no-smoke chicken in the ecb

[tasunkawitko]

we're going to do some ribs tomorrow on my SnP, so my wife said that today is a no-smoke day. but at the same time, it's too nice to cook indoors, so i'll do the chicken without smoke on the ecb. using kngsford regular briquettes for this cook.

for the poultry, i've got four chicken thighs and a 3.5-lb whole chicken. i am going to try an injection for the first time, using a bottle of "tony chachere's" garlic-herb marinade (www.tonychachere.com) to which i have added the zest of one lemon. i also rubbed a little cavendars greek seasoning and alpine touch (www.alpinetouch.com) under the skin and sprinkled on top of the skin. finally, i've also rubbed under the skin and sprinkled on top with lime powder. i also stuffed the cavity with the lemon that i zested.

i'll cook this on the ecb (with waterpan) until it is done (of course) and will spritz occasionally with a 40/40 mix of lemon juice and oilive oil. when it's finsihed, i might toss it on the grill for a few minutes to crisp up the skin, or maybe not, depending on how things go.

when finished, i'll serve it with some homemade bruschetta (if you want the recipe, let me know).

i have no idea how this one's gonna go, so we'll see. probably no q-view because my hosting site is down, but if it comes back up i'll snap a few pix.

 

[tasunkawitko]

1235 - the ecb is passing 250 degrees, so i put the chicken on. the lemon was just a bit too big to stuff in the cavity, so i peeled it and threw the peelings into the charcoal pan, then put the peeled lemon into the cavity.

i'm going for a mediterranean (italian, greek etc.) thing here - should be pretty good.

 

[bigsteve]

Sounds good Ron. I'm going to rotiss a pair of birds tomorrow. Today is grilled steaks from Omaha steaks.

 

[bigsteve]

BTW, I've always wanted to ask... Why do you have 3 ECBs'?

 

[tasunkawitko]

LMAO - it's a bit of a funny story, steve ~ i got one years ago - maybe around 1996 or 7. my dad got one at the same time, but he enver used it. anyway, i smoked a couple of things right at first, i think it was a little bit of fish, a pheasant and a buffalo ribeye steak, all of which tasted good, then i did the fillets off a very large trout about 1999, but i always thought i wasn't "using" it right, so i put it up and got a little chieft, which i learned to use to amke smoked fish and jerky which is more what i thought of as smoked foods (cooler smoke, pre like making jerky but not quite).

anyway, i passed this forum last year and got to reading it and the BBQFAQ (http://www.eaglequest.com/~bbq/faq2-w95.zip for MSword version of FAQ in a zipped word document). decided i wanted to try some BBQ, so i dragged the ecb out and got the cobwebs off of it. i got good, and then at the 4th of july last year we invited company over for ribs. since the ecb was too small for everyone, i "borrowed" my dad's and modded it along with my own. then in august, i got myself roped into a local rib contest tht involved 30 lbs of CS and spare ribs. this was too much for the two ecbs, so i ran up to havre (20 miles away) and bought a 3rd ecb and modded it the night before the contest. BTW, those ribs too 3rd place and the only thing separating them from first place was 4 votes!

so here i am with 3 ecbs - not much occasion to use them now with the SnP, but i am sure that someday i'll need them - besides, my dad might want his back SOMEDAY. LOL

 

[bigsteve]

Well, with all those cookers, you could host a "BYOF" party.......

 

[rivet]

Very interesting story on how you ended up with 3 ecb's...and congratulations on coming in 4th place by a margin of 4 votes!

Your Mediterranean chicken sounds like a winner~ hope your hosting site comes back in line 'cause you need to show off your cookin'.

 

[tasunkawitko]

hey, rivet - not to blow my own horn, but it was 3rd place rather than 4th - i am the king of typos!

chicken coming along good - i'm turning it over now so it is breas stide up and then will baste again with olive oil/lemon juice - looks like it might be done in an hour or so.

 

[tasunkawitko]

it's coming along pretty good - juices are coming down and the chicken looks to be moist and tender. i think the one, maybe 2 hour timeline is about right - temps ahve been in the 230-240 range, with a couple of low dips to 225. when i lift the lid to baste, it seems to recover the temp pretty quickly. charcoal consumption has been very low and things are going great. i have been adding charcoal 6 or 10 briqs at a time, starting them first in the chimney and then putting them in when they are burning well.

the water pan is about down to nothing, so will fill it up a bit so it will be fine for the duration. plenty of juices and stuff in the pan as well making some great smells!

 

[rivet]

Sounds like you've got things pretty much right, bud. Good deal!

 

[bigsteve]

So? How did Mrs. Tasunka like her no smoke chicken? My steaks came out good. I put q-view over in the beef grilling section.

 

[mballi3011]

those are some for sure interesting stories there Tasunka. Three of the same smokers and you have to use it as a regular grill. You definetly have to be deversital around here. Everything sounds good but where are the Q

 

[tasunkawitko]

well, the chicken was great, in my opinion. on previously-smoked birds, there had been an issue with a mushy texture - that did not happen here. bird was cooked up to around 170 degrees and had juices all over the place - dryness was definitely not a problem. the garlic and herb flavors were good, but the lemon was certainly an excellent addition and the chicken flavor itself was very good, although in my opinion it could have used a little apple or hickory. the skin seemed to NOT be all rubbery like it had been in past smokes, but we crisped the skin for a few minutes on the gas grill before serving just to make sure.

as for mrs. tas, evidently even plain old kingsford is too smoky for her and all she tasted was a "dirty ashtray." having never eaten a dirty ashtray, i had no clue what she was talking about, but i did run to the store and grab a nice, boneless/skinless breast of chicken and i whipped up a real quick chicken parmesan from scratch, serving it up on a couple of the thin, toasted slices of french bread that we prepared for the bruschetta (which by the way was awesome and is highly recommended). this second chicken dish seemed to be much more acceptable to her pallet, but i must say that i was highly discouraged as i went out of my way to do this one right for her. i thought that heating the briqs in the chimney before adding them to the charcoal pan would provide a clean burn, but i guess it didn't work. the only other thing i can think of is that the dripping juices provided a smoke that i really like but one that she doesn't like.

the kids loved it and so did my dad, who dropped by arund suppertime and tried some between the kids and him, there was nothing left of this chicken except bones.

mballi - sorry there was no q-vue here! it was a great-looking chicken, though with nicely-browned skin and juices oozing all over the place. only flaw was that due to the peeled lemon that was stuffed in the cavity, the chicken seemed to "flatten" as the lemon got softer and softer. didn't affect the taste, though!

 

[tasunkawitko]

here's the bruschetta recipe - i recommend dicing the onion and garlic very fine:

Italian Bruschetta

This recipe is actually from Italy.

8 roma tomatoes, chopped into cubes
1/3 cup red onion, chopped
1 bunch fresh basil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 dash salt and pepper
1 loaf long French bread, sliced

Chop roma tomatoes, red onion, and garlic; put into medium sized bowl, set aside.

In food processor chop the basil until very fine, add to tomato mixture.

Add red wine vinegar and oil, salt/pepper and mix well.

Meanwhile grill/ or broil bread until just toasted, then top bread with mixture and serve.

 

[bigsteve]

Well, at least if dad and kids loved it, you know it wasn't something you did.

Hope you find a happy medium.

 

[tasunkawitko]

yep - i had some spares thawed out and in the fridge which i will be doing today, and i guess this will be my last smoke for a while.

 

[rivet]

Hey guys,

I'm with bigsteve....when the lady is tired of smoke, She's Tired Of Smoke!

I'm laying off the grill for a while since the kids left last weekend, and she really got happy being able to make some oven fried chicken. It's great stuff, too.

Give it a rest for a bit. Or...do what I do

he-he...

make something she hates, so it doesn't matter since she won't eat it anyway!

In this case here it means PPB!

 

[bigsteve]

I've been mixing things up. Last weekend I smoked chuckies. Yesterday I grilled steaks. Today I have a big ol' chicken spinning around on the spit. Next weekend, most likely I'll smoke a butt one day, and grill burgers the other.