Costco carries some big fresh Foster Farms Chickens which are too much for the two of us so I’ve started cutting the chickens in half. Here’s a 2¼ lb Chicken Half which is perfect. Rubbed the Chicken On/Under the skin with Annie’s Roasted Garlic EVOO for the glue and Plowboys BBQ Yardbird Rub. Wrapped the Yardbird in plastic wrap and rested it in the fridge for 3 hours to allow the rub to work it’s magic.
Preheated the MAK 2 Star Wood Pellet BBQ Smoker-Grill to SMOKE (180ºF) with Hickory wood BBQ pellets. You can see that the EVOO and Rub have done their job. Let the Chicken Half stand on the counter for 15 minutes while the MAK 2 Star was heating. The Internal Temperature at the thickest part of the breast was 44ºF.
The IT after 2 hours of Hickory smoke was 120ºF at the breast. Bumped the MAK 2 Star pit temperature to 325ºF to finish the cook.
I prefer to take my Chicken and Turkey breasts to 170ºF rather than the generally accepted 165ºF. This helps to compensate for any poor Meat Probe placements. I also verify my MAK Meat Probes and/or Maverick ET-732 Probes with my Thermapen Probe. When it comes to cooking meats to temperature it’s imperative to check and double check your work. You can never be too careful.
Took 3 hours from start to finish for the Hickory smoked Plowboys Yardbird Rubbed half Chicken to reach an IT of 170ºF at the thickest part of the breast. This normally insures that the leg and thigh reaches an IT of 180ºF+. Rested the Half Chicken under a foil tent for 15 minutes before serving. My better half prefers the dark meat of the leg and thigh and I prefer the white meat of the breast! Works out perfectly …
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