As like almost all of my posts... I did some reading on brined chicken and the rest is what you might say, "History"!
I had the extra sugar and salt in the cupbord so I did two different brines just to experiment a little. The first is brine I used was the Slaughterhouse Poultry Brine and the second was my Uncles Maple brine. At this point I'll let the pics do most of the speaking. Hope you Enjoy! Happy Smoking - Smokin - K
Slaughterhouse Poultry Brine
1 1⁄2 Gal Water
1⁄2 C Salt (picklin er kosher)
1⁄2 C Dark Brown Sugar
2 tsp Garlic Powder
2 tsp Onion Powder
2 tsp Cajun Spice (Louisiana Cajun Seasoning)
2 tsp Celery Seed
P.S. I substituted 1 tsp cajun for 1 tsp of my own chipotle powder
The second bird was brined in my uncles brine (less any liquid smoke and no pink salt)
3 Gallons Water
6 cups Brown Sugar
2 cups White Sugar
1 1/2 tsp maplelene (concentrated maple flavoring - blue and white box in the spice section of your local grocery store)
3 TBS Liquid Smoke (I would cut this back a little if not completely out)
2 cups Salt
3 tsp #1 Pink Salt
2 TBS of Fennel Seed
Birds x 2
Never frozen minimally processed (may be missing some giblets?)
Slaughterhouse brine - Left Uncles Maple Brine - Right
Plate on top to keep them birds dunked
In the fridge for 10 hours
Pulled out of the brine rinsed thouroughly and splayed (butterflied) open.. Cut on either side of the Pope's nose... That's what my father calls it...
I took a lead from Todd and Pops on the Corn Cob.. I called this company (KAYTEE) and they use no checmicals or weird fillers for the Corn Cob (bedding). I did a mix of Apple wood pellets and Corn Cob. Mmmmmm. I love my AMZNPS!!!
Let the birds rest for half a day in the fridge waiting for their final smoke. Maple left, Slaughterhouse on the right. I added a little of my friends Voodo Daddy rub to the slaughterhouse brined one. Mainly just so I could tell what was what.
I added a couple Session beers to the water pan for a little beer steam..
This is about 2 hours in.... Smoke at 275* to 300* for roughly 3.5 hours (pulled once the breast meat got to 164)
Put in a tin foil tent and let rest in a warm oven until our guest arrived
Maple brined chicken (OMG it was soooo juicy)
Tearing into them....
Money Shot!
This was a lot of fun and pretty easy. Just takes time, a little money and the love of smoked food. My wife is hard to get a compliment from. Doesn't throw them out very often. She said it was the best smoked anything I had ever done...! I can die now... Happy Smoking, Smokin - K
I had the extra sugar and salt in the cupbord so I did two different brines just to experiment a little. The first is brine I used was the Slaughterhouse Poultry Brine and the second was my Uncles Maple brine. At this point I'll let the pics do most of the speaking. Hope you Enjoy! Happy Smoking - Smokin - K
Slaughterhouse Poultry Brine
1 1⁄2 Gal Water
1⁄2 C Salt (picklin er kosher)
1⁄2 C Dark Brown Sugar
2 tsp Garlic Powder
2 tsp Onion Powder
2 tsp Cajun Spice (Louisiana Cajun Seasoning)
2 tsp Celery Seed
P.S. I substituted 1 tsp cajun for 1 tsp of my own chipotle powder
The second bird was brined in my uncles brine (less any liquid smoke and no pink salt)
3 Gallons Water
6 cups Brown Sugar
2 cups White Sugar
1 1/2 tsp maplelene (concentrated maple flavoring - blue and white box in the spice section of your local grocery store)
3 TBS Liquid Smoke (I would cut this back a little if not completely out)
2 cups Salt
3 tsp #1 Pink Salt
2 TBS of Fennel Seed
Birds x 2
Never frozen minimally processed (may be missing some giblets?)
Slaughterhouse brine - Left Uncles Maple Brine - Right
Plate on top to keep them birds dunked
In the fridge for 10 hours
Pulled out of the brine rinsed thouroughly and splayed (butterflied) open.. Cut on either side of the Pope's nose... That's what my father calls it...
I took a lead from Todd and Pops on the Corn Cob.. I called this company (KAYTEE) and they use no checmicals or weird fillers for the Corn Cob (bedding). I did a mix of Apple wood pellets and Corn Cob. Mmmmmm. I love my AMZNPS!!!
Let the birds rest for half a day in the fridge waiting for their final smoke. Maple left, Slaughterhouse on the right. I added a little of my friends Voodo Daddy rub to the slaughterhouse brined one. Mainly just so I could tell what was what.
I added a couple Session beers to the water pan for a little beer steam..
This is about 2 hours in.... Smoke at 275* to 300* for roughly 3.5 hours (pulled once the breast meat got to 164)
Put in a tin foil tent and let rest in a warm oven until our guest arrived
Maple brined chicken (OMG it was soooo juicy)
Tearing into them....
Money Shot!
This was a lot of fun and pretty easy. Just takes time, a little money and the love of smoked food. My wife is hard to get a compliment from. Doesn't throw them out very often. She said it was the best smoked anything I had ever done...! I can die now... Happy Smoking, Smokin - K
