First smoke - Brats and bacon wrapped chicken

[mike.bryant]

For my first smoke I wanted to keep things simple especially since I was seasoning the smoker the same day as I was cooking.  I had some brats from Costco some of which I butterflied and some chicken breasts which I wrapped in bacon.  I smoked for about two hours at 225F with two small blocks of cherry, about 3 oz.

A half hour into the smoke I realized I made two mistakes.  After carefully covering the bottom of the smoker with foil I forgot to poke a hole for the drain/air hole.    I also forgot to put a container of water in the bottom.

Fresh off the grill, the smoke flavor of the brats wasn't as strong as I thought it would be.  I tried them again this morning and the smoke flavor intensified overnight.  (Or my nose was overwhelmed during the smoke.)  I stuck a thermometer in one of the chicken pieces showing it under temperature so I put it in the oven to finish it off.  Unfortunately it was a bit on the dry side.  Perhaps a brine or the water will help next time.  All in all still a very satisfying start. 

 

[NDKoze]

I generally do not use a water pan for chicken or sausage.

I have been there with you about forgetting to poke a hole in the bottom foil If you opened the door to punch the hole that probably let out a lot of valuable moisture.

I think your chicken would definitely benefit from a brine though. There are a lot of good posts in the Poultry section on this.

I am not sure about butterflying the sausages. I do everything that I can to prevent puncturing the sausage casings because I want to keep as much of that flavorful juice in the sausage. I would think cutting them in half would allow free flow of those juices right out of the sausage.

Smoke flavor typically does intensify over night, so that does not surprise me.

In the end, it sound like it was a moderately successful smoke.

 

[mike.bryant]

By the time I realized I had covered the hole the smoke was going quite well.  I figured it would do more harm to open it up at that point.  Perhaps I got lucky since the unit is new and the door isn't a perfect seal yet.

I was wondering if the smoke flavor would be more intense in the butterflied brats but to my surprise the answer is "no".  The whole brats weren't particularly juicy so perhaps I overcooked them.  The skin of the brat did get rather chewy so any tips on how to avoid that would be appreciated.

I brought in slices of the brats to share at work and got several compliments.  Yay!

 

[NDKoze]

The casings (much like skin on chicken) tend to get rubbery in the Smokin-It.

If you have a bypassed unit with an Auber you could cook the chicken and sausage at 300 degrees. Or you could throw them on the grill for a few of minutes prior to serving to crisp up the skin.

As far as overcooking the brats, that could be. But I think butterflying them and letting all of the juices flow out of the sausage was the main culprit of the dryness.

 

[DivotMaker]

The picture looks great, Mike!  I, too, have "been there, done that" with the bottom hole!  That's why I always make a point to remind folks about it!!   Mine was on a big Boston butt at around 3 am, and there was no way I was going to let all that juice pile-up for the next 12 hours!  I ended up poking a hole, from the bottom, with a sharp knife, then opening it up with a pencil (what I always use to poke the hole).  It was a helluva mess....

As for the chicken - YES on the brining!  There are several poultry brines in the Brines & Marinades section.  It makes a big difference with poultry.  And don't worry about the water pan - not needed for poultry or sausage.