Since ancient times, mankind has used the process of smoking products as a way to keep them edible for quite a long time, because refrigerators had not yet been invented at that time. People have guessed to subject meat to such a treatment with wood smoke, as a result of which an antioxidant effect was provided, suppressing the spread and reproduction of harmful bacteria and microbes. In addition, this method gave the meat an original aroma and taste.
Poultry
Chicken meat is considered the most delicious and affordable for smoking, which is combined with many ingredients as components of salads, first and second courses. How to smoke chicken at home, so that it turns out to be tender and refined, we will try to tell in this material.
Two ways
There are two cooking methods: hot and cold. What is the difference between them? In the cold method, the whole chicken or parts of it are treated with smoke from a smoldering fire. That is, the temperature at which the process itself takes place fluctuates around thirty degrees. This takes a fairly long period of time, up to several days. How to smoke chicken hot? Here, the temperature at which the processing process takes place is much higher - up to one hundred and fifty degrees. It only takes a few hours (sometimes even less). The meat turns out to be more tender and softer than with the cold smoking method.
Preparing inventory
- So how do you smoke chicken? First, you need to get a smoking machine. You can buy it in a specialty store, but you can also make it yourself. Some people use a large metal bucket, a barrel, the body of an old refrigerator - our craftsmen will adapt everything! The main thing is that the structure itself is tightly closed, so that the seams from the welding are sufficiently tight, and smoke does not seep through them. By the way, in Russia earlier, an ordinary Russian stove was successfully used for smoking.
- Secondly, you will need: a cutting board, a knife and an ax for cutting meat, a deep bowl. Well, and, in fact, the chicken itself!
Food preparation
Before smoking a chicken in a smokehouse, it must be freed from feathers and entrails, then rinsed under running water, cut off the head and lower parts of the legs. All this can be avoided by buying a prepared carcass in the store. Next, cut the chicken in half lengthwise and beat it well between two cutting boards with the butt of an ax or a culinary hammer. This must be done so that the joints and large bones become soft. However, avoid crushing bones.
Cooking brine: a glass of salt per liter of water, spices - to taste, a little garlic, sugar, vinegar - whoever is used to what (here you can fly your own culinary imagination freely). Put the chicken in a bowl, fill it with brine and put it away overnight (some marinate for a day or more).
At the end of the period, we hang the carcass on a hook, stuff it with garlic, bacon into deep cuts in the meat. Now you can start the very process called "how to smoke a chicken." By the way, you can also process not only the whole carcass, but also parts: drumstick, breast, wings, thighs.
How to smoke hot smoked chicken
Let's consider the first option. In just an hour, you should get fragrant and juicy meat. Before sending the bird to the smokehouse, you need to rub it with salt, spices, dry it slightly. Some cooks advise putting the spiced carcass in a plastic bag for a couple of hours so that it is thoroughly saturated with them. Then we put (hang) the chicken in the smokehouse, set up a tray onto which excess fat flows, fill in sawdust (cherry, alder, oak). Smoke over high heat from forty minutes to an hour. After cooking, the chicken will need to be skinned. When smoked, poultry skin absorbs fumes and soot from wood.
Let's move on to the second option. Before smoking chicken in the smokehouse (this recipe also applies to hot smoking), you need to prepare the following ingredients. We will need: a glass of table salt, water, bay leaf, black peppercorns, a set of spices (for barbecue or for grilling - optional).
First, prepare the brine. Dip salt, bay leaf, pepper in boiled water. We expect to cool down to room temperature.
We wash the chicken carcass from the outside and from the inside, cut off excess fat in the tail area. We put it in the prepared brine overnight (or for a day, as an option, to marinate very well).
Rinse the bird again under cold running water, cut it into two halves lengthwise. We tie the halves with twine, for which they will be hung in the smokehouse. Pour sawdust into the smoking device (alder, cherry, oak - the most recommended), close it tightly with a lid. We put the apparatus on the maximum heat for ten minutes. Then we reduce the fire to medium. We continue the smoking process for up to an hour and a half. Open the lid and take out the food. According to this recipe, smoked poultry is simply excellent!
How to smoke cold smoked chicken
To prepare this dish, you should choose young broiler meat (not older than six months). We need: chicken carcass, two hundred grams of bran, salt, juice of one lemon, ground black pepper. It is also worth warning that this type of smoking will take quite a long time!
Gutted, washed, we prepare the carcass. You also need to cut it into two halves and rub with spices and lemon juice. The halves must be put under oppression for a day in a cool place.
Before starting smoking, dip the chicken in a mixture of bran and pepper. We smoke at a temperature of no more than thirty degrees in a cold way (no open fire is used, the sawdust should barely smolder and smoke). We use briquettes: maple, oak, cherry. The cold smoking process itself lasts up to ten days.
To understand how to smoke chicken properly, you need to follow the helpful advice of the smokers. Here are some of them.
