Last Wednesday I smoked my brine cured Kassler chicken. Tuesday at midnight it had been in the brine over 60 hours so I rinsed it and added fresh water for overnight. The brine mix was 1 gallon of water, ½ cup kosher salt, 1/3 cup brown sugar and the seasoning from the Kassler ham recipe.
Wednesday I rinsed it well, dried and in the fridge to dry for about 4 hours. I planned to smoke for an hour then go to 300 deg. to finish. The cook did not go well, it was very windy. I was monitoring grill temp; I was on P6 to get 175 deg. After 45 minutes in it dropped to 140 deg. I went to 180 deg. for 20 seconds to feed some pellets and after a couple of minutes it was not coming up. I did not feel like pulling the chicken and checking the fire pot so I shut it off and restarted. I knew this was risky but it worked out; after the relight I had to keep the lid open for 15 minutes to burn off the extra pellets. When it settled back down I set on 225 deg. and had went back to P4. I was getting about 300 deg. at grill level on that setting so finished that way until I had 170 deg. breast IT 2 ½ hour total.
I had boiled some small red potatoes then coated with some olive oil and seasoning salt for a side. I got them on the smoker for an hour. We had a side of spring mix salad and some cheese bread. I basted the chicken twice with a mix of molasses and butter.
The skin was too tough to eat; the chicken was very moist and tender. It had a slight ham taste but not as much as I wanted. The breast meat was not pink like it should have been. I think I needed more pink salt in the brine and the next time I will just cook at higher temps and no smoke time. If I ever get this down good I will post along with the recipe.
In the brine
Seasoned with ground pepper and coriander
On the smoker
Done
Potato side
My Plate
Smokin Don
