Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisK
Any tips on smoking a whole chicken? I've got one going right now. I try to maintain temp at ~250 F for a couple of hours (maybe an hour per pound or so) or until internal temp is 165 F.
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ChrisK I bought a book on smoking and curing many years ago that explained everything in a scientific manner so you wouldn't end up getting sick.
It is called, Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing by Rytec Kutas.
The man passed away a while back but his company lives on.
To properly smoke a whole chicken at lower temperatures it has to be cured.
Smoking at 225 to 250 is what I call smoke raosting.
If you want the meat to be ham like, like you see the smoked turkeys in the store they cure it.
Here is a recipe right out of the book for a smoked turkey.
The most important thing is to have the water over the bird.
5 gallons of water.
1 1/2 pounds of powdered dextrose. (I use brown sugar)
2 pounds of salt.
1 pound of Insta cure #1.(it used to be called Prague powder.
Cover pickle method.
Dissolve all ingredients in water chilled to 38 to 40 degrees F.
Be sure you have washed the cavity of the turkey very well and that the turkey is 38 to 40 degrees F before placing into the brine.
Turkey should be submerged in brine for at least 4 days at 38 to 40 degrees F.
A larger turkey will take about 5 days to cure.
Spray pump method.
Dissolve all ingredients in water chilled to 38 to 40 degrees F.
Pump the turkey with curing solution using 10 percent of the weight of the turkey (20 pound turkey-pump with 2 pounds of brine).
After pumping place the turkey in ice cold water for at least 3 hours.
Remove the turkey from the ice cold water and place in cove pickle at 38 to 40 F and allow to cure for 48 hours.
Smoking.
After turkey is cured wash very well with cold water and place into a preheated smoker at 130 degrees F.
Smoke at this temperature for at least one hour with the damper wide open.
Close damper to 1/4 open and apply smoke for 5 hours at 130 degrees F.
Raise temperature to 140 degrees F and hold for 4 hours.
Finally raise temperature to 165 degrees F and hold until an internal temperature of 152 F is obtained.
Use a dial meat thermometer, inserting the stem as close to the ball socket joint of the thigh, as this seems to be the last place the meat becomes thoroughly cooked.
Remove from the smoker and the meat thermometer drop to about 100 degrees F before placing into the cooler.
Smoked turkey is a perishable product and should be kept under refrigeration at all times.
Well there you have it.
It sounds complicated but it isn't, you could easily convert this to a chicken and do the same thing.
I find some of this guys stuff is way salty and have learned to adjust a few things like adding sugar and so on.
There is also a product called Morton's Tender quick that works very well but be warned it is salty to and you will need to add sugar to kill the harsh taste of the salt.
After you fool around with some cheap chickens you will get the hang of it and start producing some really good stuff.
Worth