My 30 Hour Chicken

thirdeye · Jun 14, 2020

On my last shopping day the market had fryers on sale so I bought a 6# one to do a wet cure and double smoke. I did my standard front and back half butchering and brined both halves in a gallon of curing brine for 24 hours. Basic mix of salt, sugar, black pepper and Cure#1.

After curing I let the skin dry for 2 hours in the fridge, then cold smoked it in my Big Chief for 2 hours and finally finished it in my BGE at 250° which took another 2 hours. I pulled the breast at 160°, and the dark half at 185°. My intent was to chill the breast and use for sandwiches, so we had some of the dark meat with dinner last night, and I tried a cold sandwich for lunch. The moistness and tenderness was good, the cure changes the texture slightly and does give it the slight pink color. Surprisingly, the smoky flavor could have been a little harder. But all in all for a $6 chicken I was pleased.

Stingerhook · Jun 14, 2020

Looks mighty fine.

cowgirl · Jun 14, 2020

Looks delicious!

Big George's BBQ · Jun 14, 2020

Dry nice Wayne. You entering that in the Yardbird TD

airedale · Jun 14, 2020

I guess I have lived a sheltered life; never heard of curing chicken. Did you cure just so you could safely cold smoke, or ?? How was the skin?

mbt · Jun 14, 2020

looks great. Congrats

thirdeye · Jun 14, 2020

Big George's BBQ said:
Dry nice Wayne. You entering that in the Yardbird TD

Heck, I recommended that to someone's else the other day, so sure. My entries usually round out the field. :biggrin1:

airedale said:
I guess I have lived a sheltered life; never heard of curing chicken. Did you cure just so you could safely cold smoke, or ?? How was the skin?

Okay, think of brining and smoking a turkey, but in my case I added cure to the brine because I was going to cold smoke it, I wanted a tighter texture (think sliced turkey breast from the deli) and the salt and sugar brings some moisture to the party, just like it does in a brine that does not have cure. And the cure adds some pinkness to the meat. You can also cook to a slightly lower temperature in the breast. I take the dark meat way up there, so that's not a factor.

Skin on lower temp smoked turkey and chicken is always an issue. I prefer to dry in the fridge overnight, or even 24 hours which helps. The addition of the cure lets me do that without any worries. Usually the skin on a smoked turkey or chicken isn't crispy, but you can help it along. The hot smoke part of the cook can be done at higher temps and the skin will get a better texture. One thing I do on most all chicken is puncture the skin so some of the fats can cook out. A Jaccard is okay but awkward, the easiest tool is a sausage pricker. I have a three needle pricker (oh, brother...:twitch

and I give chicken skin a workover.

Shiz-Nit · Jun 15, 2020

Looking good

pmad · Jun 15, 2020

Looks great. Although the smaller of the two reminds me of some space-age fighter jet

Pife · Jun 15, 2020

I like the way you butchered that bird into white/dark meat. I'm going to try that next time I do a whole chicken.

thirdeye · Jun 15, 2020

pmad said:
Looks great. Although the smaller of the two reminds me of some space-age fighter jet

Hehehee. Now that you mention it.... it kind of does.

Pife said:
I like the way you butchered that bird into white/dark meat. I'm going to try that next time I do a whole chicken.

I do turkeys and rock hens the same way. It's super easy, just make two cuts on the the loose skin between the leg and the body. Skin only, don't cut into any meat. When you reach the backbone (pelvis), pick the bird up and crack it with your hands, then one small cut in that area will separate the halves. You can trim up the ribs and the sharp areas on the thighs. But the best thing is, you'll never overcook the white meat again.

gtr · Jun 15, 2020

Love that! I'm gonna have to give that a shot 'cuz I just got about 2# of insta #1 for a cheaper price than the smaller amt. I usually get - so it's time to be curing some stuff!

I'm in no way OCD, but seeing those legs above the breasts on the grill is kinda making me go :twitch:! :laugh:

Great stuff - thanks for posting!

thirdeye · Jun 15, 2020

gtr said:
Love that! I'm gonna have to give that a shot 'cuz I just got about 2# of insta #1 for a cheaper price than the smaller amt. I usually get - so it's time to be curing some stuff!

I'm in no way OCD, but seeing those legs above the breasts on the grill is kinda making me go :twitch:! :laugh:

Great stuff - thanks for posting!

I used a variation of Pop's Brine. Below is the standard recipe and I'll put my notes in BLUE. As long as you keep the amount of cure constant, you can tickle the salt and sugar. I like to add cracked pepper, and for bacon the sweetness works fine, but I don't like chicken sweet so I reduce the sugar. You can make a 1/2 batch if you are just brine curing pieces.

For brining or soak-outs on bacon or corned beef..... I use a 2.5 gallon zipper bag in a 2 gallon food safe plastic bucket. Ask at your local market in the deli section or bakery section. They get things like potato salad, and cake icing in 2 gallon buckets and will sell them to you for $1 or so. I got the lids for mine but rarely use them.

POP'S CURING BRINE – (One gallon of water should handle up to 12#’s of bacon of a large chicken depending on the container)

For every 1 gallon of water (consider bottled water), add:

1/3 to 1 cup sea salt (I use canning salt because it dissolves easier in room temperature water. It is finer than sea salt or Kosher salt. 1/3 cup (100 grams) of canning salt will be very mild on the saltiness. Using 1/2 cup of canning salt would be my upper limit for chicken or turkeys. )

1 cup white granulated sugar or Splenda (for chicken I only use 20 grams, which is a heaping tablespoon)

1 cup brown sugar or Splenda brown sugar mix (for chicken I only use 20 grams, which is a heaping tablespoons)

1 heaping Tbsp cure #1 (20 grams)

Stir thoroughly until clear amber color, pour over meat, inject some cure if meat is over 2" thick and this will cure from inside-out as well as outside-in.

Recommended cure time for whole chickens is 2 to 3 days. (24 hours works well for quarters and halves, but 48 hours also works for halves or whole birds. I like to rest uncovered in the fridge at least overnight to dry out the skin, with this low strength brine you will NOT overcure anything.)

BillN · Jun 16, 2020

Everything about that looks looks amazing.

Robert · Jun 16, 2020

thirdeye said:
I used a variation of Pop's Brine. Below is the standard recipe and I'll put my notes in BLUE. As long as you keep the amount of cure constant, you can tickle the salt and sugar. I like to add cracked pepper, and for bacon the sweetness works fine, but I don't like chicken sweet so I reduce the sugar. You can make a 1/2 batch if you are just brine curing pieces.

For brining or soak-outs on bacon or corned beef..... I use a 2.5 gallon zipper bag in a 2 gallon food safe plastic bucket. Ask at your local market in the deli section or bakery section. They get things like potato salad, and cake icing in 2 gallon buckets and will sell them to you for $1 or so. I got the lids for mine but rarely use them.

POP'S CURING BRINE – (One gallon of water should handle up to 12#’s of bacon of a large chicken depending on the container)

For every 1 gallon of water (consider bottled water), add:

1/3 to 1 cup sea salt (I use canning salt because it dissolves easier in room temperature water. It is finer than sea salt or Kosher salt. 1/3 cup (100 grams) of canning salt will be very mild on the saltiness. Using 1/2 cup of canning salt would be my upper limit for chicken or turkeys. )

1 cup white granulated sugar or Splenda (for chicken I only use 20 grams, which is a heaping tablespoon)

1 cup brown sugar or Splenda brown sugar mix (for chicken I only use 20 grams, which is a heaping tablespoons)

1 heaping Tbsp cure #1 (20 grams)

Stir thoroughly until clear amber color, pour over meat, inject some cure if meat is over 2" thick and this will cure from inside-out as well as outside-in.

Recommended cure time for whole chickens is 2 to 3 days. (24 hours works well for quarters and halves, but 48 hours also works for halves or whole birds. I like to rest uncovered in the fridge at least overnight to dry out the skin, with this low strength brine you will NOT overcure anything.)

Like the premise of the brined chicken and the 2 gallon bucket idea. Would this be the same brine for bacon and corned beef?

Thanks,

Robert

Jrogers84 · Jun 16, 2020

Looks great! I recently picked up a Chief smoker. Havnt used it yet. What is your cold smoke process?

Smokin Dawg77 · Jun 16, 2020

Looking great as always bro !

thirdeye · Jun 16, 2020

Robert said:
Like the premise of the brined chicken and the 2 gallon bucket idea. Would this be the same brine for bacon and corned beef?

Thanks,

Robert

Yes. Pop's Brine can be used to cure a variety of meats. It's been around quite some time. Pop's Father owned a custom meat store that sold bacon and hams using this recipe, only in much larger volumes... like 55 gallon barrels. I came across it online 10+ years ago while doing research for low salt or LiteBrine I was experimenting with. For dietary reasons, Pop's was experimenting with lower salt and sugar versions, so those are out there as well. Below are the suggested curing times for other meats. As a discussion point, there are stronger curing brines which do require weighing of water and meat as well as precise calculations and measuring of Cure #1. I prefer dry curing of bacon and corned beef, so that option is on the table as well.

Curing times vary with meat, but generally overnight to 2-3 days for chickens and turkeys, 8-10 days buckboard bacon, 10-14 days belly bacon, pork shoulder, whole butts, 3-4 weeks whole hams, 10-20 days corned beef (fresh beef roasts, briskets, rolled rib roasts, etc.) If whole muscle is more than 2" thick, then inject so it can cure i/o as well as o/i, and/or in and around bone structures, etc. These times can be extended as over-curing will not begin for 30 to 40 days, and the result would be mushy meat.

JVM59 · Jun 16, 2020

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!
I’m always impressed with your cooks.

thirdeye · Jun 16, 2020

Jrogers84 said:
Looks great! I recently picked up a Chief smoker. Havnt used it yet. What is your cold smoke process?

I'm sure you will enjoy it, I've used them for 45 years. Mostly hot smoking trout, salmon, or bacon. And I cold smoking cured items like bacon, sausage, chicken, or turkey. There is a lot of room in these smokers and you can hang things from the top of the frame. When the conditions are perfect, I can get smoker temps of 180° to 200°, so don't attempt smoking a pork butt or brisket. I always finish chicken or turkey on another cooker, or the oven. Hot smoked bacon is taken to 145° and is fully cooked. Cold smoked bacon is finished at 130°, so it needs cooked. Sausage with cure needs 155° and sometimes I have to move it to a low oven to get the last 6 or 8 degrees.

So, back to your question. Ideally, cold smoking uses smoker temps below 80° and we're usually talking meat that has been cured because this is your safety factor. For bacon I like the smoker temp to be no more than 55°. The hotplate in the Chief smokers has no control, so you need to regulate the fuel (I prefer pellets over the wood chips) and regulate the draft. Sometimes just having the lid ajar will keep the smoker cooler. Other times I block the lid open, and add some weight so it does not blow off. When I did this chicken it was all I could do to keep the smoker temp around 100°, so I only cold smoked it for 2 hours then moved it to my Egg which was at 250° to finish it off. Technically I had a larger window for using lower smoker temps, but brine cured chicken has a different flavor, texture and is very moist so I'm after those things. My total cooking time was right at 4 hours which gave another layer of safety.

My 30 Hour Chicken

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