Slow Smoked BBQ Chicken
Bill A.  |  Savannah, GA

Slow Smoked BBQ Chicken

1) Marinate your chicken in a raspberry vinaigrette for 4 hours (keep refrigerated).

2) 1 hour before, light one charcoal chimney. I wanted an initial hot smoker of 350 deg F, so I also laid down about one chimney's worth of charcoal in the firebox. I just threw the hot coals on top of the charcoal and in no time I had a really hot smoker. Too hot actually... I had to crack the lid to get it to cool down some.

3) Soak some wine barrel oak wood chunks in water for 1 hour.

4) Remove from marinade, do not pat dry.

5) Trim extra skin and fat with kitchen shears or scissors. Stretch and wrap skin around and under thighs for a nice presentation.

6) Sprinkle on your favorite rub or make a rub with salt, pepper, chili powder, onion, garlic, and paprika.

7) Place on a grate that you can just carry out and set on top of the grate on your smoker. Insert your probes from your dual probe barbecue thermometer. One goes in a thigh in the thickest part not touching any bone. The other gets clamped to the portable grate.

8) Carry the chicken out to your smoker and place the chicken near the firebox where it is hotter. Insert your probes into the sending unit. Throw two blocks of the soaked wine barrel blocks on the fire.

9) Keep an eye on your internal meat temperature and your smoker temperature. You are not trying to cook it to doneness - just crisp/tenderize the skin.

10) Rotate after 15 minutes so as not to burn the pieces nearest the firebox.

11) Your meat temperature should not get too much over 150 deg F.

12) After 30 minutes at 350 deg F, move the portable grate to the center of your smoker. Reduce the smoker temperature down to 225 deg F and smoke for another 2.5 hours. Add 2-3 wine barrel blocks about every 30 minutes or so. Add more charcoal if you need more heat. Note: you can easily smoke at this stage for 3.5 hours without drying out the chicken. You may even see your internal meat temperature drop during this stage - that's no problem. Just so long as it is above 140 deg F.

13) Rotate the portable grate after 1 hour for more even cooking.

14) If you want, you can glaze with your favorite honey barbecue sauce during the last 30 minutes.

Tip: Do not turn your chicken over. Just use the portable grate to rotate as needed. When you pick up chicken with tongs, you usually damage the skin (with the tongs and sticking to the grate) which makes for a less than optimal presentation. And remember... appearance is part of your score in a competition (and at home). Just trim and wrap the skin nicely and set it on the portable grate and let it firm up without touching it.