How long and how to smoke chicken in a hot smoked smokehouse?

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Smoked chicken is a tasty and rather expensive delicacy that appears on the tables of most of us exclusively on holidays. It can be used both as an independent dish and as an ingredient in salads. In this article, we will teach you how to smoke chicken at home. We are sure that you can enjoy it not only for your birthday and New Year.

Smoke Preservation

They learned to smoke meat, fish and poultry a very, very long time ago. Thus, our ancestors not only gave these products an indescribable taste and aroma, but also got the opportunity to store them for a longer time. Smoking is a kind of smoke preservation, as a result of which the product acquires antioxidant properties that inhibit the development of harmful bacteria.

When smoked, products do not lose their useful and nutritious properties, except that the taste of spices is added to them. They can be stored without cold for up to three days without fear of poisoning the body. This is very convenient on long trips. Having mastered the basicrecipes, you'll know how to smoke chicken the right way, and you can always stock up on this delicious food when moving any distance.

Smoking Methods

Of course, the most delicious smoked chicken (however, like fish and meat) is the one that is smoked the old fashioned way, that is, treated with wood smoke for quite a long time. It is this method that will give the products the same true taste.

A simpler and more modern method appeared along with the so-called liquid smoke, which is obtained by combining the smoke of barely smoldering wood with water. Absolutely all smoked meats sold in stores go through liquid smoke treatment and are literally stuffed with various preservatives. Many of them are unlikely to add he alth to you. Some of their names are worth something - acetone, phenol, formaldehyde and other extremely harmful components. In addition, such processing completely eliminates all useful substances from the product, making it absolutely useless in terms of nutritional value.

And how to smoke hot-smoked chicken in the absence of a smokehouse and without using liquid smoke that is by no means useful? Everything is fixable if the house has such a miracle of modern kitchen appliances as an air grill or an electric smokehouse. In this article, we will not only teach you how to use these devices. You will also learn how to smoke chicken in a hot smoker using a variety of marinades. Thus, you can always cook your favorite product in one way or another.

Straight from the smokehouse

If youlucky and you have a smokehouse or the ability to build it, then this recipe is what you need! How to smoke chicken in a hot smoked smokehouse so that it turns out, as they say, you will lick your fingers? Of course, it's all about the marinade and the proper preparation of the bird's carcass. This is 80 percent success and a guarantee that everything will turn out extraordinarily tasty.

Method one, spicy flavor

Prepare the necessary ingredients, including:

• Chicken - 1 carcass.
• S alt - 0.5 tbsp.
• Garlic - 1 head.
• Bay leaf - to taste.
• Black peppercorns - 5-10 pieces.
• Juniper berries - 5 pieces.
• Ground ginger - 0.5 tsp.
• Cinnamon - 1 pinch.
• Sugar - 1 teaspoon.
• Vinegar 9% - 1 tablespoon.
• Water - 3 liters.

First of all, wash the chicken, cut it into two halves and beat it lightly - this way the joints and bones will become softer and release the brain fluid.

Then prepare the brine. To do this, heat water in a saucepan and add s alt, 2-3 finely chopped garlic cloves, bay leaf, black peppercorns, juniper berries, cinnamon, ginger, sugar and vinegar. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.

Put the halves of the chicken in a large pot or bowl and pour the brine so that it completely covers it. Put in the refrigerator for 48 hours.

After two days, we take out our chicken halves from the brine, make a lot of small ones in themcuts and stuff with garlic. Then we hang the halves of the carcass so that the excess brine drains and the meat is completely dry.

Then we heat the smokehouse to the maximum temperature and start smoking our bird, periodically dipping it in brine for a more persistent aroma and bright taste. How long does a chicken smoke in a smokehouse? It depends on the size of the carcass itself. The main indicator of readiness is a shiny film on the skin of the chicken: as soon as it starts to separate easily, smoking is finished. By the way, in this way you can smoke not only chicken halves, but also its individual parts - drumsticks, thighs, fillets or wings.

Second method, accelerated

Knowing how to smoke chicken in a hot-smoked smokehouse, you can simplify the recipe. Agree, because there is not always time for a long preparation of the bird. If you are planning to pamper guests or go on a business trip, smoked-boiled chicken, the recipe of which we offer, is a great option. This is a quick way that everyone will like. In addition, it does not require special culinary skills.

Knowing how to smoke chicken in a hot-smoked smokehouse, you can simplify the classic method, which takes three days. Agree, because there is not always time for a long preparation of the bird. Smoked-boiled chicken, the recipe of which we offer, does not require much effort. So, we need the following products:

• Chicken - 1 whole chicken.
• Carrots - 1 piece.
• Onion - 1 piece.
• S alt (preferably sea) - to taste.
• Spices, herbs - to taste.
• Water - at least 3 liters.

Both chicken and broth

First of all, wash the bird, put it in a large pot and fill it with water so that it covers the chicken halfway. We clean the carrots and onions, cut into large pieces and add to the chicken. Pour your favorite seasonings, s alt and pepper into it - everything is in such proportions as on the broth.

We put everything on a strong fire, wait for it to boil, set the flame to a minimum and carefully remove the foam. Then cover the pan with a lid and cook the chicken for about 40 minutes. It should not be fully cooked - rather, half-cooked.

After the allotted time, take the chicken out of the pan and leave to dry. You can speed up the process with paper towels, gently soaking up excess liquid. The resulting broth can be turned into a soup or served for dinner with finely chopped greens and croutons.

Next, we send our semi-cooked chicken to the smokehouse. If you do not know how much to smoke hot-smoked chicken after pre-boiling, use the instructions for your smokehouse. If not, then on average the whole process takes 2-4 hours. The finished chicken has a deep golden brown color.

Smoked meats from a cauldron

If there is no smokehouse in the house - it does not matter! You can enjoy smoked chicken if you have such a necessary thing in the household as a cauldron. It is from it that it will turn out to build a kind of smokehouse,in which you can cook not only chicken, but also lard, meat and fish. For this we need the following items:

• Cast-iron cauldron.
• Cylinder-shaped stand made of tin (you can use a tin can).
• Metal plate.
• Wooden sticks.
• Alder sawdust.

First we cook the bird. To do this, cut it into pieces, rub with s alt and leave to s alt for 1 hour. While the chicken is "resting", let's start making our ersatz smokehouse.

DIY

We take a cast-iron cauldron and pour alder sawdust on the bottom. Sprinkle them with water and lightly sprinkle with sugar, mix. This will give the chicken a beautiful caramel color.

In the middle of the cauldron we install a tin can with a cut off bottom and holes drilled on the sides: it should be stable on the sawdust. On top of this structure, we make an improvised lattice of wooden sticks, place a metal plate or bowl on it and put our meat there in one layer. In this case, the pieces should fit snugly one to one. We cover the cauldron with a lid, send it to the stove and simmer for 60-80 minutes until a golden brown color appears.

Miracles of aerogrill

And finally, we offer another option for smoking chicken in a hurry with the help of an air grill and liquid smoke. As we wrote above, this product will by no means bring he alth benefits, but if it is not abused, there will be little harm.will not.

We will need chicken drumsticks, wings, thighs or a chicken carcass cut into pieces. We wash the bird, dry it with a paper towel, rub it well with s alt and your favorite spices and leave to marinate for 30-40 minutes. After this time, coat the chicken with liquid smoke and let it rest for another 30 minutes.

Put the grate in the convection oven, heat it up to 250 degrees and put the prepared chicken there. The process of smoking in an air grill will take 40-50 minutes.