After seeing SmokinAl's thread on his Chicken Cordon Bleu and falling in love, I decided that was a must do!
For the exact recipe, here is Al's great thread! It's extremely detailed and easy to follow. The only thing I did differently is opting not to inject the chicken. I was afraid it might come out too salty.
In preparation for this, I decided to smoke a ham. It was a great excuse as I love ham! I injected and coated it with lots of maple syrup followed by a good dusting of brown sugar. Ham was smoked on Thursday and it was a great success.
We feasted on a great ham dinner that night and also sliced up a bunch and set it aside in the fridge for the chicken.
Also Thursday I de-boned the chicken and placed it in its brine bath. The details of the brine are also included in Al's epic thread which is linked above. I left the leg, thigh and wing bones in place as I was lazy and figured they would look better.
Fast forward to today.. I removed the chicken from the brine and gave them a good bath in ice water. I then laid them out and patted them dry.
I then added a layer of sliced butter followed by slices of Swiss cheese and then ham.
Then added another layer of Swiss cheese and another layer of ham followed by another layer of Swiss.
Next I stitched them up and dusted them with a good coating of Montreal Chicken Seasoning.
My GMG was already fired up and set to 240.
I put the chicken in the smoker breast side down at 1:30PM and basted them with a good coating of melted butter.
3 Hour Q-view
My internal temps were higher after 4 hours than I expect and they were pretty close to done so I gave them another brushing of butter and raised smoker temp up to 300 to crisp-en the skin a bit more.
An hour later.. Done.... Fresh out of the smoker and then covered in foil and set inside the oven to rest.
Dinner is served.. This was better than I ever could have imagined! It was so juicy and so flavorful. I would go as far as to say this was the best thing I have EVER made. I am totally shocked.
Al, you ARE my hero! Thank you so much for sharing this!
Now for the money shots! You guys have to try this. Pictures look good but they don't do it any justice. It was too good. I am totally stupefied and totally stuffed! It was too good!
All that juice on the bottom of the serving dish is all from inside this chicken.
For the exact recipe, here is Al's great thread! It's extremely detailed and easy to follow. The only thing I did differently is opting not to inject the chicken. I was afraid it might come out too salty.
In preparation for this, I decided to smoke a ham. It was a great excuse as I love ham! I injected and coated it with lots of maple syrup followed by a good dusting of brown sugar. Ham was smoked on Thursday and it was a great success.
We feasted on a great ham dinner that night and also sliced up a bunch and set it aside in the fridge for the chicken.
Also Thursday I de-boned the chicken and placed it in its brine bath. The details of the brine are also included in Al's epic thread which is linked above. I left the leg, thigh and wing bones in place as I was lazy and figured they would look better.
Fast forward to today.. I removed the chicken from the brine and gave them a good bath in ice water. I then laid them out and patted them dry.
I then added a layer of sliced butter followed by slices of Swiss cheese and then ham.
Then added another layer of Swiss cheese and another layer of ham followed by another layer of Swiss.
Next I stitched them up and dusted them with a good coating of Montreal Chicken Seasoning.
My GMG was already fired up and set to 240.
I put the chicken in the smoker breast side down at 1:30PM and basted them with a good coating of melted butter.
3 Hour Q-view
My internal temps were higher after 4 hours than I expect and they were pretty close to done so I gave them another brushing of butter and raised smoker temp up to 300 to crisp-en the skin a bit more.
An hour later.. Done.... Fresh out of the smoker and then covered in foil and set inside the oven to rest.
Dinner is served.. This was better than I ever could have imagined! It was so juicy and so flavorful. I would go as far as to say this was the best thing I have EVER made. I am totally shocked.
Al, you ARE my hero! Thank you so much for sharing this!
Now for the money shots! You guys have to try this. Pictures look good but they don't do it any justice. It was too good. I am totally stupefied and totally stuffed! It was too good!
All that juice on the bottom of the serving dish is all from inside this chicken.
Last edited: