Re: [CH] OT: smoker questions (fwd)
Ted Wagner (trwagner1@yahoo.com)
Tue, 22 Jun 2010 04:34:27 -0700 (PDT)
Jim, I usually use a whole chicken (or turkey).
What I have learned over the years (and several BADLY smoked chickens) is for low and slow smoking with skin on, you don't need all that much wood for the smoke. Many people put way too much wood on to create the smoke. This results in a lot of carbon build up on the skin and it's just nasty looking and doesn't taste good.
I always use chunk charcoal whever possible and only use a 2-3 chunks of wood. When I had an offset smoker with a firepit, I used real wood instead of charcoal.
The preference is yours. If you use the indirect heat method, on a standard webber grill, you probably would be good to start out with skinless meat. But, it'll cook much faster. The biggest benefit to whole chicken I have found is the chicken doesn't have the tendancy to dry out.
Unlike the bark that develops on pork and beef with rub, it's just quite inedible on chicken meat. :(
Ted