Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Question for the BBQ experts

I've been experimenting with chickens. I don't like the skin when reheating leftovers, but leaving it on makes the meat moist. So to get around this conundrum, I tried something different. I removed the skin, coated the bird with a spice rub, then covered it with butter soaked cheese cloth. Smoked the bird at 200 deg till the breast registered 155. Let it rest and temp rose to 160. Turned out great. Very moist, and the meat retained the smoke flavor, and the rub was nice and crisp. Day after reheat in the microwave was just as good too.

You never wanted to be my friend. I guess bigger really is better.

Still smoking away Andrew. I did a pork tenderloin two days ago. The smoker does a really nice job on grilled vegies as well.


Yup. I'm using mine at least twice a week. I've been posting results in the What Yummy Thing thread. I've posted a link there to a smoked lamb recipe that is stunningly good.

I much prefer grilling chicken on the smoker because of the precise temperature control. It also makes for a great outdoor oven on those hot summer nights you want pizza or meatloaf without heating up the whole house.

Does your unit have a second shelf? Very handy if you want to up the quantity (I do smoked salmon for family gatherings).

Looks like you have a decent option for grilling steaks and burgers. That is one thing my smoker does not do well.

You have truly gone to the dark side. Bob will be along shortly to help you with that.

I struggle with roast chicken on the smoker. I just can't get that crispy skin you get from an oven or rotisserie roast. I even tried starting the smoker on high and braising the skin at the start of the smoke. While it was a lot better, its was still more tough than crispy. I may give your cheese cloth method a try.

For chicken raise the temps. I smoke chicken at around 300 degree. It's not recommended going low and slow with poultry.

Rick. I've been doing my chicken at 350. At that temperature, you would think that it is the same as roasting in an oven, but its not.

No idea who or why it's recommended to not go low and slow Rick, but whenever I do, they come out a heck of a lot juicier that way. So I'll continue to NOT follow that recommendation.

What ever works. Smoking them hot works well too, you just need to pull them when needed.

I'm going to be smoking a small (~10 lb) turkey tomorrow for the first time. Everything I have read suggests smoking at 325-350 in order to get nice looking skin. If anyone has any recipes or suggestions, I'd love to hear them!
Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians!

Andrew

I like doing turkeys at that temperature (usually aim for 325) partly because the skin is important and partly because low and slow adds more smoke flavour than I like in turkey (I find "smoked turkey" too smoky).

If you want a strong smoke flavour then IIRC most of the smoke flavour goes in before the meat heats up a lot, which would argue for starting at a lower temperature (and longer time) then raising to 325/350 part way through to get the crisper skin.

That said I'm using a charcoal grill (Weber Performer) and generally buy turkeys that are too big for the grill (the 17+ pound birds keep calling to me) and so end up spending more time worrying about not burning it and not using it to clean all the grunge off the lid. 10 pounds is a good weight... probably anything up to 12 I guess.

I had a WSM (Weber Smoky Mountain) which was great for turkey halves but when my brother-in-law's Brinkman rotted out I passed it to him since he is still the primary smoker in the family.