# Whole deboned stuffed chicken Cordon Bleu



## SmokinAl

I started out with a nice big roasting chicken.








Once it was all rinsed off, I gave it a little chicken yoga to stretch all the tendons so it would be easier to debone.







All nice & relaxed & ready to debone.







Next you just take a sharp boning knife & slice down the backbone.







Then you just slowly start to cut down the rib cage, pulling the meat away from the bone.







You continue to cut the meat away & when you get to the place where the thigh & wings join the breast you just cut the tendons & they will break free.







You just continue all the way around, being careful not to cut into the skin.







You just keep at it until the rib cage is free of the meat.







Once the rib cage is out you move on to the thigh bone & shoulder bone. I wanted to leave the drumsticks & middle wing bones in so it would still look like a chicken when it was all done. To get the thigh & shoulder out you just start trimming the meat away from the bone and when you get about half way down the bone you can just grab the thigh & twist it off the drumstick. Same with the wing.







Next it goes into a brine for 48 hours. I used 4 cu water, 1/4 cu salt, 1/2 cu raw sugar, 2 tsp cure#1, 1/8 cu Montreal chicken seasoning.







Into a zip lock bag for 48 hours.







I smoked a ham for Christmas and took off some choice slices for the Cordon Bleu.



















48 hours later, the chicken is out of the brine, rinsed off & ready to stuff.













First layer is one stick of butter sliced up.







Next a layer of Swiss cheese.







Next a layer of the smoked ham.







Then another layer of cheese.







And you guessed it another layer of ham.







Then one final layer of cheese.







Next we pulled it together & sewed it up with butchers twine. It really helps to have two people for this part.







I know it's overkill, but I injected the drumsticks & breasts with a chicken broth/melted butter mix.







I coated the chicken with the remaining juice & dusted it with Montreal chicken seasoning.







I put it on the WSM set at 225, with the breast side down for the first 2 hours, hoping the juices would flow toward the breast. Normally I would smoke chicken at 300-325, but this being such a mass of meat I was afraid the breast would dry out before the inside got done.







I had 1 probe in the breast & 1 probe in the center. I was looking for 165 in both. At 5 hours in they both were reading 125 ( Remember I used cure#1 in the brine, so no 4 hour rule ). So I cranked the WSM up to 300 to get the skin crispy & finish the cooking. 2 hours later it was done. 7 hours total time cooking.







One thing nice about a deboned chicken is they sure are easy to carve, just like slicing bread. You can see how juicy it was. The juice is just running out of it!







Look at the melted cheese.







And of course the Throwdown photo.







Thanks for looking & this is a great dish to have for company. We had 2 couples over for this & they helped set up the photo for the Throwdown. As soon as this photo was taken the chicken was gone in a flash. As for the carcass, we boiled it down & combined it with the drippings for some wonderful chicken stock.


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## chef jimmyj

You the MAN AL! Thanks for laying out the great De-boning Tutorial...I was too excited and messy to take step by step photos with my Bird...I am doing this Cordon Bleu, when I get some good ham...I want to do a Hot Chicken and your are very right, the slicing is a blast when you take the time to Bone out!...Congratulations on a job well done!..You got to use that Pretty Knife in a future post and give a review...JJ


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## dewetha

that is awesome!  we need a SMF cooking channel here for you guys!


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## sprky

Al u da man. you need your own cooking show or restaurant.  I tryed to debone a chick once. it was a hack job to say the least. Ended up just throwing it in a pot for chick noodles, yes it was that hacked up.


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## scarbelly

Great tutorial Al - congrats on the win as well


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## tim202

Al...That looks GREAT !!!!!   And you made it LOOK SO EASY. You are a master!!!!

I will be giving this a try.

Tim


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## slief

Wow Al, that looks amazing! Congrats on the Throwdown win! I will definitely be trying this one! Might have to go grab a bird today! Thanks for sharing this one!


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## smokinhusker

Thank you for the wonderful tutorial-I'll definitely have to give this one a try in the near future. Don't know if hubby will eat it (although it has ham and swiss and butter, so there's a high probability he will). Congrats on the Throwdown!


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## slief

Al,

Is there anything that can be used as a substitute for Cure #1? I have pink curing salt which looks to be the same thing. I would like to make this but wont have my Cure #1 for another week.


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## big twig

Jeez AL you are a deboning master now. I bet it takes you less then 2 mins to debone a chicken...less? Great post as always and again congrats on the win!


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## SmokinAl

slief said:


> Al,
> 
> Is there anything that can be used as a substitute for Cure #1? I have pink curing salt which looks to be the same thing. I would like to make this but wont have my Cure #1 for another week.


There are several names for cure #1. If you have pink salt just go by the directions on the package. If you want to do this without using any cure then just smoke it at a higher temp so it gets to 135 internal meat temp in 4 hours or less. If you run your smoker at 275-300 you should make it easily & can eliminate the cure.


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## slief

Quote:


SmokinAl said:


> There are several names for cure #1. If you have pink salt just go by the directions on the package. If you want to do this without using any cure then just smoke it at a higher temp so it gets to 135 internal meat temp in 4 hours or less. If you run your smoker at 275-300 you should make it easily & can eliminate the cure.


Thanks Al.. I already ran to the grocery store and picked up a half ham. The only chickens they had were fryers and on the small side so they are ordering me a roasting chicken. I plan on Smoking the ham for Wednesdays dinner and making the chicken Saturday.. Hopefully I will have my Cure by Thursday in time for the brine. If not, I will use the pink cure salt which I think is the same as Cure #1 but I will do some more research just to be on the safe side.


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## SmokinAl

slief said:


> Quote:
> 
> Thanks Al.. I already ran to the grocery store and picked up a half ham. The only chickens they had were fryers and on the small side so they are ordering me a roasting chicken. I plan on Smoking the ham for Wednesdays dinner and making the chicken Saturday.. Hopefully I will have my Cure by Thursday in time for the brine. If not, I will use the pink cure salt which I think is the same as Cure #1 but I will do some more research just to be on the safe side.




Good luck & don't forget to take some photo's!


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## graystratcat

Thanks for posting that Al!  Just a killer job and awesome recipe!

-Salt


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## africanmeat

Wow AL what a dish what a great idea .i love this  interpretation of the cordon bleu .

well done my friend you and Judy smoked a great one, and you deserve this win.


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## mballi3011

Great Job AL the bird looks delish.


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## thoseguys26

That looks great. I am bookmarking this one to try later. Well done!


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## bratrules

All i can say is Damn that looks good!!!!!!!!!


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## SmokinAl

Thanks for all the nice comments guys. It is very appreciated!


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## sound1

Congrats and thanks for explaining about the helper during the stitching process, ( I didn't think that color of polish quite fit ya ).....a Great Step by Step.


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## jrod62

Congrats on the Throwdown win!

Al, looks great !!!  and love your step by step tutorial.

looking at your and Chef JJ "debone chicken" post I'm going to try doing one.

thanks for the post.


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## chef jimmyj

Sound1 said:


> Congrats and thanks for explaining about the helper during the stitching process, *( I didn't think that color of polish quite fit ya ).....*a Great Step by Step.


Yeah that's true but AL got Pretty Hair!...
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






...Good morning Buddy...JJ


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## SmokinAl

What you talkin' bout JJ!


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## bbqdisc

looks great


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## boykjo

Looks fantastic AL....  Making me hungry

Joe


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## chefrob

nice entry Al and a great post on deboning.....congrats!


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## sausageboy

Looks amazing!!!


:sausage:


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## hoity toit

You have got it going on Al. !   nice throwdown .


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## bluebombersfan

Great Job AL!!!


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## slief

Al,

My hat's off to you. This was by far one of the best recipes I have ever had and thanks to you one of the best things I have ever made! Thank you so much for sharing this. Absolutely amazing!


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## SmokinAl

Thanks for all the nice comments guys! It's very much appreciated!


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## thoseguys26

Would you change anything if you were to do it again?


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## SmokinAl

thoseguys26 said:


> Would you change anything if you were to do it again?


Not a thing, it was perfect!


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## gbduke

Al,looks like you hit a home run with this one!cant wait to try this one for my family!great job


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## diesel

Nice Job Al...  I think that is my next smoke.  thanks for the deboning steps.


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## irie

*stomach growls* looks good not sure which I would rather try this or your turducken.


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## SmokinAl

irie said:


> *stomach growls* looks good not sure which I would rather try this or your turducken.




This is a good starting point since you only have 1 bird to deal with. Do this a couple of times & the turducken will be a lot easier to do. Practice makes perfect!


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## irie

sage advice, thanks al!


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## sam3

Great job Al! Looks fantastic!!


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## 1beezer

Ok, my mouth is watering and it's 7AM. What's your address again?


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## SmokinAl

I started out with a nice big roasting chicken.








Once it was all rinsed off, I gave it a little chicken yoga to stretch all the tendons so it would be easier to debone.







All nice & relaxed & ready to debone.







Next you just take a sharp boning knife & slice down the backbone.







Then you just slowly start to cut down the rib cage, pulling the meat away from the bone.







You continue to cut the meat away & when you get to the place where the thigh & wings join the breast you just cut the tendons & they will break free.







You just continue all the way around, being careful not to cut into the skin.







You just keep at it until the rib cage is free of the meat.







Once the rib cage is out you move on to the thigh bone & shoulder bone. I wanted to leave the drumsticks & middle wing bones in so it would still look like a chicken when it was all done. To get the thigh & shoulder out you just start trimming the meat away from the bone and when you get about half way down the bone you can just grab the thigh & twist it off the drumstick. Same with the wing.







Next it goes into a brine for 48 hours. I used 4 cu water, 1/4 cu salt, 1/2 cu raw sugar, 2 tsp cure#1, 1/8 cu Montreal chicken seasoning.







Into a zip lock bag for 48 hours.







I smoked a ham for Christmas and took off some choice slices for the Cordon Bleu.



















48 hours later, the chicken is out of the brine, rinsed off & ready to stuff.













First layer is one stick of butter sliced up.







Next a layer of Swiss cheese.







Next a layer of the smoked ham.







Then another layer of cheese.







And you guessed it another layer of ham.







Then one final layer of cheese.







Next we pulled it together & sewed it up with butchers twine. It really helps to have two people for this part.







I know it's overkill, but I injected the drumsticks & breasts with a chicken broth/melted butter mix.







I coated the chicken with the remaining juice & dusted it with Montreal chicken seasoning.







I put it on the WSM set at 225, with the breast side down for the first 2 hours, hoping the juices would flow toward the breast. Normally I would smoke chicken at 300-325, but this being such a mass of meat I was afraid the breast would dry out before the inside got done.







I had 1 probe in the breast & 1 probe in the center. I was looking for 165 in both. At 5 hours in they both were reading 125 ( Remember I used cure#1 in the brine, so no 4 hour rule ). So I cranked the WSM up to 300 to get the skin crispy & finish the cooking. 2 hours later it was done. 7 hours total time cooking.







One thing nice about a deboned chicken is they sure are easy to carve, just like slicing bread. You can see how juicy it was. The juice is just running out of it!







Look at the melted cheese.







And of course the Throwdown photo.







Thanks for looking & this is a great dish to have for company. We had 2 couples over for this & they helped set up the photo for the Throwdown. As soon as this photo was taken the chicken was gone in a flash. As for the carcass, we boiled it down & combined it with the drippings for some wonderful chicken stock.


----------



## chef jimmyj

You the MAN AL! Thanks for laying out the great De-boning Tutorial...I was too excited and messy to take step by step photos with my Bird...I am doing this Cordon Bleu, when I get some good ham...I want to do a Hot Chicken and your are very right, the slicing is a blast when you take the time to Bone out!...Congratulations on a job well done!..You got to use that Pretty Knife in a future post and give a review...JJ


----------



## dewetha

that is awesome!  we need a SMF cooking channel here for you guys!


----------



## sprky

Al u da man. you need your own cooking show or restaurant.  I tryed to debone a chick once. it was a hack job to say the least. Ended up just throwing it in a pot for chick noodles, yes it was that hacked up.


----------



## scarbelly

Great tutorial Al - congrats on the win as well


----------



## tim202

Al...That looks GREAT !!!!!   And you made it LOOK SO EASY. You are a master!!!!

I will be giving this a try.

Tim


----------



## slief

Wow Al, that looks amazing! Congrats on the Throwdown win! I will definitely be trying this one! Might have to go grab a bird today! Thanks for sharing this one!


----------



## smokinhusker

Thank you for the wonderful tutorial-I'll definitely have to give this one a try in the near future. Don't know if hubby will eat it (although it has ham and swiss and butter, so there's a high probability he will). Congrats on the Throwdown!


----------



## slief

Al,

Is there anything that can be used as a substitute for Cure #1? I have pink curing salt which looks to be the same thing. I would like to make this but wont have my Cure #1 for another week.


----------



## big twig

Jeez AL you are a deboning master now. I bet it takes you less then 2 mins to debone a chicken...less? Great post as always and again congrats on the win!


----------



## SmokinAl

slief said:


> Al,
> 
> Is there anything that can be used as a substitute for Cure #1? I have pink curing salt which looks to be the same thing. I would like to make this but wont have my Cure #1 for another week.


There are several names for cure #1. If you have pink salt just go by the directions on the package. If you want to do this without using any cure then just smoke it at a higher temp so it gets to 135 internal meat temp in 4 hours or less. If you run your smoker at 275-300 you should make it easily & can eliminate the cure.


----------



## slief

Quote:


SmokinAl said:


> There are several names for cure #1. If you have pink salt just go by the directions on the package. If you want to do this without using any cure then just smoke it at a higher temp so it gets to 135 internal meat temp in 4 hours or less. If you run your smoker at 275-300 you should make it easily & can eliminate the cure.


Thanks Al.. I already ran to the grocery store and picked up a half ham. The only chickens they had were fryers and on the small side so they are ordering me a roasting chicken. I plan on Smoking the ham for Wednesdays dinner and making the chicken Saturday.. Hopefully I will have my Cure by Thursday in time for the brine. If not, I will use the pink cure salt which I think is the same as Cure #1 but I will do some more research just to be on the safe side.


----------



## SmokinAl

slief said:


> Quote:
> 
> Thanks Al.. I already ran to the grocery store and picked up a half ham. The only chickens they had were fryers and on the small side so they are ordering me a roasting chicken. I plan on Smoking the ham for Wednesdays dinner and making the chicken Saturday.. Hopefully I will have my Cure by Thursday in time for the brine. If not, I will use the pink cure salt which I think is the same as Cure #1 but I will do some more research just to be on the safe side.




Good luck & don't forget to take some photo's!


----------



## graystratcat

Thanks for posting that Al!  Just a killer job and awesome recipe!

-Salt


----------



## africanmeat

Wow AL what a dish what a great idea .i love this  interpretation of the cordon bleu .

well done my friend you and Judy smoked a great one, and you deserve this win.


----------



## mballi3011

Great Job AL the bird looks delish.


----------



## thoseguys26

That looks great. I am bookmarking this one to try later. Well done!


----------



## bratrules

All i can say is Damn that looks good!!!!!!!!!


----------



## SmokinAl

Thanks for all the nice comments guys. It is very appreciated!


----------



## sound1

Congrats and thanks for explaining about the helper during the stitching process, ( I didn't think that color of polish quite fit ya ).....a Great Step by Step.


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