#2 at the beach

[Jackie]

My planned baby back smoke was postponed when we received a free 10 lb butt.  While the pork butt is marinating, I want to try smoking chicken pieces for 17 people.  I have skinless breasts, and legs and thighs with skin.  I have 12 breasts, 8 thighs and 10 legs in the brine now.

It looks like I will need 3 racks.  Any ideas on cooking time and amount of wood for that much chicken.  I will monitor with the maverick and also check each piece with my instant read thermometer.  Should I put the smoker probe on the first shelf?

Thanks for your help.

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[Smokster]

Hi Jackie,

The chicken definitely will not take as much time as the butt, but it will take less wood.  If you use the typical 5-6oz of wood for the butt, you will over smoke the chicken.  If you use, 2oz for the chicken, then you will not have as much smoke flavour for the butt.

I would start with 5-6 oz for the butt and only put the butt in first, then after about 60-90 minutes later, add the chicken. At that point if you notice that there is not enough smoke, just add a slight bit more to the smoker box, but not too much.

It's a bit tricky when smoking two difference sizes do meat at the same time that would typically used different amounts of wood and cooking times.  Good luck and let's us know how it works out for you.

[DivotMaker]

That's a tough smoke, Jackie.  You have two things that smoke vastly different.  Personally, I'd smoke the butt until done, double-wrap in foil and put in the cooler.  Then, while the butt is resting, smoke the chicken parts at 250 with 2 oz of wood.  They won't take longer than 2 hours (at the outside), so they'll be done about the time the butt is finished with its nap in the cooler.  It's always hard doing really dissimilar cuts of meat that require different amounts of wood and temps.  Just my 2-cents.

[swthorpe]

I may be misunderstanding your post, but it sounds like you just plan to smoke the chicken first by itself and then the butt later on.  If that is the case, then 2-3oz of wood for just the chicken will be fine.  If you have bacon, you might want to wrap the boneless breasts to help keep in moisture.   All of the chicken should be done in 2-3 hours, but I think the breasts will finish before the legs and thighs.  I would put a maverick probe in one of the breast and pull those when it hits 165F.   Keep the legs and thighs going, but check periodically with your pen.

[DivotMaker]

Glad Steve's reading comprehension is better than mine today!    I read as you were doing them together!

[Jackie]

I apologize for writing a confusing post. Steve is correct.  They will be separate smokes.

Thanks for the advice.

[bigbassnutt]

I made some chicken wings the other day and used 2 ounces of cherry, cooked at 250 for two and a half hours with a dry rub and they were awesome! The only problem was I didn't make enough lol. I tried the bacon wrapped breasts and they were good too, very moist but the bacon didn't get crispy.

[swthorpe]

Yes, the bacon does not crisp up with the low smoke temp.    One solution is to put the breasts under the broiler or on a hot grill after the breasts reach IT and sear the bacon to crisp it up.   If you want to do this, then it might be best to remove the breasts when they reach 160IT rather than 165 since they will get more cook time on the grill or under the broiler.