Not cigarettes, but chicken!
I really didn’t care for the taste of smoked meats.
But my wife and a couple of friends pressed me to try smoked chicken.
I went out and bought an electric smoker and three bags of wood chips: hickory, apple and mesquite.
Two weeks ago I smoked my first chickens – and they were delicious!
I had heard something about smoking being unhealthy.
Then I checked on Google. I discovered that what is not so healthy comes from meat drippings on the charcoal in charcoal-burning smokers. Since my smoker works on water boiling, and chips smoking on lava rocks, I felt reprieved.
I did the thermometer thing – stuck it into the chicken breast – which faces the heating element so that the juices drip down into the breast – actually making it as tender as the dark meat!
The temperature inside the breast reached the recommended 180 degrees (165 degrees is the U.S.D.A. minimum) after about 4 hours. Four chickens – 2 on each rack – cook equally well in the four hours.
The Riveting Question of Why
You don’t need to soak the wood chips – just place them around (not on) the heating element. You don’t need to marinate the chicken – I just rub it with olive oil, garlic powder, lemon pepper and paprika.
Why am I writing this combination smoker review and cookbook? Because I think that what I like, you may like, too.
I am especially motivated to talk about things that I didn’t like, but have changed my mind about. The quite mild aroma and mild smoked taste of the chicken definitely add to the pleasure of devouring these very tender and juicy birds.
Hey, honey! Only 3 more hours until the chickens are done!