Smoked chicken

[Denver]

I want to smoke cook a whole chicken in my new smoker. I thought I'd like to try a brined chicken, but have no idea how strong to make the brine or how long to leave it in the mix. Help appreciated.

D

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

A old timer brine for smoke/curing meat and fish is just using tap water and adding salt until you can float an egg (soak meat overnight). But I don't know if that is typically done with chicken?

[Hossfly]

I do about 1/2 cup salt to water that just covers bird. Any more and too salty.

[sparkyv]

I don't brine, but will try it sometime. My whole chickens usually smoke well without it.

[brewer12345]

Been doing smoked chicken for years. I usually brine, 1 gallon water with a cup of kosher salt and a half cup of sugar. Boil the water, toss in the salt and sugar, let it cool it the fridge. Drop the chicken in for 10 to 12 hours, pull it, rinse it off, and leave it overnight in the fridge uncovered. Put it in the smoker and keep it going until the white meat is 170F and the dark is 165F. Let it rest 20 or 30 minutes before you carve it. I like fruitwood in the smoker, perhaps with a few pieces of hickory.

If you have a vacuum sealer, smoked chicken keeps really well in the freezer. My smoker is a big one that blows a lot of charcoal every time I fire it up, so I don't usually do less than half a dozen. Any we don't immediately plan to get to, I seal and freeze.

[Hogtamer]

I use about 3/4 C per gallon, I also use apple cider or juice cut with 1/2 gal of water, so 1 Cup total salt. 6 - 7 sprigs of fresh thyme crushed up or a couple of tablespoons of dried and couple of tablespoons of whole peppercorns. Make sure brine covers bird. I don't heat as long as the salt is completely dissolved. The sugar in the apple juice makes for nice browning. Make sure the cavity is open and full of the brine. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Dry with towel before hot smoking.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Most whole chickens come prebrined.

[JBinMN]

There may be something you can get out of this topic.:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...king-in-smoker

G'Luck & Eat good!

[Greg S]

Ratio of 4C Water, 1 TBS Salt and 2 tsp Sugar. In a pinch, done 4C/1/1 TBS when I couldn't find a teaspoon.

For roasting whole chickens in the oven I soak for 2 - 4 hours then season as usual and roast in a hotter oven @ 425°. Never had a juicer roasted breast. Smoke as you normally wood.

[gbrown]

Most of the chicken from supermarkets say that they have a 15% brine/broth/carrageenan (made from seaweed) solution already in them. Makes 'em last longer in the package, hold water, and add to the cost. I got a feeling its more like 20%, myself.

[JBinMN]

I get my yardbirds from farmer friends I know, since the raise them & we get eggs from them as well.

Get our beef & pork thru them too...

Did not know about that "solution" being added to store bought birds, but since I have not bought a bird form a grocery for about 25-30 years, & no one has mentioned it to me in all that time, I reckon that is why I did not..

Thanks! for letting me know.

I will continue to stick with the farm raised/free range yardbirds, & such, as long as I have suppliers.

I prefer my food to not be messed around with, before I mess around with it, if ya know what I mean.

[Denver]

Thanks to all for the replies and advice. I decided to forgo the brining this time and just smoked it using the usual seasonings. I did a pork loin at the same time and both turned out great. Next on the menu is a turkey breast and a pork shoulder.

D

[Jeff Michel]

Since 2003 producers have been required to label poultry if it contains any moisture in excess of what naturally occurs in the bird. Since poultry is normally chilled in ice water there is a tendency to pickup a bit of moisture during the chilling process. Anything in excess of that amount has to be identified on the label as X% retained water or may contain up to X% absorbed water. If it contains added substances, e.g. salt, sodium phosphate, etc the label will state injected with a solution of and the ingredients. The majority of the birds produced are not pumped. If you wish to inject your chicken and if you don't have a salometer, add salt to water enough to float a potato or an egg and as recommended previously, a sweetener is an excellent idea, cuts the salty tang quite a bit. Using a syringe, inject your brine into the breast muscle, thighs and legs. A cup will be plenty. Place it in the refrigerator in a deeper glass dish, it will drain. Give it a couple hours rest and smoke it. Don't add smoke for the first 1/2 hour and don't over smoke it, look at it after an hour, if the color looks good, your done with the smoke. just cook it to finish temperature. Poultry, cheese and fish are the toughest to smoke because the taste profile is so delicate. Have fun

[Wayne Smith]

Another idea with a whole chicken

Make a paste of ground fresh rosemary, the zest of one lemon, kosher salt to roughly equal one of the spices in volume, and enough oil to make a paste. Gently separate the skin from the meat of the breast and thighs of the chicken and rub this paste between the meat and the skin.

Take a couple sprigs of fresh rosemary and the cut up lemon and stuff the cavity with them. Truss lightly and put in smoker for three hours.

LOML's favorite smoked chicken. Don't forget to make soup from the carcass.

[MaryB]

I stuff bacon strips under the breast skin, then lay more bacon on top... bacon on top gets done before the chicken so makes a nice appetizer...

[Plate plinker]

No brine necessary for a smoked bird, but doesn’t hurt either.