Chicken and Corn

[RangerOne]

Just did a cook yesterday of chicken and corn. Two chickens, one with a new rub I was trying, and one without rub. My wife does not like taking chances on a new rub, so if it was not to her liking, she would have her own chicken. I used Maple Leaf Briquets and 2 chunks of cherry wood in my Smokenator, with a grill temperature of 220F- 240F. I did not use any brine, injection, or mopping. Just let them cook until the breast meat was above 180F which was about 4.5 hours.

Here is my BBQ area, just off my patio in the back yard.



Here is a picture about half way through the cook when I put on the corn.



Here is a picture of the finished rubbed chicken and corn after plating. Chicken was very good, but the rub was a little bland for me. My wife thought there was a bit too much sage, but otherwise ok. The corn was fantastic. This was the first time I only husked and rinsed them and put them on the smoker. No soaking in water, no leaving the husks on, no prep work at all, and it turned out great.



And here is the chicken with no rub, which we will be having for supper tonight. The cherry wood really adds nice colour to the skin.



I have always found the white meat of chicken or turkey to be on the dry side. I much prefer the dark meat. Would I get better results if I brined, injected, or mopped? I am still new to this and have never tried any of these methods, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Allan aka RangerOne

[MacEggs]

It all looks delicious, Allan!

I have brined turkey and chicken.  I don't brine chicken anymore, just turkey.
Experiment with a whole chicken, then maybe move onto whole turkey.

I first tried the following brine on a 4 lb whole chicken.
Liked it so much, I then did it with a 13 lb turkey for Thanksgiving.
Adjust the time in the brine for chicken. Maybe 6-12 hours.  18-24 hours for turkey.

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/turkey6.html

[1buckie]

Those both look really good !!!!



"I have always found the white meat of chicken or turkey to be on the dry side."

If it was a little dry.......

You can go up to a little lower finish temp.....180 in the thickest part of the leg, not touching bone.....should about equal 165 approx. in the thick of the breast.....

Take a quick look at the cooking schedule in the link MacEggs put up........they say 160~165 white


I inject a lot.....this is the last turkey.....looks over done & some of the skin was.....




but inside was turkey & creole butter heaven.....

[RangerOne]

That looks awesome 1buckie. I hope you don't mind sharing the recipe. I have not attempted to do a turkey yet, but if I could get it to look like yours, I would be very happy.

Allan aka RangerOne

[1buckie]

Let me see if I can find this one.....not sure if I did a complete write out on the cook?

The injection was Tony Chachere's  creole butter (bottle in upper right corner of 1st pic)

cavity full of onion, spices, celery hearts & pieces, chicken broth in the pan...........

Boy, had that one wrong...different injection, different stuffing, ...anyways, look here :

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/grilling-bbqing/favorites-part-two-turkey/msg81474/?topicseen#msg81474


Tent the thing sooner than I did & it'll be more edible on the outside........


Yeah, moistness is bordering on work sometimes with poultry.....either lower finish temp which is dicey 'cause underdone can be dangerous to eat or injections, which add the extra moisture that would ordinarily be lost.....brines are pretty great for that aspect, too............

[MacEggs]

Here's my first, but, will not be last kettle cooked turkey. Turned out awesome!

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/grilling-bbqing/my-first-kettle-cooked-turkey/