Whole deboned stuffed chicken Cordon Bleu

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SmokinAl

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Jun 22, 2009
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I started out with a nice big roasting chicken.

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Once it was all rinsed off, I gave it a little chicken yoga to stretch all the tendons so it would be easier to debone.

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All nice & relaxed & ready to debone.

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Next you just take a sharp boning knife & slice down the backbone.

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Then you just slowly start to cut down the rib cage, pulling the meat away from the bone.

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You continue to cut the meat away & when you get to the place where the thigh & wings join the breast you just cut the tendons & they will break free.

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You just continue all the way around, being careful not to cut into the skin.

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You just keep at it until the rib cage is free of the meat.

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Once the rib cage is out you move on to the thigh bone & shoulder bone. I wanted to leave the drumsticks & middle wing bones in so it would still look like a chicken when it was all done. To get the thigh & shoulder out you just start trimming the meat away from the bone and when you get about half way down the bone you can just grab the thigh & twist it off the drumstick. Same with the wing.

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Next it goes into a brine for 48 hours. I used 4 cu water, 1/4 cu salt, 1/2 cu raw sugar, 2 tsp cure#1, 1/8 cu Montreal chicken seasoning.

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Into a zip lock bag for 48 hours.

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I smoked a ham for Christmas and took off some choice slices for the Cordon Bleu.

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48 hours later, the chicken is out of the brine, rinsed off & ready to stuff.

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First layer is one stick of butter sliced up.

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Next a layer of Swiss cheese.

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Next a layer of the smoked ham.

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Then another layer of cheese.

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And you guessed it another layer of ham.

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Then one final layer of cheese.

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Next we pulled it together & sewed it up with butchers twine. It really helps to have two people for this part.

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I know it's overkill, but I injected the drumsticks & breasts with a chicken broth/melted butter mix.

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I coated the chicken with the remaining juice & dusted it with Montreal chicken seasoning.

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I put it on the WSM set at 225, with the breast side down for the first 2 hours, hoping the juices would flow toward the breast. Normally I would smoke chicken at 300-325, but this being such a mass of meat I was afraid the breast would dry out before the inside got done.

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I had 1 probe in the breast & 1 probe in the center. I was looking for 165 in both. At 5 hours in they both were reading 125 ( Remember I used cure#1 in the brine, so no 4 hour rule ). So I cranked the WSM up to 300 to get the skin crispy & finish the cooking. 2 hours later it was done. 7 hours total time cooking.

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One thing nice about a deboned chicken is they sure are easy to carve, just like slicing bread. You can see how juicy it was. The juice is just running out of it!

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Look at the melted cheese.

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And of course the Throwdown photo.

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Thanks for looking & this is a great dish to have for company. We had 2 couples over for this & they helped set up the photo for the Throwdown. As soon as this photo was taken the chicken was gone in a flash. As for the carcass, we boiled it down & combined it with the drippings for some wonderful chicken stock.  
 
You the MAN AL! Thanks for laying out the great De-boning Tutorial...I was too excited and messy to take step by step photos with my Bird...I am doing this Cordon Bleu, when I get some good ham...I want to do a Hot Chicken and your are very right, the slicing is a blast when you take the time to Bone out!...Congratulations on a job well done!..You got to use that Pretty Knife in a future post and give a review...JJ
 
Al u da man. you need your own cooking show or restaurant.  I tryed to debone a chick once. it was a hack job to say the least. Ended up just throwing it in a pot for chick noodles, yes it was that hacked up.
 
Wow Al, that looks amazing! Congrats on the Throwdown win! I will definitely be trying this one! Might have to go grab a bird today! Thanks for sharing this one!
 
Thank you for the wonderful tutorial-I'll definitely have to give this one a try in the near future. Don't know if hubby will eat it (although it has ham and swiss and butter, so there's a high probability he will). Congrats on the Throwdown!
 
Al,

Is there anything that can be used as a substitute for Cure #1? I have pink curing salt which looks to be the same thing. I would like to make this but wont have my Cure #1 for another week.
 
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Jeez AL you are a deboning master now. I bet it takes you less then 2 mins to debone a chicken...less? Great post as always and again congrats on the win!
 
Al,

Is there anything that can be used as a substitute for Cure #1? I have pink curing salt which looks to be the same thing. I would like to make this but wont have my Cure #1 for another week.
There are several names for cure #1. If you have pink salt just go by the directions on the package. If you want to do this without using any cure then just smoke it at a higher temp so it gets to 135 internal meat temp in 4 hours or less. If you run your smoker at 275-300 you should make it easily & can eliminate the cure.
 
Quote:
There are several names for cure #1. If you have pink salt just go by the directions on the package. If you want to do this without using any cure then just smoke it at a higher temp so it gets to 135 internal meat temp in 4 hours or less. If you run your smoker at 275-300 you should make it easily & can eliminate the cure.
Thanks Al.. I already ran to the grocery store and picked up a half ham. The only chickens they had were fryers and on the small side so they are ordering me a roasting chicken. I plan on Smoking the ham for Wednesdays dinner and making the chicken Saturday.. Hopefully I will have my Cure by Thursday in time for the brine. If not, I will use the pink cure salt which I think is the same as Cure #1 but I will do some more research just to be on the safe side.
 
 
Quote:

Thanks Al.. I already ran to the grocery store and picked up a half ham. The only chickens they had were fryers and on the small side so they are ordering me a roasting chicken. I plan on Smoking the ham for Wednesdays dinner and making the chicken Saturday.. Hopefully I will have my Cure by Thursday in time for the brine. If not, I will use the pink cure salt which I think is the same as Cure #1 but I will do some more research just to be on the safe side.
 


Good luck & don't forget to take some photo's!
 
Wow AL what a dish what a great idea .i love this  interpretation of the cordon bleu .

well done my friend you and Judy smoked a great one, and you deserve this win.
 
Congrats and thanks for explaining about the helper during the stitching process, ( I didn't think that color of polish quite fit ya ).....a Great Step by Step.
 
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