Chicken

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OK, so yes I admit that for the most part I'm a beef guy. Pork is a close second. But man my chicken might make me rethink that order.

This past Saturday I smoked two chickens. I can do up to 6 at once in my pit, but we just had 2 this time. Note the water pan in the pit. Putting one in there is my normal practice unless I'm using all three grill grates, in which case I put in another makeshift drip pan.

The chickens were skinned this time, brined, injected with marinade, and then put on the pit. I mopped it once after the first hour, once after the second hour, and then every 20 minutes until it was done. I'll cover brining and my marinade, and mop in future posts.

After starting the fire with one chimney full of briquettes, as is my custom, the wood was about half apricot and half red oak with one stick of mesquite per hour. You can see my wood chunks in the picture above with oak on the right and apricot on the left. Cooking time was about 3.5 hours.

At one time, I regarded poultry as probably the most difficult meat to smoke to a satisfactorily juicy and flavorful result. However, it is not. It has actually become the most consistent of my BBQ styles and I'm thinking of entering my chicken in one of the area BBQ contests next summer. Turkey, by it's nature, is somewhat more difficult than chicken, but I prepare and cook both practically the same.