Chicken Today!

[CarlosJ]

I've been neglecting my little dude for a while, so today I'm doing a whole chicken.  I made some Texas caviar to go with it.  If you've never tried it, and you like black eyed peas, you owe it to yourself to try it.  It's really good. This is a good recipe.  I omit the Tabasco, as I think it's totally unnecessary:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/patrick-and-gina-neely/texas-caviar-recipe.html

Anyway...

- 7.5lb chicken
- Brining in 8 cups of water, 5T kosher salt, cumin, peppercorns, basil, garlic powder, ground coriander seed, and bay leaves for two hours.  I also soaked a whole, large chipotle pepper in 16oz of water overnight.  8 ounces of the brine is smoky chipotle water.

I'm going to rub the chicken with Stubb's BBQ rub, stuff it with a red onion and an anaheim pepper, then smoke it at 250 with 2.5oz of wood until I get to 150, then I'm slapping the chicken in the oven at about 450 to crisp up the skin and get it up to around 160.

Any recommendations on where my temperature probe should go?  Thigh?  Leg?  Breast?

Any other thoughts?  I'm still pretty new   

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[Suzie-Q]

Breast location is what I've used.  Have a Smokin New Year!

[CarlosJ]

Thanks!

Happy New Year!

[swthorpe]

Yes, put the probe in the breast, but try not to get the probe around the bone.   I usually push the probe in the thickest part of the breast to maybe an inch or so into the chicken.     You plan for finishing in the oven sounds good, but I would recommend an IT of 165F to be finished.

[es1025]

I try to eye ball the middle of the breast. It seems to me, thats the best spot for an accurate reading. 165 is spot on.