SQWIB
Knows what a fatty is.
I was a bit skeptical about smoking drumettes, but my skepticism was soon averted after my first bite.
I decided to Smoke a batch of these as appetizers for the evening along with some ribs that I had promised to make for my nieces birthday dinner that needed to be vacuum sealed and frozen for the following week camping at Knoebels..
It bothers me to half fill a smoker, so I threw on a bunch of onion slices, that were later vacuum sealed and frozen for future cooks.
So lets get started, I rubbed down about 15 or so drumsticks with my basic rub, placed them on the smoker and salted the skin with some (coarse) kosher salt, went a bit heavy on the salt.
After 2 hours on the smoker @ 225° - 250°, I sampled my first Drumstick, WOW, it was delightful, the skin had crisped up nicely, mostly all of the fat had rendered out and it was incredibly tender... yes, fall of the bone tender.
The rub had penetrated the meat nicely and was very flavorful.
The skin had a nice flavor and was salty but not too salty, I wonder if the salt had anything to do with helping the skin crisp up?
I then split the batch in half, placed a hotel pan on the firebox, melted some butter in "Frank's Red Hot", threw the drumsticks in the pan, coated liberally and placed back in the smoker.
I left them in the smoker until the sauce had thickened, shifting the drumsticks often to coat them, making sure not to destroy them. Interestingly enough the skin did not get gummy or rubbery in the sauce, I suppose enough of the fat was rendered from the skin to prevent this... I cant handle rubbery skin!
I suggest Serving the hot ones with some celery sticks and bleu cheese, the heat really creeps up on you, you can also add a cup of Ranch Dressing to the hot sauce to mellow it out a bit.
Serve the mild ones with Ranch Dressing for dipping or your favorite Barbecue Sauce.
These were a huge hit with the entire family.
I am gonna try cutting the heat with some with apple cider and do a batch with some orange juice.
Below are some pics and how I prepared them, I kept it as simple as possible and with doing that, I know I can have some quick appetizers with minimal effort.
Enjoy!
