process at the chicken factory (that’s where they make chickens, right?) so I was hesitant to wet brine it.  I was about to go for it until I exchanged some Facebook comments with another chicken briner.  Then I decided to dry brine it instead. 

 

To make it easier to salt the inside, and to help it cook evenly, I first spatchcocked the chicken.  Using sharp poultry shears cut along one side of the back bone.

 

 

Then cut along the other side and voila! Don’t throw away the back bone or neck bone.  Freeze ‘em till you have about 4 pounds (I’m up to 2.5 right now) of backs and necks (and wing tips) and make a tasty stock.

 

 

Pat the bird dry inside and out with paper towels.  Flip the bird over and remove the keel bone if you choose.  I always do.  Sprinkle kosher salt over the exposed inside of the bird.  I never measure when I dry brine I just sprinkle evenly.

 

 

Flip him back over and sprinkle kosher salt, which apparently does not show up in photographs, over the outside of the bird.  Put it in the fridge, uncovered, for at least 2 hours but no more than 4.

 

I don’t understand the magic of brining.  It first pulls liquid out (in this case a good bit) but then pulls moisture back in, ensuring a moist, tender, juicy chicken.  I have done a side by side taste test where I divided the chicken into halves after spatchcocking.  I brined only one half.  I seasoned them both the same way and cooked them together.  No comparison:  the brined half was a thousand percent better.  Now I never cook chicken (and rarely pork) without first brining it.  

Rinse off the salt from the inside and outside of the chicken.  I mean rinse it good.  Brined chickens are tasty.  Over salted chickens are not.  I rub a little Olive Oil over the chicken before continuing.  Most of the spices I use are oil soluble so I almost always oil before seasoning.

 

A little fresh ground black pepper—no need for salt after the dry brine, even though I rinsed the chicken.  Be careful using store bought rubs and poultry seasoning if you’re applying them to a brined bird. Most of them have lots of salt which is a good thing most of the time, but not when your chicken is already salted perfectly due to the brining process.

 

 

To the pepper I add some paprika, garlic and chili powder.  That’s all it needs.

 

 

Meanwhile fire up the smoker.  You can smoke beef and pork without a water pan and no harm done.  If you smoke chicken without a water pan the skin gets rubbery and isn’t fit to eat.  The meat is still delicious but God put skin on that chicken so He must have meant for me to eat it.   My smoker doesn’t have a water pan so I had to improvise.  I placed a couple of bricks on the grate. 

 

 

Then I took a couple of ramekins (they WILL get discolored) and carefully filled them with water.

 

 

I placed the chicken on a rack (I like the whole bird to be exposed to the smoke, not just the top and sides) and placed the foil covered, rack covered, chicken covered baking sheet on top of the bricks.

Check the smoker every hour to see if you need to add water to the ramekins.  You WILL need to add water to them.  The dark and white meat cook at different rates and have different target temps.  The dark meat has to be 170-175 degrees.  The breasts ten degrees less.  When my leg quarters were finished before the breast I was surprised.  The thighs were 178 and the breasts were only 150.  

I flipped the chicken over to put the breast closer to the heat.  Because the chicken was spatchcocked I was able to fold the leg quarters back and place them on top, preventing them from overcooking.  In the future I will probably not bother with the bricks and pan and just place the chicken directly on the grill between the water filled ramekins.

That looks pretty gross, doesn't it?  Just don't look at it, he's embarrassed enough.

After nearly three hours my bird was GBD.  I found out that’s a real, honest to goodness cooking term.  It means Golden Brown and Delicious.  Mmmm

 

I’m taking a chance in the future by placing the chicken directly on the grill—the chicken cooked on the rack on the sheet pan was the best tasting chicken, smoked or otherwise, that I have ever put in my mouth.  The paprika isn’t just for color—it added a subtle flavor that combined with the smoke flavor to create something had me making noises more suited to the adult film industry than dinner.