Smoked chicken on the menue today. As usual, we brined it with a mix of Kosher salt, garlic powder, brown sugar, and poultry seasoning. We decided to throw the leg/thigh pieces in the brine around midnight last night thinking that it would take a little longer since they were still a little frozen. Probably not one of our better Ideas.
I pulled them from the brine and rinsed them good around 10:30 this morning. We then covered them with a rub of powdered honey, paprika, poultry seasoning, and a little garlic powder and threw them back in the fridge for while.
Around 12:30 I fired up the smoker and got it up to 250 degrees. Once up to temp the chicken and some Jack Daniels chips went in. It was hard to not open it to check on the chicken, but I did it. It stayed closed for the next three hours. I would estimate that the smoke lasted roughly 1.5 hours.
At about 4:00 we pulled the chicken and let it rest for about 15 minutes while we finished up some taters and peas to go with it. it looked great and smelled fantastic. Now comes the part that I was worried about. Remember how long I said it was in the brine? Well that was just a little bit too long. Even though it was rinsed well, 10+ hours in the brine was too much. It was just a tad bit too salty for my wife and one of the kids. For myself and the other kid it, was great tasting but super salty.
So I guess it is a lesson learned and NEVER brine legs/thighs for that long again. I think three or four hours at the MOST.
I pulled them from the brine and rinsed them good around 10:30 this morning. We then covered them with a rub of powdered honey, paprika, poultry seasoning, and a little garlic powder and threw them back in the fridge for while.
Around 12:30 I fired up the smoker and got it up to 250 degrees. Once up to temp the chicken and some Jack Daniels chips went in. It was hard to not open it to check on the chicken, but I did it. It stayed closed for the next three hours. I would estimate that the smoke lasted roughly 1.5 hours.
At about 4:00 we pulled the chicken and let it rest for about 15 minutes while we finished up some taters and peas to go with it. it looked great and smelled fantastic. Now comes the part that I was worried about. Remember how long I said it was in the brine? Well that was just a little bit too long. Even though it was rinsed well, 10+ hours in the brine was too much. It was just a tad bit too salty for my wife and one of the kids. For myself and the other kid it, was great tasting but super salty.
So I guess it is a lesson learned and NEVER brine legs/thighs for that long again. I think three or four hours at the MOST.