Ingredients: |
Ingredients: Weber Smoker or other covered BBQ or grill. Believe it or not, this apparatus is the most important ingredient!
Charcoal: hardwood briquettes are best. Matchlight not recommended.
Flavored wood chips: mesquite, hickory, cherry, etc.
Whole chicken or package(s) of wings or other parts. It is really hard to smoke a chicken without one!
Secret ingredient: Only my grandsons know (it was passed down by my great-great grand-Zayde from Lithuania, sometimes part of Russia) It is a precise combination of garlic and pepper, and a dash of brown sugar. So now McCormick's, Badia, and others make a garlic-pepper blend that is excellent.
Small aluminum pan: to collect gravy.
Cold can of beer: You can get pretty hot and thirsty around the smoker.
|
Directions: |
Directions:Soak wood chips: About 1/2 hour before lighting the smoker, place a couple of handfuls of flavored wood chips in a bowl with water.
Smoker setting: the bottom vents should be open about halfway. You can adjust the vents while smoking to speed up or slow down the process by letting in more air. The smoker lid vents should be shut. They will be partially opened after the first 10 minutes of smoking the chicken.
Prepare the chicken by sprinkling on the garlic-pepper blend or other seasonings, basting sauce, etc.
Lighting the charcoals: I use a briquette chimney. Whatever you do, try to avoid using lighter fluid or the presoaked, matchlight charcoal. ( chemicals and taste) If you use a chimney, after the coals are ready, pour them in a pile on the far side of the smoker. Don't spread them out. If you are lighting with fluid, first pile the charcoals on the far side of the smoker and then light them. Keep the coals close together.
Aluminum pan: if you want to catch gravy, place the pan in the bottom of the smoker. You can put pieces of garlic and cut up peppers in the pan now so they will cook with the gravy.
Once the fire is ready and your pan is in place, drain the wood chips, add some dry chips and place them on top of the coals. Put the grill on, Place the chicken on the grill on the side farthest from the coals. Put the chicken on the grill with breast meat up and the "tuches" ("rear end" in Yiddish) is over the aluminum pan, Cover everything with the lid of the smoker, lid vents closed. Position the lid so vents are over the chicken not the coals. If your grill has hinged sides to open (a little fancier grill) then lift up the side that will cover the coals. This grill allows you to add the wood chips at the very end before covering the chicken with the lid so you capture every morsel of wood aroma. This grill also lets you add more coals if needed rather than having to remove the entire grill to add coals. In any case, you should see smoke billowing out from under the lid. If you have a thermometer on the lid you don't want the temperature higher than around 325. The trick is to cook the chicken slowly.
Once the chicken is covered, it is a good time to have a cold beer. Just sit back and relax, the laws of physics are at work. Slightly open the vents to the lid after about 10 minutes of an initial good smoke. Vents on top are used to control and adjust heat as needed. When the vents are first open, you will see the smoke pouring through over the chicken. These top vents are your main control for temperature and speed of smoking. Placing your hand briefly over the open vent will give you a good idea of the heat inside.
The smoking process may take about 2 and a 1/2 to 3 hours. If you are like me, the first few (100) times you will want to periodically see what is happening inside the smoker. Check after a 1/2 hour. Chicken may still look raw but if the heat is there, other than adding wood chips everything is fine. Check again every half hour or so and add coals if needed. Have another beer!
By the second hour, the skin on the chicken should be turning nice and brown, with gravy collecting in the pan. You can press on the skin to see how firm it is getting.
Whatever you do, try not to poke a fork into the skin, First of all, that is the sign of an armature chef; second it really isn't necessary. You can look at the chicken where the leg and thigh join. See if it looks really pink. If it does, it is not ready.
When ready, remove the chicken, lift-off grill, and take out the pan with the gravy.
In other words, all you really need to do is just put the darn chicken on the grill, cover for a few hours, and whallah! Simply delicious smoked chicken!!!
Hopefully, the chicken is moist, tender, and ready to enjoy... with some chilled white
wine or another ice-cold beer.
Siman Tov and Mazal Tov Brooke and Vlad on the wonderful occasion of your wedding!!!
RRK
|
This recipe for RRK's Simply Delicious Smoked Chicken is from