I just took the chicken out of my smoker! This was my first ever experience with smoking meat and it couldn't have turned out better. The chicken weighed four pounds uncooked so I was going to lift the lid at the four hour mark. But when I went back to my owner's manual, it said 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours cooking time.
I stuck a thermometer into it and it was above the 165 degree desired temperature.
I'm hooked on smoking meat! The smell while it is cooking is just wonderful. And unlike my fears, this couldn't have been easier. I soaked the chicken overnight in a brine of water, salt and brown sugar. This morning I took it out of the brine, rinsed it well and dried it with paper towels. Next I rubbed it with olive oil and then with a rub consisting of sugar, salt, paprika, black pepper, thyme, and oregano. While I was doing that, I had the charcoal in a charcoal chimney heating up. You pour the lit charcoal over a bed of unlit charcoal, sprinkle a few shavings of hickory wood over it, place the water bowl, filled with water over that, and next comes the rack with the chicken. Put the lid on it and let it do the rest of the work. I took the second rack out. Why have to clean a rack that I wasn't going to use?
I had to keep an eye on the temperature to keep it within the smoking range. That required a few adjustments to the air vents.
Much of the time I sat in the backyard with it while Morgan ran herself ragged all over the yard! I finally got her to be still long enough to take this picture.
Sounds great! And, I'm sure your helper was very helpful. ;) The chicken looks delicious! I am sure your helper will help you eat it, too.
ReplyDeleteWe recycle an old aluminum pie tin for the drip pan - one of the disposable ones we get from time to time with food in it. After we eat the food out of it, we run it through the dishwasher, then put it with the grill stuff. We can use it once with the grill and throw it away.
I do that on my other Weber grills. But the way this smoker is configured, there is no way to have a drip pan. The big water bowl is beneath the grates and the drippings from the meat goes into the water. One You Tube video - or whereever I saw it - advised using a foil lined water pan.
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