Smoking Up The Neighborhood For Texarkana

Spring Chicken

Today we start assembling some items to cook in Texarkana on Saturday. 

But before we start, I just had to try out a brain-tart I had during the night - combine a smoked fatty into the Magnum Load's already extensive combination of flavors. 

But, the early morning air outside is heavy and not moving. So it wasn't long before the smoke was obvious to the surrounding area. 

 

 

I'm bad..... 

Spring "I Love The Smell Of Hickory In The Morning" Chicken 
Spring Texas USA

Hotch

Looking forward to trying one of these!

kl8ton

Nice.  How many eggs ya got in that thar coop?

bhedges1987

That little BBQ shack is amazing 

Spring Chicken

kl8ton said:

Nice.  How many eggs ya got in that thar coop?

Thanks...  There's five inside and one outside.  The "Girls" as we call them don't always work at the same time,but when at least one is working, the "Girls Working" light is turned on over the entrance.  One of the "Girls," Lily Large, Circa 1999, is semi-retired and went "Free Range."  She likes it outside the Coop, where she can come and go as she pleases.  Only she never goes anywhere.  It's easier for us to keep track of her.  Here's the video tour if you've never taken it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWXdGDyfTA8&t=3s 

The "Girls" like to show off.

Spring "It Ain't Easy Running A Chicken Ranch For A Bunch Of Green Girls" Chicken

SaintJohnsEgger

Watched your video. Man you have an extreme chicken fetish. Ever thought about franchising that? Maybe I can open up a Chicken Shack in my back yard.

Spring Chicken

SaintJohnsEgger said:

Watched your video. Man you have an extreme chicken fetish. Ever thought about franchising that? Maybe I can open up a Chicken Shack in my back yard.

The Chicken Coop is the result of our becoming Eggheads back in 1999.  The first thing I cooked on my new Big Green Egg was chicken.  Cooked it as hard as a rock because I had no idea what I'd gotten myself into or how to cook on this strange cooker.   But their motto was "World's best smoker and grill" so I figured it would make up for my shortcomings as a backyard charcoal chef.  

A few weeks later I happened on the Egghead Forum and signed up.  Someone suggested I get a 'Handle,' so since I live in Spring Texas and the first thing I cooked on my Egg was Chicken, it seemed reasonable to become Spring Chicken.  And it wasn't long before my Sweetie was dubbed Spring Hen by a fellow Egghead.

But we were not content to just be Spring Hen and Spring Chicken, aka owners of a Big Green Egg.  So we gave our first Egg a name.  She became Lily Large. At the same time we started calling our little .40 acres The Chicken Ranch. Yes, named after the famous (or infamous) Chicken Ranch in LaGrange, Texas, that was very famous in Texas, and soon became famous around the world when the movie "Best Little Whorehouse In Texas" hit the screen.

It's closed now, thanks to Marvin Zindler, a flashy newsman, took up the cause to shut it down in spite of its long and colorful history.  We just decided to try and keep the name alive.

So as the story about our Chicken Ranch spread among our fellow Eggheads, some started bringing or mailing all kinds of chicken memorabilia to join the 'staff' here.  Some of the additions took on a life of their own, with daily and nightly stories that were shared on the forum for a long time.

Meanwhile, when CNN asked for backyard chefs to submit interesting stories about their own backyard cooking adventures, I submitted some information about the Chicken Ranch, the Chicken Coop, the 'Girls' and, of course, the Big Green Egg community.  They immediately wrote to tell me they wanted to do a spinoff story about Eggheads and asked that I submit more information.  I did and they went with the story while we were in Alaska.  But here's the printed version of the story.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/07/09/eggheads.irpt/index.html?iref=24hours

For years, when someone visits the Chicken Ranch, the leave with a token saying, "I've been to the Coop."

There's a lot more to the story but it's best told here at the Chicken Ranch.

Spring "No We Don't Raise Chickens" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Austin Egghead

Keep that smoke up and the whole hood will be knocking on the coop

SaintJohnsEgger

Thanks for the history lesson @Spring Chicken. I was in the Woodlands area for a couple of weeks back in 2010. Love that part of Texas.

Maybe I'll go with a "Pigsty" for my backyard egg area. I like pork better than chicken.  Then again the "Chicken Coop" fits the egg motif better.

EGGjlmh

Looks like the grass on the chicken ranch is already greened up, I'm jealous, looks nice.