BBQ Q&A - Chicken

Chicken quarters are really cheap. I prefer the dark meat.
My favorite method is smoking them. I'll brine them overnight and then in the morning apply a rub. after a few hours ill rub again and put into the smoker. They dont take long, maybe a few hours.

Chicken fryers are great too when there's a good deal and you can usually find them somewhere for $0.99/lb, but i absolutely hate cutting up a chicken.

Smoked quarters make a great chicken salad as well. It's hard to beat some good, smoked thigh meat.

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Sometimes I stuff them with shrimp or crawfish dressing

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Are you rolling and tying them, or cutting a pocket?

They can definitely withstand a high IT.

I cut and stuff, using the bacon wrap to hold it together, easy, I don't spend much time on it. I smoke darn near everything, frog legs smoked in a cast iron with garlic and olive oil is another easy quick thing to do, I like to add baby spinach and peppers after a few minutes of cooking on each side.

Not a fan of frog legs, but that sounds good.

I grill a lot of chicken and it doesn't really matter if I do it in pieces, halves or whole. Bottom line is "low and slow" to keep from burning the outside and having the inside still raw.

I'll BBQ individual pieces on a low temperature, let them get about 2/3 done before I put on any BBQ sauce, and my sauce is cut half and half with water. I find putting BBQ sauce on the chicken from the bottle or homemade, it tends to burn easier. I prefer light coatings of the sauce as it finishes cooking.

If cooking chicken in halves or whole, I'll use indirect heat and place the chicken over a burner not turned on and have the side burners working. Same if using coals, push the coals to the sides and put the chicken in the center.

As for seasoning the chicken, I just use a simple mix of salt, pepper, garlic powder, soy sauce and a bit of Worcestershire and cover the chicken with it and let it marinate for a bit before cooking.

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What's your favorite cut...whole, half, or pieces?

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Easily, whole. Cut the chicken up into 8 pieces.

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Grilled or smoked

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Smoked, though I do love it grilled too. But if I'm putting it on the pit to grill it, it's too easy to throw some wood chunks in to add the smoke flavor. I smoke with post oak.

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type of grill

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I have 4 different "pits"....a Green Mountain pellet smoker (don't remember the model but it's the big one with the stainless lid and wifi), a New Braunfels offset stick burner that is a beast and smokes the absolute best brisket, my standard charcoal pit that's a custom fabricated job out of light gauge stainless steel and my last one is the Orion Cooker.

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brined or injected

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Both. Depends on the mood really.

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sauce

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I'm currently using Big Mike's Sweet Heat. I like it because it's not overly sweet and it's a thin sauce...more like a glaze. Big Mike also makes a good poultry rub that I've used from time to time but my current favorite chicken rub is Plow Boy's Yard Bird Rub.

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hot & fast or low & slow

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Always low and slow. From a couple of weeks ago...

My dad used to always smoke with jack millers sauce, I still do that sometimes

Spatchcock at 325 point the legs toward the heat source. I usually use my WSM or BGE and start the fire on one side of the firebox. Flip after about 45 min the let go another 45 I try to hit 180 in the thigh for temp. I usually use hickory, but cherry works well with chicken too.