I love it!
I've only cooked chicken so far.
Bought a pair of 4 lb chickens and a mixture of poultry herbs.
Total cost - $9.
Tossed the giblets, melted the butter in the microwave along
with the chopped up herbs, chopped garlic, salt, and pepper.
Smeared it all over the chickens.
Cooked them legs down (not on purpose, just reporting).
Used hickory wood for the smoke.
Set it up in my garage. I spent about 3 hours cleaning the
garage out once I decided I wanted to cook in it.
Put them in at about 7, expected to be done sometime after
11PM. Sometime was an understatement, hit 165 at 1:30
in the morning.
It was a work day. Blech.
I ripped off the wings and drumsticks from one. It was
VERY good. The skin was perfectly golden brown, crispy,
and tasty. The meat was mildly "smoked", very moist, fall
off the bone tender.
Hell, I might even start posting picture like Gryg.
The remote temp sensor was a MUST. I'd go insane running
back and forth checking for doneness.
Brought in a tupperware container of the breast meat. Was
OK, but could have been better.
Next day, I was able to cut the remaining chicken in 1/2, easily,
with standard steak knife. I took a 1/2 to work, wrapped in Saran
wrap.
Microwaved for 2.5 minutes. The skin maintained the moisture,
kept the meat very juicy and tender, but the skin itself was
mostly yucky. Good on the wing and drumstick, gross on the breast.
But the breast meat was great so it was a good trade off.
It smelled so good I had co-workers following me around.
Came home, ate the other half. When I was done with the meat,
I fried up the skin. Mmmm - grievan.
Next day, made 2 more. Put in 6PM, finished at midnight.
This group was legs up, spread out.
I tried a "Honey Bourbon" flavor stick in one of them.
Sucked. Glad I didn't do both.
I made the mistake of ripping the breast skin off and eating most
of it. Short term gain. When I microwaved it at work the next
day, the breast was too dry. Then again, maybe it was becuase
the legs were out.
Next time I'll do legs in.
Gave a drumstick to a co-worker - she'll always be grateful!
Came home, had other 1/2 for dinner. Same issue with the breast,
but the thigh, drumstick, and wing was very good.
This weekend I'll try some real meat. Maybe brisket, maybe
a roast like recipe that started this adventure.
Since it cost about $100 when you take into account the
remote temp gauge and the various other stuff (rib rack,
wood chips), it'll take about 25 cheap meals before it pays for
itself. which will probably be within a few weeks. I really
like the taste and tenderness of chicken cooked this way.
I'd never do this type of chicken cooking in anything else.
Also, I have to find a source for other woods such as apple
and cherry. The roast recipes use those.
