From: "A. Kesteloo" >
Subject: smoked chicken this weekend
Date: Sunday, December 17, 2006 4:02 PM

Hi there,

I smoked some meat this weekend, and tried some chicken as well. I
thought I let you know about it.
I used two small chickens (1 kg each)

Brine:
3.5 liter water
5 oranges (juice)
3 lemons (juice)
2 limes (juice)
rinds from the oranges, lemons and limes
5 gloves of garlic
1 union diced
30 grams chilli powder
150 grams of salt

(yes, it looks like hound's brine)

Leave the chickens in the brine overnight.
Put some slices of orange under the skin with some butter

Smoke for 3 to 3.5 hours at 100/120 degrees Celsius till the internal
temp is about 70/75 degrees Celsius (breast),

Glaze:
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup orange marmalade
Honey

Put the glaze on 15 minutes before it is done.
Let the chickens rest for about 10 minutes before eating

My smoker uses wood only (oak). I was surprised that the smoke flavor
was not to powerful, but nice and delicate. The ribs I did as well had
much more smoke flavor. I think it has to do with the chicken skin.

For the chickens, the above method is good. When using bigger birds, I
think you should inject or brine for a longer period.

We only had one bird, and reheated the second one the next day in an
oven. It was a bit dryer, but still good


Adriaan
the Netherlands

PS: normaly the skin of the chicken is like rubber when you smoke at
low temp. I put on some extra wood at the end to get the temp up to
175/185 degrees Celsius. skin was good to eat.