Day off, smoked chicken time

[jeffcoslacker]

Proper setup (in my mind)



Let's make it happen



A few hours in, gettin' there. That's smoke BTW...no it's not burning. It is still wonderful.



I predict by 5 pm I'll go all caveman on this bird.

[jeffcoslacker]

Damn sideways. I'm not fixing it.

[jeffcoslacker]

OK so I lied. Fixed it. [emoji2]

The best trick I ever got from TV shows is you gotta jam your hands up under the skin with handfuls of seasonings and rub it in. Cooks into that meat and just makes it unreal. The Weber actually makes a damn good smoker, long as you make allowances for the size and shape...like you'll notice the leg towards the outside of the kettle is not cooking as fast, that's why the whole bird was getting rotated the other way after that shot. Even exposure to heat time. I go about 90 mins with the foil open and get that smoke in there, then close it up and let it self baste for the remainder. It looks like it would be dry, but comes out actually the most moist and tender you probably ever had.

[jeffcoslacker]

Skin in full retreat, appendages falling off, I think my job here is done.

Eatin' time!

[jeffcoslacker]

OMG even the horrid bits on the bottom you don't wanna eat are fantastic. [emoji2]

[SuzyRidr2]

Lookin' good! I've done a ton of smoking on my Weber grill. I've even smoked pork shoulders on it for making pulled pork barbeque. I have a small vertical smoker, but I believe the meat comes out with more smoke flavor using the Weber. [space] [emoji106]

[jeffcoslacker]

Lookin' good! I've done a ton of smoking on my Weber grill. I've even smoked pork shoulders on it for making pulled pork barbeque. I have a small vertical smoker, but I believe the meat comes out with more smoke flavor using the Weber. [space] [emoji106]

Weber is real efficient with the heat, you use less fuel for a given task because the dome kinda concentrates the heat where it's needed. Smoke too, I'd assume.

I like that I can leave it alone for a couple of hours without fueling it.

I had an R2-D2 before, but failed at the time to realize how it was supposed to be used. And I've had the big sideways barrel smoker with a sidebox, but never got along with it.

One year I did an enormous turkey on the Weber. I prepped it the night before and got up at 2 am to get it going. It stayed out there until 4 pm. It was the best turkey any of us ever had. That sucker looked like a lump of coal when I brought it in, but the skin was actually still soft, and the meat had that perfect smokeline and was juicy and tasty as hell.

[JFL Live]

Wish I had the inspiration to do that. Whenever I want a chicken I buy a rotisserie chicken at SAM's Club for 5 bucks. Not as good as yours but good enough for me... And the irony is, the raw chickens cost more than the cooked ones.

[jeffcoslacker]

Wish I had the inspiration to do that. Whenever I want a chicken I buy a rotisserie chicken at SAM's Club for 5 bucks. Not as good as yours but good enough for me... And the irony is, the raw chickens cost more than the cooked ones.

Yeah I know...this chicken cost me about $7.50 and lots of prep time

[BoDog]

Looks great!

[RoadKing]

Many moon ago a bro gave me a different point of view about Weber cooking. Steven is from KC, a city that like many others claims it’s bbq the best. Steven’s approach is that with a Weber it is less about smoke and more about moisture, that the natural moisture from what’s cooking circulates inside the dome and creates a uniform cooking environment. Steven always felt the moisture was more critical than smoke. Whatever, his final presentation was always moist and delicious no matter what kind of meat.

[BoDog]

This is getting me in the mood to smoke some meat in my mastetbuilt.

[jeffcoslacker]

Many moon ago a bro gave me a different point of view about Weber cooking. Steven is from KC, a city that like many others claims it’s bbq the best. Steven’s approach is that with a Weber it is less about smoke and more about moisture, that the natural moisture from what’s cooking circulates inside the dome and creates a uniform cooking environment. Steven always felt the moisture was more critical than smoke. Whatever, his final presentation was always moist and delicious no matter what kind of meat.

Yeah the R2-D2-style smoker was supposed to be good in that respect, but I apparently never got the hang of it. It had the dome lid, barrel body, fire in the bottom, which was open, a place to hang a pan with water or beer or apple juice whatever in the middle, and the rack up top. I always felt it would have worked better with a closed bottom and dampers top and bottom...found it too hard the regulate

[jeffcoslacker]

Couple of points, if anyone cares...if you use a Weber this way, like you see small fire on one side, meat on the other. Chicken is in foil because it literally falls apart when done and you won't get it off of there in one piece, plus as I said if it is wrapped up after some time with the smoke, it just keeps cooking in its own juices and "self bastes".

Nobody asked about the wood pieces. best idea I ever had...make friends with someone at a custom furniture/cabinet shop. They have an endless bounty of scraps of untreated cherry, oak, hickory and alder. All of these make excellent smoke, and burn a long time. I asked my friend to bring me some, and he showed up with an S-10 pickup box half full of scraps! Dude! I was picturing like a few handfuls...

I wish I coulda kept it all, but I just filled several large boxes with pieces that looked real useful. I have a lot of those squared end cuts like in the pic, tons of strips, where they cut just 1/4" or so off the end of a board to have a clean cut, many many planks that were mistakes cutting drawer fronts, etc. It's amazing stuff, and all free [emoji106]