The Case of Smoking Chicken in Pieces

Posted on by

Pork hams and brisket tend to dominate the conversation about smoked meat, but smoked chicken is a real treat. The low aromatic heat makes the bird soft and juicy, with lots of flavor and very little work. All you need is chicken, salt, fire, wood and time.

How long you need depends on the size of your bird and how much you prepare it before you put it on the grill. A simple trigger helps speed up the process by flattening the body, but it still takes at least a couple of hours to smoke a five-pound bird, as long as you keep the temperature between 225℉ and 275℉.

Why is it better to smoke chicken in pieces rather than whole

I admit that opening my Weber Kettle to see a beautifully browned whole chicken is fun. Presenting the whole animal makes me feel alive – as if I’ve done something primal – but cutting the chicken into pieces allows you to cook those parts faster and better.

Last holiday weekend, I bought a whole chicken, plus a few legs, as I prefer dark meat over breast, and didn’t want to run out. Individual legs (as expected) cook faster than a whole chicken, more than an hour ahead of it. By the time the big bird was ready to come off the grill, my guests were (somewhat gleefully) full on their feet.

Freaky Grill Toys for Freaky (Gender Neutral) Boys:

Even though I filled the grill from the non-charcoal side, the loose legs browned more evenly than their attached counterparts as they were not protected by the folds and crevices in the bird’s body.

If you love breasts, smashing a bird makes even more sense. Even when folded, with the breast facing away from the coals, white meat and dark meat remained within 10 degrees of each other. I like to cook my thighs at at least 170℉ to give the collagen enough time to turn into silky gelatin, and I keep my breasts at around 155℉ to keep them nice and juicy. It just didn’t happen with the chicken in the jacket. (The chicken breast you see above reached 165℉; it was still good food and was by no means dry, but it wasn’t as wet as it could have been had I opted for the white meat and removed it 10 degrees earlier. .) You don’t have to use a whole bird either. If your family loves thighs, just take thighs. They’ll be ready in no time, and you won’t have to mess around with leftover breasts.

Separate the chicken completely and you can remove each piece when it reaches the ideal temperature. Use a digital thermometer to measure each, and you might be surprised how two similar-looking legs cook at different rates, as each will depend on its size, fat content, and position relative to the coals.

Serving slices may not have the dramatic effect of serving a whole bird, but each one tastes better when cooked at a temperature that suits it, and that’s really the point of it all. (You also don’t have to chop up a whole hot chicken, which makes your life as a host a little easier.)

Plain pieces of smoked chicken

Ingredients:

  • 5 pounds of chicken pieces, whichever you prefer (you can smash the bird yourself or just order what you want from the meat counter.)
  • Coarse kosher salt, 3/4 teaspoon per pound
  • A couple of large pieces of your favorite smoking wood

Season the chicken pieces with salt on all sides and place them on a rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator and let it hang for at least 8 hours, up to 24.

A few hours before you plan to serve the chicken, fill the chimney with coals and set it over a couple of lit cubes of fuel. As soon as the coals stop smoking and the top layer begins to be covered with ash, pour them onto one side of the grill, gathering them as tightly as possible. (I finally used the Slow N’ Sear that was sent to me a few years ago, and it really does make the charcoal pile more manageable.)

Close the charcoal grill and adjust the vents to lower the temperature. Open vents provide more oxygen to the coals, increasing the temperature of your grill. Use an external thermometer for best results, as you can’t rely on the little dial on the top of the grill. Bring the kettle to a boil when the temperature approaches 300℉.

I usually open my grill as soon as the temperature drops below 300℉, then add wood to the coals and cook the chicken. By the time I close it again, the heat built up inside will have evaporated and the temperature will drop somewhere between 225℉ and 275℉, which is just what you need. (Yes, when you open the coals, you expose them to more oxygen, but for such a short period of time, you lose more heat than you gain from this exposure.)

Add firewood to the coals and place a tray on the charcoal grate, under where the chicken pieces will be. Add a kettle of simmering water to a pot or, if using Slow ‘N Sear, add it to a water tank. Place the grill grate over the charcoal grate, stick a few thermometers into the chicken pieces, and place them on the non-charcoal side of the grill. Cover with a lid, making sure the top vent is against the coals so the smoke will have to pass through the chicken to exit the grill.

Cook until the thickest part of the breast reaches an internal temperature of 155℉ and the thickest part of the dark meat reaches an internal temperature of 175℉. This will take at least an hour and a half, but it greatly depends on how hot your grill is, so keep an eye on the ambient temperature and adjust the vents as needed. The longer the chicken is on the grill, the more smoke it will see, so keep it as close to 225℉ as possible if you are a smoker. If you want the skin to be crispy, you can move the pieces to the charcoal side, skin side down, when you reach a temperature that is 10-15 degrees below your target temperature. Serve hot with a sauce of your choice, although smoked chicken doesn’t need a sauce at all.

More…

0
Cooking

Leave a Reply