How to cook hot smoked chicken in a smokehouse

Smoked meat products are the most popular dish that can decorate the festive table as an appetizer, as well as serve as a main dish in the family circle. Due to its beneficial properties, poultry meat is considered dietary, and it has acquired such a status by right. Chicken, being a prominent representative of domesticated poultry, occupies a leading position in terms of taste, usefulness and availability.

Useful qualities of chicken meat

Hot smoked chicken, especially if cooked at home, is endowed with amazing properties. It contains a lot of protein, which is very useful for a growing organism. Protein performs a building function and is necessary for the growth of muscle mass. Such food is especially recommended for athletes and people associated with constant physical exertion.

The calorie content of chicken is quite low; when compiling a daily diet, nutritionists take into account the energy yield of the product. Chicken meat is recommended for use even in the strictest diets.

There are practically no carbohydrates in meat. Those who are interested in healthy eating have long come to the conclusion that the accumulation of fat in the body occurs at the expense of carbohydrates. Despite this, chicken is very nutritious. Suffice it to recall the healing properties of chicken broth. Thanks to the vitamins that are contained in the meat as a whole complex, the processes of regeneration and general recovery of the body are rooted. That is why chicken is recommended to be consumed when healing wounds or after operations.

A large number of trace elements allows the body to normalize the work of almost all systems. The product is especially important when it affects the work of the heart and blood-forming organs. Today, the most common disease is a violation of the cardiovascular system. The benefits of chicken meat are officially recognized, as many doctors tend to consume it regularly.

General information about smoking

Smoking products has a deep historical footprint. Without going into details, we note that our ancestors used smoke processing not to create taste, but for long-term storage. That is, even in ancient times, the properties of a preservative were noticed. Today, this fact leaves no doubt, although we would not be in a hurry to talk about hot smoking.

Chicken cooked with hot smoke will be stored for no more than three days, and for long-term storage, the product is necessary. Meat after heat treatment becomes softer. The temperature destroys the structure of the fibers, protein denaturation occurs, so the composition of the fiber changes. This method has been known since ancient people learned how to make fire.

Smoking meat differs from cooking in that during the cooking process, liquid does not enter the fibers, but, on the contrary, leaves them. The result is a tasty product, elastic in texture, with a specific smell.

Not without negative points. During high-temperature processing, vitamins break down, so the usefulness is somewhat reduced. In addition, excessive consumption of products smoked with natural smoke can cause problems for patients suffering from disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, gallbladder and liver.

Some sources indicate that smoked meats can provoke cancer. This information is not entirely correct. Smoke from different tree species has a different composition. Some breeds emit heavy substances - carcinogens, which are toxins. When using alder, apple, cherry, pear and other fruit trees, the harm from smoke is reduced to zero.

How to butcher a chicken

Poultry will first have to be butchered. If you buy meat in a store, then it is ready for any cooking method. A freshly killed chicken will require a fair amount of effort from you until it is ready.

• First of all, let's start plucking. It is easier to carry out if the carcass is first dipped in boiling water. It should not be kept in hot water for a long time, otherwise the skin will boil and tear, and for hot smoking, the integrity of the skin is important.
• It is necessary to separate the head, wings, legs. In this form, the carcass should be singed over a gas stove. At the same time, missed feathers and hairs burn out, the surface of the skin becomes clean.
• Next, you need to cut the peritoneum and remove the insides. This should be done carefully so as not to stain the internal cavity.

Depending on the size, kuru can be smoked whole or cut into pieces. If a decision is made to butcher the carcass, then the legs, thighs, and wings are usually separated. The meat is cut from the breast, forming a fillet. You can get rid of the bone skeleton by cooking soup based on it.

Several ways to marinate

A huge amount of information on recipes for cooking smoked chicken introduces the reader into some confusion. This happens because certain concepts are subject to substitution, therefore, a unified terminology is not respected. For example, it is difficult to distinguish the pickling process from pickling. In addition, a huge number of recipes are hard to remember. Let's try to figure this out.

According to experts, salting is understood as processing with a dry composition of salt, and pickling is made on the basis of a liquid, for example, water. After such definitions, one can come across the concept of a dry marinade, which is a mixture of salt and pepper. As a result, we come to the conclusion that these terms are interchangeable.

Now let's focus on the number of recipes. Since almost everyone wants to try himself as a culinary specialist, and he will definitely introduce one or another subtlety into the cooking process, it turns out an uncountable number of new recipes. They do not have fundamental differences. The entire recipe is based on a different content of spices, and the principle of preparing meat for smoking remains unchanged. Based on this logic, it is easy to count the number of key ways to cook smoked chicken, there will be only a few of them.

Simple salting is considered the most elementary way to prepare meat, it does not require skills, complex manipulations and a large number of ingredients. In order to pickle chicken at home, this method will be most suitable.

• Salt in sufficient quantity is mixed with bay leaves, which were previously crushed. Pepper is added to the composition, but this can not be limited. It all depends on the imagination of the chef. Many add greens, parsley, coriander.
• The resulting dry composition should be rubbed into each piece of the carcass. If it is prepared in one piece, then the inner surface of the cavity must also be processed.
• After that, the chicken pieces are laid out in a suitable bowl and placed under oppression. During marinating, the meat will give juice, and already in its own brine, the chicken will reach readiness in a few hours.

Pickling with liquid brine will have to be done only after it is cooked.

1. Salt, pepper, garlic, bay leaf, herbs are added to the water. All this is brought to a boil, and then cooled. The strength of the brine will be normal if 150 g of salt is added to 3 liters of water. For other volumes, the proportion should be calculated.
2. As additional ingredients can be used: garlic, thyme, cloves, lemon zest. The chicken, filled with chilled brine, is sent to marinate in the refrigerator.

One way to quickly prepare meat for smoking is based on the aggressive effect of acid. It is able to break down the fibers, as a result of which the meat can be marinated in just a couple of hours. To prepare such a brine, you need to add vinegar, lemon juice, mayonnaise or mustard. To salt the meat, you should use the above proportions.

How to smoke hot

If you properly pickle chicken for hot smoking, then the remaining time until cooked will be calculated in minutes. This distinguishes hot smoking from cold smoking, where you have to wait a day.

You will need a smokehouse, which you can do with your own hands. It is a box, sawdust or wood chips are laid on its bottom. This box is heated by a fire built in a barbecue, as a result of which the material begins to smolder. The resulting smoke has a temperature of over 100°C, so the meat, which is placed in the same box on special sieves, is smoked and heat treated at the same time.

A tray must be placed between the smoking material and the sieves so that the released liquid accumulates in it, otherwise it will fall on the chips. As a result, the meat may be bitter.

Smoking chicken in a smokehouse begins from the moment the sawdust begins to smolder. This will be understood by white smoke escaping through a special hole in the lid. After an hour, it will be possible to smoke the chicken, although the time depends on the dimensions of the carcass and you will have to open the smoker to check if it is ready.

If you follow all the steps step by step, then even a beginner will be able to smoke chicken in a smokehouse.

• First, it is recommended to make a fire and wait until the firewood flares up. Otherwise, a situation may arise when an increase in the intensity of the flame will lead to an increase in the temperature in the smokehouse. Excessively hot smoke will turn the chicken into a piece of dry meat covered with a black crust.
• After half an hour of smoking, open the lid for a few seconds to release moist smoke. Moisture gradually accumulates in it, and the meat will be bitter. The number of such "approaches" depends on how much smoking will take place. It is recommended to release steam every half an hour.
• The last step is to determine the degree of readiness of meat. It is necessary to take a sharp wooden stick and pierce the chicken in its most massive part. Soon after, fluid will begin to flow at the puncture site. If it is transparent, then the meat is ready. A red tint indicates that the smoking process still needs to be continued.

Do not get involved in frequent opening of the lid. If you decide to extend the smoking, then the time should be increased by at least 10 minutes. The correct determination of readiness will become a prerequisite for a delicious result. However, you should not rush, you need to wait until the box cools down and only then take out the finished chicken.