When Winter Strikes, Smoke a Chicken
(Food • Recipes)
Because, why not?
OK, most of me knew it was too good to be true, this false spring we’ve been living in. But I kept a sliver of hope alive, since dashed, that this would be the earliest spring ever here in the Semi-Subtropics of Semi-South Texas.
But of course winter slapped back, just the way it likes to do this time of year, just after the first tender leaves and too-early buds swell, hoping the coast is clear. Instead, a north wind is gusting up to 25 miles an hour and yesterday’s 80s are about to become tonight’s 34 degrees, with a re-run Sunday night.
So I’ll be hauling the fanciest of the tender hibiscus plants back inside the house at least one more time, and dragging a few awakening plumeria back in the garage. The wind started whipping up pretty good on vegetable seedlings I had outside hardening off, so I’ve already hauled them back upstairs under the lights.
But all drudgery and no joy makes for a suck Saturday. So to desuckify the situation, I’ll be smoking a chicken between plant hauling.
Here’s how:
First, make a rub in a small bowl. The ingredients can vary to your whim, but I suggest a generous handful of brown sugar as a base. Today I used probably three tablespoons of Old Bay seasoning (celery salt, hot pepper, black pepper and other spices – good stuff and little or no unpronounceable substances), a couple of tablespoons of ground sage, a little oregano, garlic powder and onion powder, plus a tablespoon or two of chili powder.
Stir the ingredients together well.
Start with a fresh chicken, remove the neck and giblets from the body cavity, rinse and boil them gently in a little water seasoned with oregano, salt and pepper for a breakfast snack or to make gravy later.
Rinse out the cavity and wash the chicken well in cold water. Pat dry with paper towels, and set the chicken on a cutting board.
Spoon the rub over the back of the chicken and work it into the skin by patting it with the flat of your hand. Put a couple of tablespoons in the cavity. Turn the chicken over and work some more of the rub into the skin on the breast side of the bird. Loosen the skin over the breast, and put two or three tablespoons of rub under the skin, directly on the breast meat. Today I cut up about half of a medium onion and stuffed the pieces into the cavity for extra flavor. Sometimes I will cut up a lemon and use that instead. Cover the chicken with wax paper and put it in the refridgerator while you get the smoker and fire ready.
I try to smoke the chiken at the far end of the smoker away from the firebox, at about 250 degrees, starting with a mesquite charcoal fire and feeding it with pecan wood for four to six hours, depending on the fire. (A wood fire never seens to burn the same way twice, even if you’re using the same wood on the same smoker.) Put the bird breast-side down, so the cooking juices from the meat gather in the breast and keep it moist and tasty.
After a couple of hours, check the color of the chicken. Let it get dark, but not black. When it looks really good, you can cover it loosely with aluminum foil, but leave the bottom open.
After three and a half or four hours, you can let the fire cool down some, but leave the bird on there until the legs move very easily in the joints. After the drumsticks are really loose, remove the chicken from the smoker and bring it inside. Keep it covered with the foil for 10 minutes to cool down.
I can pretty much guarantee that if you follow these directions, the chicken will be delicious.
As a possibly unnecessary footnote that I will go ahead and mention anyway, use good sense and wash your hands before and after working with raw chicken, each step of the way. There’s already enough salmonella et.al. floating through the factory food chain without you falling prey to your own poor sanitary practices, eh?
→ B.Dunn, Feb 28, 2009, 09 41 am
