Smoked Chicken

One of the things that we miss about being stationed in Italy is going to BeFeds for some chicken. I was stationed at Aviano in 1996 when it first opened. I am tinkering with different kinds of rubs, and decided to smoke the chicken as well in the wine barrel. BeFeds chicken is roasted on racks that rotate over a grill. First the rub.

Today I tried the following spices mixed together. I got the recipe from here.  I mixed all the ingredients and rubbed them on the birds.  One batch was just enough to cover two whole chickens.



2-Tsp Paprika
1-Tsp Cayenne
2-Tsp Garlic Powder
1-Tsp Mustard Powder
1-Tbsp Chili Powder
1-Tsp Salt
1/4-Tbsp Cumin
1-Tsp Onion Powder

 I usually buy the chickens whole, they are cheaper that way.  I use some poultry shears to cut the birds along each side of the backbone and then done the center of the breast.  Now you have two halves.

This is about 3 hours in.

Next you put the rub on the halves.  I like to start with the bottom, then flip them over and do the top.  If you have the equipment, you can also put the rub under the skin with an injector.

Set up your smoker.  My wine barrel is set up with a propane burner.  My target temperature for the smoker is 225 degrees.  The time will depend on your smoker and maintaining the temperature.  It should take 4-6 hours.  I check it periodically and smoke until a thermometer reads 180 degrees when inserted in the thigh.  After about three hours of smoking, I spritz the birds with some olive oil to get the skin crisp.

This is just before I take them off, 5 and half hours.

Today it took five and half hours to smoke our birds.  They smell wonderful and taking a rest from their ordeal until we eat them.  Too bad I don't have smello-vision on this blog!  I made a celery salad to go with it.  The recipe for the celery salad can be found here.

Okay, I am hungry... ciao ciao!