# Multitasking Chicken Leg Quarters and Spare Ribs (QView)



## hebjamn (Jan 17, 2012)

I decided to try smoking chicken and ribs at the same time and much to my amazment, it worked !

I dropped 10 lbs of leg quarters into a basic brine and let them soak for four hours in the fridge (I found a 2 1/2 gallon rectangular Tupperware that held the chicken, brine and ice perfectly!).  Meantime I layered some dry rub on the spare ribs, wrapped them in plastic and stored them in the fridge too.

I set up my Masterbuilt 30" propane smoker with apple wood chips and water in the pan.  After some testing during my first smoke a few weeks ago I decided that the built in thermometer was close enough for government work.

I put the ribs on the highest of the four racks and fired up the smoker to 225-250 and held it there for three hours (as per the 3-2-1 method).

Sidebar : I get fairly thick blue smoke in the 225-250 range.  I'm using the OEM fire bowl with aluminum foil blocking the holes as suggested by some pretty smart folks around here.  Would using a cast iron pan on top of the fire bowl to hold the chips get me thinner smoke at the same temperatures?

I took the ribs out, misted them with apple juice, wrapped them in foil and put them back in at 225-250.  While I was wrapping the ribs, my wife had taken the chicken out of the brine, double rinsed and dried them, and layed on some dry rub (pretty lucky fellow me!).  I then placed the chicken, skin side down, on the two racks below the ribs.  As I would learn later, putting the chicken below the ribs was a very good idea !  It turns out that chicken drips WAY more juice and fat than ribs or a Pork Butt !

I held the chicken and rib combination at 225 - 250 for two hours, then unwrapped the ribs and went another hour at 225-250.

With the ribs complete and the chicken needing another 1/2 hour (I hoped !) I added water to the pan, loaded some more wood chips and cranked the burner up to 300 - 325.  My hope was a) the chicken would take 30 minutes more (a total of 3 1/2 hours, as I had read somewhere) and b) that 30 minutes at higher heat would be enough to crisp up the skin.

I pulled a couple of leg quarters out 30 minutes later and checked the internal temp : 170 !!  Sometimes we get lucky.

My rig was a BIG mess but the ribs were excellent (again!  That 3-2-1 method is genius!) and the chicken was almost perfect.  I would have preferred a slightly crispier skin, but it was by no means rubbery.

I think I like the grill marks on the chicken :-)


----------



## adiochiro3 (Jan 17, 2012)

Looks fantastic, but where's the ribs????

Glad everything worked out so well!


----------



## chef jimmyj (Jan 17, 2012)

Nothing wrong with them!...JJ


----------



## sprky (Jan 17, 2012)

LOL must have ate the ribs so fast you didn't get a pic of them.


----------



## africanmeat (Jan 18, 2012)

sprky said:


> LOL must have ate the ribs so fast you didn't get a pic of them.


----------



## SmokinAl (Jan 18, 2012)

Awesome! Great color!


----------



## hebjamn (Jan 18, 2012)

Thanks for all the positive comments !

I did dig right into the ribs while the chicken was finishing.  Luckily my wife insisted on some food p+rn before I ate.  Here's the food stylist presentation.


----------

