Couple of birds

[HankB]

I had hoped to start the new year with a spectacular smoke on a new-to-me 22.5 WSM. Unfortunately I still had plenty of ribs left over from boxing day when I smoked six racks of spares. And I still have brisket and pulled pork in the freezer. Can't justify doing any more of them until I've worked off the backlog. I enjoy both smoking and eating, but I can smoke up a whole bunch more than I can eat. The one thing I needed to add to the larder is some more fowl. Somehow we managed to finish the turkey we had for Thanksgiving. I could fill that smoker with a small flock of chickens! But... chickens are not on sale anywhere. Well... 89¢/lb at Caputos but they were small birds. I went for a couple of 6½ lb. birds at 99¢/lb from Sam's club (not realizing that they were enhanced birds. 12% stock.    ) I didn't realize that until I had prepared the brine so I brined them anyway. After brining they went on the mini-WSM fired with Grove lump and some apple, cherry and mesquite. I left both top and bottom vents wide open and the cooker achieved about 350° and drifted down to about 300° before the cook was finished. One wrinkle was that the bird on the top grate did not fit under the lid so I had to split it.

Though it was a pretty modest cook, I was happy with the results. The flavor was good and the white meat moist. And there's plenty left over for buffalo chicken mac 'n cheese.

[bob hope]

looks great, but "buffalo chicken mac 'n cheese" sounds freaking Awesome!!!

[HankB]

"buffalo chicken mac 'n cheese" sounds freaking Awesome!!!

It is. Here is the recipe I use. It's also great for left over pulled pork.http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/buffalo-chicken-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe/index.html

[Duke]

Sounds great to me!

[bob hope]

"buffalo chicken mac 'n cheese" sounds freaking Awesome!!!

It is. Here is the recipe I use. It's also great for left over pulled pork.http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/buffalo-chicken-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe/index.html

Thank you hank, This is going on my "make this week" list!!

[1911Ron]

Good looking birds, approximate time? Do you use a diffuser?  Thanks.

[HankB]

Good looking birds, approximate time? Do you use a diffuser?  Thanks.

Thanks, I always like the golden color that a little smoke adds.

My mini has a large stainless dog bowl for a water bowl. For this smoke I was going more or less for high heat so I just lined it with foil (no water.) Both top and bottom vents were wide open and the temperature started about 325° and peaked at 350° early in the smoke. Near the end it tailed off to about 300° and bumped back up when I opened the cooker to stir the coals. The whole bird took about 3 hours. The split one on the top grate finished about 40 minutes sooner.

[1buckie]

Thanks for the particulars !!!

Those chix look tremendous....
Just right color & i bet the taste was spot on !!!!

[HankB]

You are so welcome. It was really something simple. I almost didn't post as I considered it unworthy compared to the other posts you see here. Aside from the brine I put no seasoning on the chicken, preferring to let the smoke work its magic. The main reason I made these was to provide some chicken for preparing other foods and those often get their own seasoning (like the BC M&C.) It never fails to amaze me what you can get from from smoke alone.

The reason I made the mini-WSM in the first place was for what I call smoking wood tests. I had quite a collection of smoking woods, mostly from my yard and neighbors yards including apple, mulberry, lilac, black walnut, cherry, oak, maple along with purchased hickory, pecan and mesquite. I wanted to know what the various woods would taste like but I was reluctant to commit an entire smoke to one wood. I load the mini with a couple hamburger patties, a couple pork steaks or country ribs, a couple chicken legs and a couple salmon and tilapia fillets. Then I do the smoke with one wood only and eat half the results immediately and bag and freeze the rest for a future review. (Someday I'll reheat all of my frozen samples and do a side by side taste test.) Anyway, that helps me to determine what wood goes best with any particular food. Since I'm interested in the smoke flavor I use no other seasoning. It's very interesting to see how the different flavors come out.

We had some of the chicken for dinner tonight. (Cooking on the stove... ) I fried some sweet red horn peppers, onions and a little cabbage. I fried in EVOO and seasoned with salt and pepper and some kind of orange-vinaigrette marinade with some of the chicken. I served that over lightly buttered spinach noodles and it came out really good.

[1911Ron]

Thanks for the info, most of my cooks involve Bratwurst patties and i post pictures   always good to see what others do!

[1buckie]

You are so welcome. It was really something simple. I almost didn't post as I considered it unworthy compared to the other posts you see here. Aside from the brine I put no seasoning on the chicken, preferring to let the smoke work its magic. The main reason I made these was to provide some chicken for preparing other foods and those often get their own seasoning (like the BC M&C.) It never fails to amaze me what you can get from from smoke alone.

The reason I made the mini-WSM in the first place was for what I call smoking wood tests. I had quite a collection of smoking woods, mostly from my yard and neighbors yards including apple, mulberry, lilac, black walnut, cherry, oak, maple along with purchased hickory, pecan and mesquite. I wanted to know what the various woods would taste like but I was reluctant to commit an entire smoke to one wood. I load the mini with a couple hamburger patties, a couple pork steaks or country ribs, a couple chicken legs and a couple salmon and tilapia fillets. Then I do the smoke with one wood only and eat half the results immediately and bag and freeze the rest for a future review. (Someday I'll reheat all of my frozen samples and do a side by side taste test.) Anyway, that helps me to determine what wood goes best with any particular food. Since I'm interested in the smoke flavor I use no other seasoning. It's very interesting to see how the different flavors come out.

We had some of the chicken for dinner tonight. (Cooking on the stove... ) I fried some sweet red horn peppers, onions and a little cabbage. I fried in EVOO and seasoned with salt and pepper and some kind of orange-vinaigrette marinade with some of the chicken. I served that over lightly buttered spinach noodles and it came out really good.

That's like way cool, man !!!

I've just kinda done what I've seen others use for wood paired w/ food & mostly things are OK....

A few foul balls here & there, like alder doesn't go well with the particular mix I use for 'turds, etc.

I love smoked foods, including bacon wrapped doughnuts, but sometimes just use charcoal w/o wood to let the rubs / seasoning stand out....

But you're a scientist man, a real scientist !!!!!