Hickory Smoked Half Chickens

[DivotMaker]

Trying something new, for me, today.  I started with 2 4.5 lb "Smart Chicken" brand whole chickens.  If you haven't tried Smart Chicken, you should.  They're minimally-processed, never frozen, and never left in the water baths like most producers do.  They're as close to "organic," or fresh-killed chickens as I've found.  (This concludes a word from our sponsor.  lol. )

I spatchcocked the birds, and then halved them.  They took a dip in my poultry brine for 4 hours, then got rinsed in cold water.  A little olive oil, and Famous Dave's Roast Chicken Rub, then into the smoker with 2.5 oz. of hickory.

I'm trying a new Auber profile, to see it the skin crisps better:

C01  120  E01  t  t01  .5
C02  170  E02  t  t02  .2  (ramping-up the temp to avoid combustion)
C03  230  E03  f  F03  130
C04  325  E04  f  F04  165

I'm taking the halves to 130, then bumping the temp to 325 for the rest of the cook.  I want to see how the skin comes out.  Results to follow!

I used Jeff Phillips' method to halve the chickens.  Check it out on YouTube - not hard.  Basically, you cut out the backbone with kitchen scissors, then cut the cartilage over the keel bone to make them lie flat.  Then, remove the keel bone and separate the halves.  Easy peazy.

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[GeeBee]

Looks like a great plan Tony. I'm anxious to see the results, as my DW loves roasted chicken.

[DivotMaker]

Well, they weren't very pretty (skin shrank a lot), but tasted great.  The programming plan didn't work as I would have liked, either - I had to brown them in the broiler for 5 minutes.  Because they were halves, they cooked in 2.5 hours, so the smoker didn't reach the step to 325 before they were done.  Next time, I'm thinking of trying the whole smoke at 325.  Since chicken doesn't benefit from "low and slow," this may be where the bypassed Auber comes in handy.

All in all, it was a good learning experience, and the end result tasted great - just not the presentation I was hoping for!

[GeeBee]

That's interesting the way the skin behaved. I noticed in your original post your final temp was 165. Was that a typo or is that what you programmed? I agree that the entire cook at 325 may be the way to go.

[DivotMaker]

Final internal temp of 165 (step f04) is correct.  That's what I wanted for a final temp - where I always cook chicken to.

[GeeBee]

Yea I see that now. I must have been dozing when I read it the first time.

[rickne]

I've tried chicken a few different ways recently and can't get crispy skin.  I've given up on it.  I now play the card that "the skin is bad for you". 

My chickens turn out incredible.  The skin is horrible.  So we pull it into chunks.  Very tasty and moist.

[swthorpe]

I remove the chicken halves at 160IT and throw them on the Weber gasser skin side down for a few minutes...seems to crisp up the skin fine.

[DivotMaker]

Good tip, Steve.  I'll try that!