6 Chicken Brine and Smoke (Pron)

G'Day Bruces'.

I've had this one in the can for a while now. I did this about the time the Po'Boy TD was running.

I'm interested to know why more whole chicken is not Q'd on the forum. Is it because it is not commonly done in the US, or is it done a lot, but just not shown... I'd like to know.

For me, a whole BBQ Chicken is the best there is. Since joining the forum and learning how to brine.. (Something that is a lost art in Australia), I've found that BBQ'ing whole chicken with stuffing like this is truly awesome.

First... the brine... sorry, no recipe..:heh::heh:. I'm on my way to perfecting this for my tastes. No point in giving it out until I'm happy with it.



The chickens were brined for about 10 hours. They are all large chickens... about 1.8 kilos each... or about 4 Lbs.

Here they are all done:


3 Chickens I dusted with Zanterains Creole Seasoning:


And 3 I dusted with... Steph's magic Cherry Rub, sent to me by SmokeJumper. I'm now out BTW... (Hint,Hint).....



Then onto the COS, which I am really getting good at using!


Now, I'm gonna lay a whole lot of pron in here.....

FARK this tasted as good as it looks....





Errrr... it was a while ago, but I think I ran this at about 250F up to an internal of about 160 ish. Brined Chicken does not have to go as hot as un-brined chicken. This means extra juicyness, and also because it's cooked whole, with stuffing, the surface area is a lot less, resulting in a much more succulent offering... s'cuse me if I'm getting too technical... but the bigger the chicken, the less is the surface area to mass ratio, and this makes a big difference when retaining moisture. The stuffing also steams on the inside and contributes to the moisture retention.

When I got them off the COS.... they looked like this...







And some kids enjoying the result.... Yes, the skin was "bite through"..



Now, the family didn't eat all 6 chickens... I gave 2 away to neighbours who came a knocking and wondered what the delicious smell was. The rest made sandwiches for the family for the whole week... and no complaints from the kids until it was all gone!

Thanks for looking!

Cheers!

Bill

Grabnabber said:

Nice work! :thumb:

What did you stuff them with?

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Ahh, sorry, no pics of that. I make the stuffing from scratch. My Mum and Dad owned a delicatessen when I was growing up, and they did an Aussie version of a BBQ Chicken. They were the best at it, but they didn't know about brining. I still use their stuffing recipe though... well, not exactly how they did it.

I don't make stuffing for 1 chicken. I make stuffing for lots of chickens. You can make a lot of stuffing and then roll it into balls and freeze if you do not have enough chicken to stuff. BUT.... if you have a massive JOS... you might need to make a lot more than this...

1 Loaf Sour Dough Bread, cut into chunks.
1 Medium size onion, chopped.
100 to 200 grams bacon.. damn.... can't you guys get with the real wold and go metric.... Fark it... a good fistful...
1 tablespoon Mixed Spice
1 tsp Fresh Ground Pepper
2 tsp Celery Salt
1 Egg
Water just to bind, not to make "wet"

Cut up the bread and place in a blender or food processor. Add all the other dry ingredients and just pulse roughly. I do all this by hand in a big aluminium bowl...

Once mixed, add your own fresh herbs.. and mix again. I love lots of fresh Thyme, Parsley...etc

Then stuff into the chicken and you can't go wrong!

Cheers!

Bill

Mister Bob said:

Beautiful birds, very nicely done!

I also love to BBQ whole chickens. It's a case of the whole being so much more than the sum of it's parts (or something like that). I guess you don't see very much about chicken on the forum because it's not considered as sexy (difficult?) as doing a whole brisket, and well there's nothing better than a nice rack, and who doesn't like a nice butt? (puns intended of course) But I put BBQ chicken right up there with the rest. They taste great, and make a great canvas for experimenting with different flavor combinations.

Again, congratulations on a job well done!:thumb::clap2:

Click to expand...

Thanks Mister Bob... I think you and me could get together if there was not the Pacific Ocean in the way!

Cheers!

Bill