Smoked Spatchcock Chicken Breast
Smoked Spatchcock Chicken Breast
What the heck is a "Spatchcock Chicken Breast"? Most people these days know that to "Spatchcock" a Chicken or a Turkey is to remove the backbone, thus allowing it to be completely opened and flattened. Doing this reduces the cooking time significantly and allows the whole bird to be cooked more evenly. I've smoked many Turkey breasts over the years but never a Chicken breast. When I say a Chicken breast I don't mean an individual bone-in and skin-on chicken breast but rather a whole chicken where the quarters (thighs & drumsticks) and backbone have been removed.
Remove the backbone from a chicken breast and carefully peel back the skin from the breast. Trim off any access fat and skin. Rub roasted garlic extra virgin olive oil under the skin and on the skin before seasoning all sides with my Poultry Seasoning - page 170 of my cookbook - The Wood Pellet Smoker and Grill Cookbook. Wrap the season spachcocked chicken breast in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4-5 hours.
- Preheat your Green Mountain Grills WiFi controlled Davy Crockett Grill or your wood pellet smoker grill of choice to 200ºF using CookinPellets.com Premium Perfect Mix hard wood pellets.
- Smoke the spatchcock chicken breast for an hour at 200ºF
- After an hour of smoke, bump your Pit temperature to 375ºF and continue cooking for approximately 1 hour until the internal temperature at the thickest part of the chicken breast reaches 170ºF
- Rest the Smoked Spatchcock Chicken Breast loosely under a foil tent for 10 minutes before serving
Enjoyed a delicious smoked chicken breast with a side of chicken Rice-A-Roni and an Italian zucchini casserole. One chicken breast was actually large enough for the two of us to share ... leaving the second one for scrumptious leftovers to graze on!
Smoked Pork Tenderloin
Smoked Pork Tenderloin
If you've never enjoyed moist, tender slices of Smoked Pork Tenderloin then you've missed out on a delicacy fit for royalty and/or family & friends. So tender you literally will be able to cut it with a fork.
The Pork Tenderloin, also called pork fillet or Gentleman's Cut, is a long thin cut of pork. It's a narrow, boneless cut of meat that comes from the muscle that runs along the backbone. You need to be careful you don't over-cook the tenderloin. The internal temperature should be 145ºF and the meat should still be slightly pink. Pork tenderloin is as lean as skinless chicken breast and meets the government definition of "extra lean".
Trimmed any excess fat and silver skin from the pork tenderloins. Rubbed all sides of the tenderloins with roasted garlic extra virgin olive oil and seasoned them using my Pork Dry Rub (page 169 of my cookbook, The Wood Pellet Smoker and Grill Cookbook). Wrapped the tenderloins in plastic and refrigerated for 4 hours.
Preheat your wood pellet smoker grill or Green Mountain Grills WiFi Controlled Davy Crockett to 225ºF using CookinPellets.com Premium Perfect Mix hard wood pellets. I like to use a teflon grill mat to prevent the tenderloins from sticking to the grill grates. Smoked the pork tenderloins at 225ºF for about 2 hours until the internal temperature of the tenderloins at the thickest part reached 145ºF. Rested the smoked pork tenderloins loosely under a foil tent for 10 minutes before serving.
Smoked Meatloaf
Smoked Meatloaf
Have you ever heard the old saying ... "This ain't your Mama's Meatloaf". I've seen it over the years on cooking Forums and I'm still trying to figure out a recipe for my Mama's Meatloaf. I do know that I've developed a descent meatloaf recipe which was good baked in the oven but is great when smoked in my Green Mountain Grills WiFi controlled Davy Crockett wood pellet smoker and grill.
Ingredients
- 1 lb 80/20% Hamburger
- 1 lb Jimmy Dean Pork Sausage
- Medium red onion, diced
- ½ red bell pepper, diced
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp granulated garlic
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 1 cups tomato sauce
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, separate evenly and shape into two meatloaves (reserve 1 cup tomato sauce)
- Preheat your wood pellet smoker grill or Green Mountain Grills WiFi Controlled Davy Crockett to 180ºF using CookinPellets.com Premium Perfect Mix hard wood pellets
- Smoke the meatloaves at 180ºF for an hour
- Bump the Davy Crockett pit temperature to 350ºF to finish the cook until the internal temperature reached 160ºF
- Near the end of the cook top the meatloaves with the remaining tomato sauce
- Rest the meatloaves loosely under a foil tent for 10 minutes before serving
For planning purposes only: It took about 2¾ hours from start to finish. Always cook to internal temperatures. Served with a side of peas & pearl onions and steamed potatoes topped with brown gravy. After I took the picture, I smothered my meatloaf with brown gravy ... can't have meatloaf without gravy - Right!!
Smoked Pulled Pork Butt
Smoked Pulled Pork Butt
For my Smoked Pulled Pork Butt I have always trim off the fat cap. Like many other Pitmasters, I used to trim the fat cap down to a ¼ inch, barbecue low-and-slow for countless hours, and Foil Towel Cooler (FTC) the smoked pork butt for 3 to 5 hours before pulling it. Then there's the question of fat cap up or fat cap down! The fat cap up camp swear that during cooking, the fat cap bastes the pork butt while the fat cap down camp swear that the fat cap protects the pork butt from burning on the bottom. All I know is keeping even a ¼ inch of fat cap prevents half of the pork butt from forming that beautiful and tasty bark cause fat does not form a bark. Also, all that fat cap melting makes one big mess in your wood pellet grill pit. Even with the fat cap removed, there will still be plenty of grease on the grease tray.
Over the years, I have tweaked my smoke pulled pork butt recipe down to 8 - 9 hours rather than 14 - 18+ hours. No more loosing sleep for me when it comes to enjoying some great pulled pork.
Rub the trimmed boneless pork butt on all sides with roasted garlic extra virgin olive oil and season all around with an ample amount of Jan's Original Dry Rub - page 168 of my cookbook - The Wood Pellet Smoker and Grill Cookbook. I like to use Silicone Hot Cooking Bands to hold the boneless butt in place and promote even cooking. Wrap the small seasoned pork butt in plastic and refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat your wood pellet smoker grill to 225ºF using CookinPellets.com Premium Perfect Mix hard wood pellets
- Smoke the pork butt for 3 hours at 225ºF
- Increase the pit temperature to 350ºF and cook for an hour
- Remove the pork butt and double wrap in heavy duty foil
- Make sure to keep meat probe in place when wrapping in foil
- Return the foil wrapped pork butt to the 350ºF pit
- Finish cooking the pork butt until the internal temperature reaches 205ºF
- Wrap the foiled pork butt in a towel and place in a cooler for 2 - 3 hours
- Pull the smoked pork butt and enjoy
- Took about 8½ to 9 hours from start to finish ... Times are for planning purposes only
Served with a side of Cole Slaw and Instant Pot Great Northern Beans
Smoked Chicken Quarters
Smoked Chicken Quarters
Why is it so hard sometimes to find Chicken Quarters? It's easy to find Chicken breasts, thighs, wings, drumsticks, even liver but not quarters. Sautéed chicken liver and a sliced chicken heart is to die for but that's for another day! Found some nice fresh Foster Farms whole chickens at Costco for 99¢ a pound that was too good to pass up - especially in these days of shortages due to Covid-19 - so I picked up two double packs. Lately I've been lazy and just grab a few rotisserie chickens from Costco rather than cook them myself. Less than $5 for a plump rotisserie chicken is a great buy.
I chose to cut the chickens into different sections for future use. I cut my own quarters, breasts, and spatchcocks - make sure to always ensure that the chicken pieces are bone-in and skin on. This is very important when smoking chicken quarters or any other parts because it's keeps the meat from drying out and tasting like shoe leather.
To maximize your chicken flavor profiles, I always peel back the skin in order to gain access to the meat itself (See the photos above). I recommend that you start by carefully peeling back the skin of your chicken quarters and trimming any excess skin along with any large pieces of fat. Since fat often equates to flavor, you don't need to trim every little bit of fat from your chicken quarters.
Once you've prepped your chicken quarters, rub under and on the skin with roasted garlic extra virgin olive oil. Season the under and on the skin using my Poultry Seasoning - page 170 of my cookbook - The Wood Pellet Smoker and Grill Cookbook. Wrap the season chicken quarters in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4-5 hours.
- Preheat your Green Mountain Grills WiFi controlled Davy Crockett Grill or your wood pellet smoker grill of choice to 180ºF using CookinPellets.com Premium Perfect Mix hard wood pellets.
- Smoke the chicken quarters for an hour
- Bump your Pit temperature to 375ºF and continue cooking for approximately 45 minutes until the internal temperature at the thickest part of the chicken quarter reaches 180ºF
- Rest the Smoked Chicken Quarters loosely under a foil tent for 10 minutes before serving
