Soo Chef

DynaGreaseball

My neighbor has a house guest who is a chef. He is fascinated with my egg. He's going to cook a chicken (boneless, skinless), Johnsonville Sausage, pasta dish tonight. He said he wants me to smoke the chicken and the sausage on my egg tonight.[p]I know what to do with the chicken, but how long, and what temp do I do the Johnsonville (uncooked) sausages at? They're about 1-1/2 inch in dia. maybe 5 or 6 inches long.[p]I plan on 300° for the chicken. Can I use that same temp for the sausage? All I've got is Jack Daniels wood chips and hickorey. I figure the hickory's too strong.[p]Any suggestions?

EggspertMN

DynaGreaseball,
Use the Hickory. the Jack Daniels will be too strong IMHO. The sausages will be fine at the same temp. If the chicken is skinless, you might want to consider a brine so it doesn't get too dry. in any case, use indirect method for both. [p]On the other hand, you can also grill with smoke. same temp, direct method, and a little shorter time. Ask your Chef friend what he prefers.

thirdeye

<p />DynaGreaseball,[p]There are two schools of thought when cooking fresh sausages. One is to simmer in liquid, usually beer, and then finish on the grill. The other method is to grill and then hold in liquid or at least spray them down to avoid wrinkling of the skin.[p]In something like a pasta dish, (I'm guessing they will be sliced on the bias) I think I would opt for the latter, and keep them as colorful as possible, especially if there will be some colorful vegetables or tomatoes in the dish as well. You will get a nice snap to the skin too.[p]300° will be fine. After the second turn, watch for them plump up. Rotate them or ramp down the temp so they will cook but not spit or split. Your goal is to keep as many of the juices in them as possible. An internal of 160° or 170° will be fine. When you remove them a spray or dunk in cold water will reduce the chances of wrinkling of the casing. Or you can hold in a pan of warm liquid.[p]~thirdeye~

DynaGreaseball

thirdeye,[p]Sounds perfect. I do the chicken for about 15/20 mins per side, direct. Say...35 minutes total. I'm guessing I should put the sausage on about 30 minutes before the chicken to get to 160/170°...Ya think?[p]What if I just use water to stop the skin from wrinkling? How long?

SyraQ

DynaGreaseball,
Hope you're kidding about calling him a soo chef. That would be sous-chef!
Kind of insulting if he really is a chef at all.[p]

thirdeye

DynaGreaseball,[p]I think your times are long, especially if the grate is in the normal position. Raised direct requires a bit more time but allows more control too.[p]But that is neither here nor there. Since you are cooking both meats to be added to the pasta dish later, just cook them until done. (confirm this with the chef ...it's his baby at this point. He may want both of them slightly under cooked) Then they can reheat either with the pasta or could be warmed in the microwave.[p]~thirdeye~

DynaGreaseball

SyraQ,[p]NO NO, I was the sous chef. He asked me to prepare the meat for his masterpiece. I was just kidding about the spelling. In fact I'm not even qualified to be a real sous chef. Guess my humor was kinda lame anyway.[p]Here's his final concoction. It was fantastic. The chicken and sausage were smoked just right....I was proud because the egg really did its job![p][p]Thanks to the sages for their usual excellent suggestions and advice.

thirdeye

DynaGreaseball,[p]Hey pal, you're not getting off that easy...how about the recipe for that? It looks right up my alley. That is spinach is it not?[p]~thirdeye~

DynaGreaseball

thirdeye,[p]That's exactly what he wanted. Turns out that the sausage arrived at it's temperature at exactly the same time that the chicken breasts were firmed up. The sausage was really juicy, as was the chicken. He only subjected it to a small amount of additional cooking, so it was just as he wanted it. [p]Tomorrow, he wants to go with me to the market to get some fryers to experiment with...mostly with fast cooking at high temps. I think we have a new Egg enthusiast. [p]By the way, now I'm hooked on sausages. Wish I had taken some pix of my part. [p]Thanks again.

thirdeye

<p />DynaGreaseball,[p]If he's not hooked now, he will be tomorrow. The above chicken had a mayonnaise slather on it. Below, I cooked it under a weight. In this case my pizza stone wrapped in foil, with a brick on top. Really crisp skin.[p][p]Sausages are one of the things that are overlooked by many. Until they taste some really good ones.[p]~thirdeye~

DynaGreaseball

thirdeye,[p]I'll have to get the exact recipe tomorrow. He cooked yellow tomatoes and combined them with some little onion (I never heard of) and fava beans, mushrooms and butter, maybe some other stuff. He poured it over the gemelli pasta. Then my bite sized chicken and sausages topped with fresh cut basil and spinich. Can't remember the name of the cheese. It wasn't what he originally wanted, but it was all he could find at the market this afternoon. It was great anyway.[p]Quite simple and elegant.[p]All served with a new world chardonnay.

thirdeye

DynaGreaseball,[p]Looking forward to checking it out.[p]~thirdeye~