Smoked Chicken Success

[SistaSmoke]

So I finally got my Electric Smoker up and running after all these months. Over the long weekend I brine two chickens using Pop's recipe (Thanks Pops) added some pickling spice and about 7 garlic cloves, injected, let brine in the fridge for 2 days, soaked for an hour, lightly seasoned with pimento seasoning and then smoked @225 for 2 hrs then bumped it up to 275 for the last hour using JD whiskey barrel wood and Tabasco wood chips for 3 hrs until the IT 165, let rest for a half an hour. Can I just say.......... I have never had anything like this before I am extremely happy with the turn out. Store bought....... NEVER AGAIN!

 

[banderson7474]

That's great having success with poultry the first time around. I actually had a few misses with chicken until I got it right so congrats to you! What's next on the food agenda??

 

[smokerjim]

they look great, got to love pop's brine, that's my go to brine. I remember when I did my first chicken, thinking the more smoke the better, I had the smoke pouring out the chimney thinking this is going to be good, unfortunately it tasted so bad I just threw it out. glad yours came out a lot better

 

[krj]

Great color on them yard birds.

 

[SistaSmoke]

That's great having success with poultry the first time around. I actually had a few misses with chicken until I got it right so congrats to you! What's next on the food agenda??

Well I watched A LOT of video's on Youtube so I think that helped, as for my next project, I think I will try Bacon-On-A-Stick cause I mean who doesn't like bacon flavored ribs.

 

[SistaSmoke]

they look great, got to love pop's brine, that's my go to brine. I remember when I did my first chicken, thinking the more smoke the better, I had the smoke pouring out the chimney thinking this is going to be good, unfortunately it tasted so bad I just threw it out. glad yours came out a lot better

Thank you Yup Pop's Brine is the Holy Grail of brine's . I just added wood chips every hour so it came out as just the right amount of smoke. I wish I could share with you all it's so damn tasty.

 

[SistaSmoke]

Great color on them yard birds.

Thank you kindly

 

[tallbm]

So I finally got my Electric Smoker up and running after all these months. Over the long weekend I brine two chickens using Pop's recipe (Thanks Pops) added some pickling spice and about 7 garlic cloves, injected, let brine in the fridge for 2 days, soaked for an hour, lightly seasoned with pimento seasoning and then smoked @225 for 2 hrs then bumped it up to 275 for the last hour using JD whiskey barrel wood and Tabasco wood chips for 3 hrs until the IT 165, let rest for a half an hour. Can I just say.......... I have never had anything like this before I am extremely happy with the turn out. Store bought....... NEVER AGAIN!

Hi there and welcome!

Great work on the chicken! Yeah the store bought rotisserie always looks good BUT is always a let down. These smoked chickens cant be beat!

BTW, if you end up with tough/rubbery skin that is not any fault of your own. Poultry skin just doesn't like to be edible cooked at lower temps. At 325F smoker temp it will be edible BUT you have an MES so 275F is your max if it can hit that.
One solution is to have a hot gas grill ready and to smoke your chicken to like an Internal Temp (IT) of like 140F and then finish it skin side down on the grill... or just cook skinless chicken lol.
Also having poultry sit vertically in the MES helps the skin cook better but may not solve the problem alone.

Finally, the MES is notorious for having the smoker temp probe and meat probe just be plain wrong. When you get a chance you may want to look into a dual probe (or more probes) wireless digital thermometer. A number of brands out there will work.
Also the A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker (AMNPS) tray will give you 12 hours of perfect Thin Blue Smoke (TBS) without having to fool with it.
These are 2 items almost all of us MES owners get first to make life easy and continue putting together food that cant be beat! :)

[EDIT] Check this brand new thread for discount on a wireless dual probe thermometer that will probably work and for $28 with the coupon code, that is a steal! https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...ess-thermometer-irf-2sa-with-2-probes.289553/

In any case, great work, keep on smoking, and I look forward to the next post!!! :)

 

[Winterrider]

Mighty fine looking birds there ... Nice job !

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

Very nice looking chicken, and great color. BTW, welcome to the SMF from Middle TN!

 

[Smoky Momo BBQ]

Dang that looks good.

 

[Mofatguy]

Nice looking chicken! Can almost taste it through my phone screen!

 

[SistaSmoke]

Hi there and welcome!

Great work on the chicken! Yeah the store bought rotisserie always looks good BUT is always a let down. These smoked chickens cant be beat!

BTW, if you end up with tough/rubbery skin that is not any fault of your own. Poultry skin just doesn't like to be edible cooked at lower temps. At 325F smoker temp it will be edible BUT you have an MES so 275F is your max if it can hit that.
One solution is to have a hot gas grill ready and to smoke your chicken to like an Internal Temp (IT) of like 140F and then finish it skin side down on the grill... or just cook skinless chicken lol.
Also having poultry sit vertically in the MES helps the skin cook better but may not solve the problem alone.

Finally, the MES is notorious for having the smoker temp probe and meat probe just be plain wrong. When you get a chance you may want to look into a dual probe (or more probes) wireless digital thermometer. A number of brands out there will work.
Also the A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker (AMNPS) tray will give you 12 hours of perfect Thin Blue Smoke (TBS) without having to fool with it.
These are 2 items almost all of us MES owners get first to make life easy and continue putting together food that cant be beat! :)

[EDIT] Check this brand new thread for discount on a wireless dual probe thermometer that will probably work and for $28 with the coupon code, that is a steal! https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...ess-thermometer-irf-2sa-with-2-probes.289553/

In any case, great work, keep on smoking, and I look forward to the next post!!! :)

Thanks for the tips I appreciate it, I will be trying some different things that I see and heard of. I did purchase the A-Maz-N-Pellet Smoker for some smoked salt that I made, that reminds me I need to hit that with a second smoking...But I will definitely need to invest in a wireless thermometer I will check it out.

 

[SistaSmoke]

Mighty fine looking birds there ... Nice job !

Thank you

 

[SistaSmoke]

Very nice looking chicken, and great color. BTW, welcome to the SMF from Middle TN!

Appreciate it.

 

[SistaSmoke]

Dang that looks good.

LOL no drooling LOL.

 

[SistaSmoke]

Nice looking chicken! Can almost taste it through my phone screen!

I'd mail you some but I don't think it would last.

 

[drdon]

Looks MIGHTY fine SistaSmoke! I STILL can't get the bird to come out that way. Congratulations.

 

[SistaSmoke]

Looks MIGHTY fine SistaSmoke! I STILL can't get the bird to come out that way. Congratulations.

Thanks, just luck I guess, keep trying you'll get it eventually.