I’m here to answer the age old question, which came first, the chicken or the egg? I’m here to tell you, they came at the same time – at least the came off my smoker at the same time the last time I smoked chickens.
I had seen where some people were putting raw eggs on the smoker as they smoked something or another and I was intrigued. I love me some boiled eggs and I had to see this for myself. The photos of the results are at the end of this post.
But first, the chicken! We picked up a double pack of chickens from Sam’s giant warehouse, I had another foodsperiment in mind and who couldn’t use a few extra pounds of smoked poultry anyway?
I wanted to see for myself if we could tell a significant difference between a brined bird or one that goes from wrapper to smoker. So other than the brine, these two birds are prepared the same way and cooked on the same fire. This will answer the question once and for all, “To brine or not to brine?”
The set up – offset smoker at about 300° using charcoal and a mixture (read left over assorted ) wood chips. These are smoked “beer can chicken” style using water instead of beer because beer is best consumed cold.
As per my (new) usual, I prepared an injection of clarified butter, apple cider and cayenne powder and thoroughly injected my victims.
Placed on the grill at 5:00 PM.
Added the cold raw eggs at 5:15 PM
Checked temperature at 6:00 PM
Ready to come off at 6:30 PM – internal temperature right at 160° deep within the breast.
Once rested for 30 minutes, both of chickens came out perfect! They both were smoky, juicy and full of flavor. I removed the breasts on all four and carved them against the grain in about 1/3 inch slices. (Sorry, no pics.) We were able to test these babies side by side. Carrie, who had no idea which was the brined, selected the brined one as the juiciest. I also concluded that the extra effort of brining is worth it and I will be brining all my poultry in the future.
Brining Wins!
The legs, wings and remaining carcasses were reserved for chicken pot pie which came out beautifully. We had several chicken breast sandwiches and the dark meat made two 10 inch pot pies, plus two cassolettes.
These pies were awesome! I made the cassolettes using a leftover top crust only
As for the eggs, I’m not impressed.
They were very difficult to peel and the outside edge of the egg white was very tough. There was barely a hint of smoke flavor so I have to chock this one down as a fail. I have also seen were some people peel the already boiled eggs before putting them in the smoker, I may give that a try next time.
So there you have it – the chicken and the egg came out of the smoker and into my kitchen at the same time. Whew, I’m glad the mystery has been solved.
I had seen where some people were putting raw eggs on the smoker as they smoked something or another and I was intrigued. I love me some boiled eggs and I had to see this for myself. The photos of the results are at the end of this post.
But first, the chicken! We picked up a double pack of chickens from Sam’s giant warehouse, I had another foodsperiment in mind and who couldn’t use a few extra pounds of smoked poultry anyway?
I wanted to see for myself if we could tell a significant difference between a brined bird or one that goes from wrapper to smoker. So other than the brine, these two birds are prepared the same way and cooked on the same fire. This will answer the question once and for all, “To brine or not to brine?”
The set up – offset smoker at about 300° using charcoal and a mixture (read left over assorted ) wood chips. These are smoked “beer can chicken” style using water instead of beer because beer is best consumed cold.
As per my (new) usual, I prepared an injection of clarified butter, apple cider and cayenne powder and thoroughly injected my victims.
Placed on the grill at 5:00 PM.
Added the cold raw eggs at 5:15 PM
Checked temperature at 6:00 PM
Ready to come off at 6:30 PM – internal temperature right at 160° deep within the breast.
Once rested for 30 minutes, both of chickens came out perfect! They both were smoky, juicy and full of flavor. I removed the breasts on all four and carved them against the grain in about 1/3 inch slices. (Sorry, no pics.) We were able to test these babies side by side. Carrie, who had no idea which was the brined, selected the brined one as the juiciest. I also concluded that the extra effort of brining is worth it and I will be brining all my poultry in the future.
Brining Wins!
The legs, wings and remaining carcasses were reserved for chicken pot pie which came out beautifully. We had several chicken breast sandwiches and the dark meat made two 10 inch pot pies, plus two cassolettes.
These pies were awesome! I made the cassolettes using a leftover top crust only
As for the eggs, I’m not impressed.
They were very difficult to peel and the outside edge of the egg white was very tough. There was barely a hint of smoke flavor so I have to chock this one down as a fail. I have also seen were some people peel the already boiled eggs before putting them in the smoker, I may give that a try next time.
So there you have it – the chicken and the egg came out of the smoker and into my kitchen at the same time. Whew, I’m glad the mystery has been solved.