Smoked chicken is a dish that has the status of a delicacy in our country. You can cook it on your own - the result will be much more interesting, and most importantly, safer than that of a product from a supermarket.
Before smoking (hot or cold), poultry meat should be marinated. The lion's share of marinades for smoking chicken in a smokehouse is very similar to each other, but there are certainly some subtleties here.
Chicken carcasses are usually plucked, washed, and removed from small feathers before smoking.
Then the insides are removed, cut in half, flattened by various methods and proceed to processing.
For hot smoking
Classic variant
To prepare a standard marinade for smoking chicken, you need to boil water.
And you will also need (for one chicken):
- vinegar (3%);
- a couple of cloves of garlic;
- half a dozen black peppercorns;
- 2-3 bay leaves;
- salt, sugar;
- one teaspoon of ground ginger;
- cinnamon and other spices (to taste).
A pinch of salt, a teaspoon of granulated sugar, three tablespoons of vinegar, crushed garlic and other spices and spices should be sent to warm boiled water. The more spices in the brine, the more delicious the smoked chicken will be.
This marinade should be completely poured over the chicken. Holding time - 2 days. It will not be superfluous to turn the pieces of the bird several times
After marinating in carcasses, cuts are usually made. They put slices of bacon and garlic cloves into them to give the meat additional flavors. The rest of the marinade can be periodically watered over the chicken during smoking.
For smoked chicken breasts
Breasts before pickling should be washed and cut in half.
You will need:
- 60 ml soy sauce;
- 75 ml of vegetable oil and balsamic vinegar;
- one tablespoon of ground ginger.
According to this recipe, the marinade is mixed from soy sauce, vinegar and vegetable oil with the addition of ground ginger. The prepared chicken fillet is then laid out in a container with marinade. For a full exposure, two hours is enough, but it would be better to leave the poultry meat in the mixture overnight.
Before smoking, the chicken should be dried with paper towels and quickly fried over high heat.
Mix for smoking chicken legs
You will need (for 1 kg of chicken):
- a dozen juniper berries;
- salt;
- freshly crushed black pepper.
The easiest way to make this mixture is with a mortar. In it, juniper berries should be ground with salt and a few peas of black pepper.
Thoroughly rub the prepared chicken legs with the resulting mixture, stuff with pieces of garlic. Then wrap in foil and refrigerate for 12 hours.
Brine for chicken wings
Before pickling, chicken wings should be carefully grated with a mix of salt and granulated sugar in the proportion of 1 kg of poultry per 30 g of salt and 5 g of sugar.
For brine you will need:
- 1 liter of water;
- 30 g of salt;
- a couple of bay leaves;
- 2-3 clove buds;
- a few peas of allspice to taste.
Boil water, put all the ingredients in it, wait for it to cool, and then strain.
Pour the marinade over the wings, cover with oppression and marinate at room conditions for 6 hours. Then dry and proceed to smoking
For cold smoking
The simplest brine for marinating chicken with this smoking method is 20 g of salt and 1 liter of water for each kilogram of poultry meat. Other marinades will require additional ingredients.
garlic mixture
Before pickling, chicken carcasses should be cut in half along the breast and grated with bran.
You will need (for 5 kg of chicken):
- a quarter liter of water;
- half a tablespoon of vinegar;
- a dozen cloves of garlic;
- salt;
- freshly crushed black pepper.
Mince the garlic. Boil water, add all ingredients. Then cool and strain. Pour the marinade over the chicken pieces. Cover with oppression and set aside for two days. Dry before smoking.
Garlic juniper mixture
The chicken carcass is cut in half before marinating.
You will need:
- half a dozen juniper berries;
- 100 g of garlic;
- salt, sugar;
- ascorbic acid - a quarter of a teaspoon;
- freshly crushed allspice and black pepper - half a teaspoon each.
Grind all the garlic with a press, grind juniper berries, a few peas of black and allspice in a mortar. Add about one tablespoon of salt, a pinch of sugar and ascorbic acid. Mix curing mixture.
Rub the chicken halves with the mixture inside and out. Transfer to a large bowl, cover with some oppression. The exposure time in a cool place is two days. When starting smoking, do not forget to thoroughly rinse and dry the pieces of poultry.
Marinade for smoked chicken
You will need (based on 4 carcasses):
- 4 liters of water;
- half a dozen medium bulbs;
- half a dozen garlic cloves;
- 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar;
- salt;
- freshly crushed black pepper;
- cumin and bay leaf optional.
Dry chicken after marinade before smoking.
Washed chicken carcasses should first be lightly sprinkled with a solution of citric acid.
Cut the onions into rings, chop the garlic through a press. Boil water and place all ingredients in it. Wait for the boil, then remove from the stove. Immerse the chicks completely in the hot mixture and set aside for 4-6 hours.
The next step is to put the pot with the bird back on the fire, bring it to a boil again and cook for exactly 5 minutes. Then remove from heat, cover with a lid and set aside again for a couple of hours.
By the way, this technique with quick cooking until half cooked can be recommended to all smokers with time troubles. Along the way, it is not forbidden to add vegetables, herbs to the water, and the cooked broth can then serve as the basis for meat sauce or soup.
