2 chicken q-view

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smoke_chef

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
SMF Premier Member
Feb 22, 2008
620
14
Marble Falls, AR
My wife, nephew and I had a wonderful dinner tonight. *yeah*

I did two chickens with two different rubs. The one on the left is Jeff's rub. It was very good but can hardly wait to coat some ribs with it. The one on the right is just Cavender's Greek Seasoning. (I fixed that left wing btw) If you haven't tried Cavender's, you should! It goes great on everything except fish IMO. The potatoes are supposed to help keep the steam and moisture in from the beer can. I don't know if it acually helps or not but I figure it can't hurt?



I think they were actually a little over cooked? I pulled them off the smoker when the breast said 186. I wasn't watching close enough to get them at 186 I guess. I had problems with my temp gauges. I'll post a question about that in a different location. Then, I had forgot to start the side dish of Jalapeno Scalloped Potatoes on time so the chickens were ready an hour and half to soon. The potatoes were well worth the wait though. Soooo good. A perfect side for chicken! Since the chickens had to wait on the potatoes, I wrapped them in tin foil right out of the smoker so I guess the temp probably went up a little from 186? I didn't think to temp it though at any point while waiting. Bummer. It was amazing how hot they stayed wrapped up like that though. After an hour and a half, I still couldn't have pulled them with bare hands I don't think. Any way, here is the finished product. They both were very tasty!



I also did some ATB's for the first time. They were AWESOME. The pics didn't turn out so good though. I'll do better with that next time. And... ohhh there will be a next time. I can't think of why I would smoke anything without throwing on some!!! So so good!
 
Looks like some good eating,bet there wasn't many leftovers.
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Man those birds look good. As far as overcooking...next time pull them off when the inner thigh is at 165 ... let them sit and coast up to 170ish off the heat covered in the kitchen...SHould olny take 30 mins or so. THen digg in. Also i like potatoes in the neck but for somtheng different try an apple up there.
 
First, they look great!
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Second, agree with smokey all the way! I take the temp in the breast though. Pull at 165*, and let them rest until 170*. Wont be disappointed...... "I garronteed"
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i put part of an onion in one i did not too long ago. i then did another after i got done but didnt have an onion or a potato. so i cooked it anyway, and it was just as good, tender, and juicy as the chicken with the stuffed neck. what im trying to say is i dont think the potato/onion really does anything.
 
Smoke chef, What temp did you use for smoking those birds? They look great!

I love Cavender's on chicken also. It just doesn't take much else. I've never tried Jeff's rub on chicken but I will soon.

Let me know what temp and then that will give me something else to try.
 
i smoke on a chargrill pro and when i did some beer butt chickens, i cooked pretty close to the firebox, and used 225* (that was for the stock thermometer tho). cooked for 2 hours exactly, or until thigh got to 170-180. i didnt know that the stock therm would be as off as it was. actual temp where i was cookin at was probably closer to 300-325. go by the internal temp.
 
Great looking birds.
When I do chicken I try to do 225 to 250 close to the fiirebox, I have a thermometer at the surface on each end of my chargriller w/ sfb. I had one at 4 hrs. one time that wasn't completely done. I always plan at least 5 hrs. with chicken you can never be to safe. Try wrapping them in foil after 3 to 3 1/2 hrs. speeds it up , keeps them extra moist, and they don't brown as much . Injecting helps punch up the flavor to the meat to.

crewcab
 
Temps for smoking chicken can range wildly. there is nothing wrong with smoking one aroun 225 for a little longer. It generaly rolls down to the skin. If you are a skin eater you may want to stoke the hit up to closer to 300.(This is what i prefer.) The higher heat will genarly make the skin a little more crisp. At the lower temps the skin is a little more chewy. IMHO
Just remember to get the bird off when the temp of the inner thigh is around 165 no matter what tempp you smoke at.
 
I'm doing featherbones this Easter Sunday.. but this is for sure what I'm doing next.

I was at the store today and walked by the chicken stands. I should have grabbed two.

Those look so good I can almost taste them.
 
Hello all... sorry for the slow reply. I had to go out of town for a couple of days for work. Soon I'll have a laptop so I can get my daily fix of SMF where ever I'm at.

Any way... Each of these birds were just over five pounds. The outside temp was about 40 degrees. I tried to keep my temp at 325. But, I'm still pretty new to tending my fire so I had a hard time keeping it there. I was trying to get the good crispy skin that I have read about. However, as it turns out, no one in my family really likes the skin anyway. This cook time was about 4 hours and fifteen minutes. But, as I mentioned earlier, they were a bit over cooked. So, next time I do chickens, I'll shoot for a steady 225 and pull at 165 and let them rest up to 170 like it was suggested below. I want more smoke flavor in the meat than I got this time. So, even though I have read from several people that low and slow doesn't help birds, I'm going to give it a try and see if I like that better? Don't get me wrong, those birds were awesome, I just think I can do better next time.

Keep smoking,

Franklin
 
The idear of the potato or onion is to help hold moisture in the chicken and add very little flavor, you can also use an apple, bought anything to plug the hole.
 
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