Hickory Smoked Chicken Breasts
Hickory Smoked Chicken Breasts
I love the smell of Hickory in the afternoon! And what better way of enjoying the smell of Hickory than by using the pellets to smoke a couple of huge bone-in and skin-on Chicken Breasts. Picked up some healthy chickens from Costco a while back and cut them into breasts and quarters. Vacuumed sealed & froze them for future meals. Thawed out a couple of the breasts for this cook. By cutting up your own chickens, you can save a lot of big bucks ... Costco chickens are running around $1.09/lb. Compare that to your local supermarket.
I've found that the best way to cook your chicken breasts without drying them out is to always smoke/cook them with the bone-in and skin-on. They can sometimes be hard to find at your supermarket which is why you should buy whole chickens and cut up your own. Besides, chicken quarters should also be smoked/cooked with the bones-in and skin-on for best results.
Smoking chickens low and slow will result in rubbery skin unless you finish the cook at a high temperature to not only bring the internal temperature of the breasts to 170°F but to ensure that the skin is nice and crispy. I personally, love crispy skin on my chicken. If you're watching your carbohydrates then you'll be happy to know that the are 0 g of carbs in chicken breasts.
Chicken breast white meat can be boring so I prefer to season on and under the skin to maximize the flavor profiles. Rub extra virgin olive oil on and under the skin before seasoning the breasts on all sides with my Poultry Seasoning - page 170 of my cookbook - The Wood Pellet Smoker and Grill Cookbook. Wrap the seasoned chicken breasts 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 225ºF using CookinPellets.com Hickory hard wood pellets.
- Smoke the chicken breasts for an hour at 225ºF
- After an hour of smoke, bump your pit temperature to 400ºF and continue cooking for approximately 1 hour until the internal temperature at the thickest part of the chicken breast reaches 170ºF
- Rest the crispy skinned Smoked Chicken Breasts loosely under a foil tent for 10 minutes before serving
Smoked Tri Tip
Smoked Tri tip
I never get tired of smoking and eating Tri Tip roasts!! Over the years I've read where many people are unable to find Tri Tips ... That's unfortunate cause even though the roast was once considered to be only good for grinding into hamburger it's now taken it's true place among preferred cuts of beef. There was a time a few years ago when only people here in the Central Valley and Coastal Coast of Northern California enjoyed the succulent lean Tri Tip. It used to run around $3/lb but now you're lucky to find it for less than $8/lb. The Tri Tip is a fairly tender, boneless and triangle-shaped cut of beef. Be very careful to make sure you slice the Tri Tip against the grain ... especially since there are multiple grains for this cut of meat.
Rubbed both sides of the Tri Tip roast with Roasted Garlic Extra Virgin Olive Oil and my Pete's Western Rub which can be found on page 169 of my cookbook - "The Wood Pellet Smoker and Grill Cookbook". Wrapped the seasoned Tri Tip roast in plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight.
Preheated my Green Mountain Grills WiFi Controlled Davy Crockett Portable Wood Pellet Grill to 235ºF using 100% hard wood CookinPellets.com Premium Perfect Mix wood pellets. The Davy Crockett is perfect for smaller meals, for on the road in our RV and for two people.
Smoked the Tri Tip Roast for approximately 2 hours at 235ºF until the internal temperature at the thickest part of the roast reached 145ºF. Rested the roast loosely under a foil tent for 15 minutes before thinly slicing against the grain(s). As you can see from the photos, 145ºF for us produces a nice medium rare output.
Smoked Baby Back Ribs
Smoked Baby Back Ribs
Time flies when you're having fun locked down in California due to Covid-19 ... NOT!!! Sure is getting old ... But since this is a smoking/cooking blog let's move on with my latest Smoked Baby Back Ribs. Doesn't seem possible that we haven't enjoyed smoked pork ribs for 3 months. That's cause there's so many other items in my repertoire in order to present a varied menu.
For this cook, I preheated my wood pellet smoker grill (MAK 2 Star) to 200ºF using CookinPellets.com Premium Perfect Mix wood pellets. Smoked the rack of Baby Back Ribs for an hour. Bumped the pit temperature to 250ºF and continued smoking/cooking for another 4 hours until the internal temperature of the Baby Back Ribs reached 190ºF. Doesn't get any better than Smoked Baby Back Ribs!
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.