How To Smoke a whole Chicken?

KiterTodd

Just occurred to me that I've never smoked a whole chicken.  I've done plenty of spatchcock and wings, but never just tossed the whole bird on for a low and slow.  AND, it seems like something I can put on at lunch and have ready for an early dinner.

So, any tips?

What I gathered from a forum search is indirect at 250, for a few hours.

What temp do you pull it?  I figured I'd stick a probe in the thigh.  Pull it, and keep under foil until we eat.  FTC?

I'm planning to hit it with a quick simple rub.   Anything that involves rubs, other dried spices, oils, vinegars, mustard...I'm all in.  If I have to chop anything, I'll leave that for another cook on another day.     Trying to keep this one simple.

Thanks!!

gdenby

Depending on the chicken, 250F may not get the skin crispy. I've done both capons and stewing chix at 250, and while they come out super smokey, the skin was rubbey.

There are several work arounds. Standard, let the chix sit in the fridge for 12 - 24 hours to dry the skin. Make some herbed butter, and stuff that under as much of the skin as possible. The butter fat will get hot enough to aid crisping. Ramp the temp up at the end to around 400F, about the time the thigh reaches 170F.

I like to put some citrus flavor in the cavity. Lemon or orange peel, lemon grass, etc.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Best simple rub I've found for yard bird is salt pepper granulated garlic- Search the Labbq brisket rub and make that. I always spatch but you can do them whole. If you want crispy skin at 250 you should probably dry in the fridge overnight ad/or dust with a little corn starch when you add the rub. If you add the rub before you dry it, you get the added benefit of dry brining the bird and the salt will dry the skin to make it easier to keep crispy. Another trick for crispy skin at lower temps is to prick little holes in the skin to let the fat render out. It won't affect the juiciness of the bird. 

Hans61

I like the beer can throne rather than placing like a turkey

Carolina Q

I did a couple of quarters and a breast the other day. Experimenting with indirect. Dried overnight and egged between 250-300°. Skin was like leather! Literally. There were some spots I couldn't bite through. YMMV of course, but I won't be doing that again.  

As for a whole bird, nah. Spatch is too easy and too quick to mess with whole. It's true you can stuff a whole one with herbs and citrus etc, but I'll still stick with spatch and a direct cook. Even without stuffing it, you can still put a slice or two of lemon on it. Or sprigs of herbs.

KiterTodd

Hans61 said:

I like the beer can throne rather than placing like a turkey

Oh yeah, I forgot about that method.  It was the first thing I every cooked on my egg.  (but at roasting temps, not low and slow).  

I do have some cheap beer and the thirst to finish half a can.  Maybe I'll do that...

Hans61

Low and slow first hour than raise temp to crisp the skin

KiterTodd

Okay, two chickens on the egg, having a chat over some beers.



If you have any cooking time or temp done tips, I'm all ears.
They're on at 250 with some pecan and cherry.   The rub is corn starch, granulated garlic salt, DP Raging River and DP DD.  Thrown together quick, but I did stick a rosemary sprig in the beer cans. 

lousubcap

Hopefully you drank all the beer and used water for the replacement liquid.  

jtcBoynton

Hopefully you drank all the beer and tossed the cans. 

SciAggie

If you work through the thread there is a lot of good advice from @Darby_Crenshaw
http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1195880/my-first-low-slow-chicken/p1

SteelCitySmoke814

It appears I'm late, but to truly "smoke" them you're right on.  250ish for a few hours (or whenever the thermometer is the right number).  Don't look for crispy skin, but it'll be more like a rotisserie chicken, and there's nothing wrong with that; you'll love it!

SmokeyPitt

Just my $.02 but chicken doesn't hold well in FTC if you want to keep the skin crispy. It is better to try to time the cook and have it come off the egg at dinner. It will still be fine if you do need to hold it and the meat will be good, but the skin will steam. 

I personally haven't found any big advantage in cooking chicken slower so I usually cook at 350ish. Nothing at all wrong with cooking slower, I just didn't see any benefit. 

I think the Montreal Chicken is a great rub. I recently tried this and like it even better:

KiterTodd

Thanks for the tips, folks!  Well, I don't know if the beer cans helped or not (I used to use that method on the old gasser) but they did help two chickens sit up politely for the entire cook and the skin got equally browned all the way around.  So I ended up liking it for positioning at a minimum.

Okay...damn they cooked fast!  I put them on with a stabilized 250 egg, I did a check at less than 90 minutes in and the smaller one was done!  It was reading in the high 160s most places. I decided to bring the temp up to 300 to put a crisp on the skin and try to get the larger chicken to catch up.  Of the two pictures below, the first is before the 300 temp rise and the 2nd is after...





So, I pulled the smaller one, and I did FTC it (loosely) figuring it'd probaby hurt any skin crispness.  But, I wanted to keep it warm until I was back from a hike with my son while the larger one was finishing.

Yes, I left the house (wife was home) and kind of guessed I'd be sacrificing the larger one, but I set the temp low and decided to see what would happen.  The larger one was probably on for another 90 minutes and when I came back it was in the 180s in most places.  Still very juicy when probed.  The skin was deliciously crispy, but the meat was dry.  It'll be better in chicken salad than it was hot.

The smaller one was pretty near perfect.  Skin was not crispy, but meat was moist and flavorful.

I almost pulled the large one to FTC at the same time as the small one.  The breast meat was in the 140s. Other places were 150s.  Some places were 160s.  I did some web searching and the theory was I could have pulled it as sitting in FTC at 140+ degrees still would have killed off anything due to the time.  165 kills instantly, but 135 kills in an hour and 145 kills in about 10 minutes.  That's what the article said anyway.

So, what did I learn?
Smoked chicken is good.
Surprisingly, a 250 indirect chicken took about the same time to cook as a 350 degree spatchcock raised direct.  So...that's a head scratcher.

blind99

Beautiful plate!  Mmmmm....

Mickey

Spatchcocked Turkey and Chicken on the Big Green Egg

(you cut out the backbone and cook opened)

I like a 11/12 lb bird. If I need lots of turkey I just cook a couple ( 1 & 1/2  hr cook app)

Chicken 3 to 3.75lb bird or birds. Under an hour cook. 

Or, just add a package of legs extra. 

I do not brine the turkey or Chicken. 

If time I like to leave uncovered in the fridge overnight (no problem if no time) 

I cook "direct" @ 400/425 on a raised grill "skin side up" and never turn over.

I will use a coffee rub. Use what you like.

NOTE PLEASE (A LOT OF SMOKE IS NOT YOU FRIEND)

I use about a single handfull of mixed chips: Cherry & Pecan. 

Cook Turkey to temp (not time) breast @ 155/160 and thigh @ 165.

Cook Chicken to temp breast 160.

Rest both 10 mins.

 

Coffee Rub (turkey, chicken, beef & pork)

Equal part: Instant Expresso Ground coffee..

Equal part: Brown Sugar..

½ part: Black Pepper..

½ part: Kosher Salt..

½ part: Garlic Powder..

¾ part: Ancho Chili Powder..

  Don't worry on exact, just close on measurement. I used to use turbinado sugar but we like with brown better. This is pulled from MollyShark, Hungry Man, & Richard In Fl then tweaked. I find the ancho chili powder is far less expensive in the bulk spice area than the bottled area ( have used both light or dark version). I make it starting with a half cup Instant Expresso Ground coffee and work from there as it seems to store well if sealed.

Hans61

I'm surprised at how fast it cooked too! learned something thank you! It's been a long time since I've done that cook