Chicken, ..... Split or whole?

[Qczar]

When smoking chickens, is there a benifit to leaving the birds whole or spliting them in half?

I`ve only tried them whole. Would they dry out more split?

Also when placing chicken (or any meat for that matter) in the smoker, does the bottom side of the meat get any more noticable heat or smoke? I could understand keeping the fattier side of the meat up for natural basting. But meat that may be thicker or wider on one side, may want to be placed up or down? I may be spliting hairs here, but I wanna learn as much as possible.

Tomorrow I`ll be doing a few chickens, a half dozen turkey legs, a couple of huge rib racks and a huge pork tender loin. But first I`ll be getting up extra early to smoke 11½ lbs of beef tender loin (sliced into large thick medalions) for a hour or so. Then removing them before they are cooked and freezing them for later grilling. Those have to be good.

BTW, ............. those that live in the Northeast. Acme supermarkets is having a sale on beef tender loin at $7.99 a pound, started today, I think it goes for another week?

Have a great weekend, ............. Xczar

[brdbbq]

When smoking chickens, is there a benifit to leaving the birds whole or spliting them in half?


Spatchcock Mod.

[willkat98]

I think both would be good.

I've done whole, and pieces (not splits). I think (IMO) if the skin is on, you are gonna have some juicy chicken.

Skinless, or exposed pieces, tend to me dryer

[ckkphoto]

chickens split in half are smokier due to better penetration. They also get done quicker ie 1-2 hours at 300. If you pull them when just done you will not notice any loss in moisture, but they will get overdone quicker if you arent watching them. :wink:

[auscos]

Splits will cook faster.

I do not think which side up makes a diff on chix, so I leave the "pretty" side up with the bobey side facing down Makes it look a little better when finished.