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 conservation with the help of smoke, as a result of which the product acquires antioxidant properties that inhibit the development of harmful bacteria.
When smoked, the 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. It is very convenient on long trips. Having mastered the basic recipes, you will know how to smoke chicken, and you can always stock up on this delicious food when moving to any distance.
Smoking methods
Of course, the most delicious smoked chicken (however, like fish and meat) is the one that is smoked in the old way, that is, it is treated with wood smoke for quite some time. It is this method that will give the products the very, 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 products sold in stores go through liquid smoke processing and are literally stuffed with various preservatives. Many of them are unlikely to add you health. Some of their names are worth - acetone, phenol, formaldehyde and other extremely harmful components. In addition, such processing completely eliminates all the useful substances from the product, making it completely useless in terms of nutritional value.
And how to smoke hot smoked chicken in the absence of a smokehouse and without the use of far from useful liquid smoke? 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 smoke-cured smokehouse using various marinades. Thus, you can always cook your favorite product in one way or another.
Straight from the smokehouse
If you are lucky and you have a smokehouse or the ability to build it, then this recipe is what you need! How to smoke chicken in a smoke-cured smokehouse so that it turns out, as they say, you lick your fingers? Of course, the whole point is the marinade and the proper preparation of the bird carcass. This is 80 percent success and a guarantee that everything will turn out to be unusually tasty.
The first method, spicy
Prepare the necessary ingredients, including:
- Chicken - 1 carcass.
- Salt - 0.5 tablespoon.
- Garlic - 1 head.
- Bay leaf - to taste.
- Black pepper peas - 5-10 pieces.
- Juniper berries - 5 pieces.
- Ground ginger - 0.5 teaspoon.
- Cinnamon - 1 pinch.
- Sugar - 1 teaspoon.
- Vinegar 9% - 1 tablespoon.
- Water - 3 liters.
The first thing I do is wash the chicken, cut it into two halves and gently beat it off - this way the joints and bones become softer and release the brain fluid.
Then prepare the brine. To do this, heat the water in a saucepan and add salt, 2-3 finely chopped cloves of garlic, bay leaf, black pepper peas, juniper berries, cinnamon, ginger, sugar and vinegar. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.
We put the halves of the chicken in a large pan or bowl and fill it with 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 cuts in them and stuff with garlic. Then we hang the carcass halves so that the excess brine drains and the meat is completely dry.
Then we warm the smokehouse to the maximum temperature and begin to smoke our bird, periodically dipping it in brine for a more stable aroma and bright taste. How long do smoked chicken in the smokehouse? It depends on the size of the carcass itself. The main indicator of readiness is the shiny film on the skin of the chicken: as soon as it starts to separate easily, smoking is over. By the way, in this way it is possible to smoke not only the halves of the chicken, but also its individual parts - drumsticks, thighs, fillets or wings.
The second way, accelerated
Knowing how to smoke chicken in a hot smoked smokehouse, you can simplify the recipe. Agree, after all, there is not always time for a long preparation of a bird. If you plan to pamper your guests or go on a business trip, the smoked-boiled chicken, the recipe of which we offer, is an excellent 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 way, which takes three days. Agree, after all, there is not always time for a long preparation of a bird. Smoked-boiled chicken, the recipe of which we offer, does not require much effort. So, we need the following products:
- Chicken - 1 whole carcass.
- Carrots - 1 piece.
- Onion - 1 piece.
- Salt (preferably sea) - to taste.
- Spices, herbs - to taste.
- Water - at least 3 liters.
And chicken and broth
First of all, wash my bird, put it in a large pan and fill it with water so that it covers the chicken to half. Peel the carrots and onions, cut into large pieces and add to the chicken. Pour there your favorite seasonings, salt and pepper - all 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 completely cooked - rather, half-baked.
After the set time, we take the chicken out of the pan and leave to dry. You can speed up the process with paper towels, gently wetting excess fluid. The resulting broth can be turned into soup or served for dinner with finely chopped herbs and croutons.
Next, we send our half-welded chicken to the smokehouse. If you do not know how much to smoke hot smoked chicken after preliminary boiling, use the instructions for your smokehouse. If not, then on average the whole process takes 2-4 hours. The finished chicken has a rich brown-golden color.
Smoked meats from a cauldron
If there is no smokehouse in the house - it doesn’t matter! You can enjoy smoked chicken in the presence of such a necessary thing in the household as a cauldron. It is from him that it will be possible to build a kind of smokehouse, in which you can cook not only chicken, but also lard, meat and fish. To do this, we need the following items:
- Cast iron cauldron.
- A stand in the form of a tin cylinder (you can use a can of canned food).
- Metal plate.
- Wooden sticks.
- Alder sawdust.
First we cook the bird. To do this, cut it into pieces, rub it with salt and leave it to be salted for 1 hour. While the chicken is "resting", we proceed to the manufacture of our ersatz-smokehouse.
Do it yourself
We take a cast-iron cauldron and pour alder sawdust to the bottom. Sprinkle them with water and lightly sprinkle with sugar, mix. Thanks to this, the chicken will acquire a beautiful caramel color.
In the middle of the cauldron, we install a tin can with a cut bottom and holes drilled on the sides: it should be stable on sawdust. On top of this design, we make an impromptu lattice of wooden sticks, set a metal plate or bowl on it and put our meat in one layer there. The pieces should fit tightly one to one. We cover the cauldron with a lid, send it to the stove and simmer for 60-80 minutes until golden brown appears.
Miracles of Aerogrill
And finally, we offer another option for smoked chicken whipping with air grill and liquid smoke. As we wrote above, this product will not bring health benefits, but if you do not abuse it, there will not be much harm.
We will need chicken drumsticks, wings, thighs or a chicken carcass cut into pieces. We dry my bird, dry it with a paper towel, rub it well with salt and your favorite spices, and leave it 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 grill in the air grill, heat it to a temperature of 250 degrees and put the prepared chicken there. The process of smoking in the air grill will take 40-50 minutes.