This week from the smoker. . .
May. 31st, 2009 05:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mellymellMy in-laws came up/over for lunch for my father-in-law's birthday. Chris smoked three chickens and they turned out fantastically! We brined them last night in pretty much the same mixture as last week's pork loin, except I added some mustard seed and coriander seed to it, left out the brown sugar and added more water and vinegar to cover the three chickens (so it was probably not as potent a mixture, salt and sugar wise, but still seemed to do the trick).
This morning when we pulled them out of the brine to get them ready for the smoker, I made a spice rub to put under the skin. This consisted of some brown sugar, chili powder, salt, pepper, fresh thyme, coriander and fennel ground. As noted, I rubbed the meat under the skin with this mixture. Then Chris coated them liberally with olive oil so the skins would brown nicely. He also sprayed them down during cooking with some of the oatmeal stout we're trying to get rid of right now (it's been on tap too long and way past its prime). They came out awesome! Granted, I didn't try any of the breast meat and Chris said it was a little dry, but the dark meat was so good and juicy and smokey. We didn't have a standard photo shoot of the food like we usually do, but snagged a quick blurry shot before I tore two of the three birds to pieces to serve (we reserved one to make chicken salad this week):
We made a barbecue sauce (rough approximation of a recipe below) and a Big Bob Gibson's sort of white sauce, which I'm to understand is a North Alabama phenomenon (Note: I understand there are white barbecue sauces elsewhere and I've had them here in Nashville, but they're not the same and I'm reluctant to describe this one any further because knowing what's in it makes it sound gross, but it's great on smoked poultry.) We of course accompanied this with our now very standard sour cream potato salad and some baked beans.
For dessert, I made my first cake that wasn't a custard pie [cheesecake] or a muffin [carrot cake]. I'm glad I didn't attempt the coconut cake on my first try. Not that what I did was terribly difficult. It's just that I didn't need the added difficulty of cracking open fresh coconuts and making my own milk, cream and extract from them. I'm kind of disappointed I didn't because I doubt Chris will give me carte blanche again to do one anytime soon and I'm certainly not eating a whole coconut cake myself. I made a fudge cake instead (the one in Alton Brown's baking cookbook). It's so chocolaty and moist and awesome! The icing recipe that goes with it came out like mousse. Very whipped and fluffy and very chocolaty too (used 6.5 oz. of chocolate and, I'm just not going to list the other ingredients because I don't even want to think about what else I put in it). I was really very happy with how it turned out and I'm saying that as someone who's not a huge fan of chocolate, especially chocolate cake. Ok, so I like really good chocolate (like 70% cocoa or better), but if given the choice, I'll choose other flavors over it, especially fruit flavors. But, anyway here's how it came out:
A rough approximation of the barbecue sauce recipe:
1 small can of tomato sauce
Worcestershire sauce
Oatmeal stout (more of that stuff we were trying to get rid of but no idea how much of it)
Minced garlic
2 chipotles, seeded and chopped plus about a tablespoon of adobo
maple syrup
fresh thyme
black pepper
liquid smoke
white vinegar
I'm not sure what sort of other spices I dumped in, I was in a hurry to get it on the stove and cooking and just threw in what seemed appropriate. Simmer all this on medium heat until it reduces into a thick sauce. Then puree if desired.
This morning when we pulled them out of the brine to get them ready for the smoker, I made a spice rub to put under the skin. This consisted of some brown sugar, chili powder, salt, pepper, fresh thyme, coriander and fennel ground. As noted, I rubbed the meat under the skin with this mixture. Then Chris coated them liberally with olive oil so the skins would brown nicely. He also sprayed them down during cooking with some of the oatmeal stout we're trying to get rid of right now (it's been on tap too long and way past its prime). They came out awesome! Granted, I didn't try any of the breast meat and Chris said it was a little dry, but the dark meat was so good and juicy and smokey. We didn't have a standard photo shoot of the food like we usually do, but snagged a quick blurry shot before I tore two of the three birds to pieces to serve (we reserved one to make chicken salad this week):
We made a barbecue sauce (rough approximation of a recipe below) and a Big Bob Gibson's sort of white sauce, which I'm to understand is a North Alabama phenomenon (Note: I understand there are white barbecue sauces elsewhere and I've had them here in Nashville, but they're not the same and I'm reluctant to describe this one any further because knowing what's in it makes it sound gross, but it's great on smoked poultry.) We of course accompanied this with our now very standard sour cream potato salad and some baked beans.
For dessert, I made my first cake that wasn't a custard pie [cheesecake] or a muffin [carrot cake]. I'm glad I didn't attempt the coconut cake on my first try. Not that what I did was terribly difficult. It's just that I didn't need the added difficulty of cracking open fresh coconuts and making my own milk, cream and extract from them. I'm kind of disappointed I didn't because I doubt Chris will give me carte blanche again to do one anytime soon and I'm certainly not eating a whole coconut cake myself. I made a fudge cake instead (the one in Alton Brown's baking cookbook). It's so chocolaty and moist and awesome! The icing recipe that goes with it came out like mousse. Very whipped and fluffy and very chocolaty too (used 6.5 oz. of chocolate and, I'm just not going to list the other ingredients because I don't even want to think about what else I put in it). I was really very happy with how it turned out and I'm saying that as someone who's not a huge fan of chocolate, especially chocolate cake. Ok, so I like really good chocolate (like 70% cocoa or better), but if given the choice, I'll choose other flavors over it, especially fruit flavors. But, anyway here's how it came out:
A rough approximation of the barbecue sauce recipe:
1 small can of tomato sauce
Worcestershire sauce
Oatmeal stout (more of that stuff we were trying to get rid of but no idea how much of it)
Minced garlic
2 chipotles, seeded and chopped plus about a tablespoon of adobo
maple syrup
fresh thyme
black pepper
liquid smoke
white vinegar
I'm not sure what sort of other spices I dumped in, I was in a hurry to get it on the stove and cooking and just threw in what seemed appropriate. Simmer all this on medium heat until it reduces into a thick sauce. Then puree if desired.
