chicken in Lesson #1, but with a critical new step: you will partially close a vent (or two, depending on the cooker) midway through the cook and use an oven thermometer. This new step demonstrates how the vents affect the grate temperature and cooking time. One small tweak to the vents lowers the temperature in the cooker and lengthens the cooking time. This isn’t important when you’re smoking chicken (the bird doesn’t care if you’re cooking at 350°F or 275°F–it’ll taste good either way), but temperature and time will be factors later on with more heat-sensitive cuts of meat.
Instead of using a marinade for this cook, you will brine the chicken halves. Brines affect the flavor and texture of the meat as marinades do, but there’s one key difference: brines are strong saltwater solutions, while marinades contain strong concentrations of acid. Brines typically contain little, if any, acid, and the saltwater solution actually penetrates and plumps the meat.
For Lesson #2, I’m giving you a basic brine recipe for the first time you attempt the cook. Please don’t go messing with the brine right away. The point of making it my way the first time is to build your confidence in the basics and to slowly add to your understanding of low and slow cookery. Later in the chapter, you’ll learn how to make your own brine, just as you learned the fundamentals of making a marinade after Lesson #1. Once you know the basics, you can fool around with brine to your heart’s content. You’ll also get one more low and slow building block—recipes for classic and not-so-traditional sauces and dips for chicken and other barbecue.
Be patient. The ribs you’ve been twitching to make are just around the corner.
Sincerely,
Gary Wiviott
BRINED CHICKEN
There’s a lot of chemistry hoodoo that explains what brines do and how they do it, but now is not the time to discuss osmosis. All you need to know is that soaking the chicken halves in a strong saltwater solution keeps the meat moist and juicy. This basic brine can be used on most poultry and some lean cuts of pork.
WSM AND OFFSET
SERVES 4 TO 6
⅔ cup Morton kosher salt, plus more to taste
½ cup brown sugar
1 cup warm water
2 whole fryers (3- to 4-pound chickens),
split in half, legs disjointed (page 50)
Olive oil for brushing
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
KETTLE
SERVES 2 TO 4
⅓ cup Morton kosher salt, plus more to taste
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup warm water
1 whole fryer (3- to 4-pound chicken),
split in half, legs disjointed (page 50)
Olive oil for brushing
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
THE NIGHT BEFORE DINNER (6 TO 12 HOURS BRINING TIME)
In a large bowl or measuring cup, whisk the salt, sugar, and warm water together until the salt and sugar are dissolved. For the WSM or offset, divide four chicken halves between two one-gallon zip-top bags. Divide the brine between the bags. For the kettle, place two chicken halves in one one-gallon zip-top bag and pour all the brine into the bag.
Set the bag(s) in the sink and fill with cold water to within 1 inch of the zipper (8 to 10 cups depending on the water displacement of the chicken). Press the air out of the bags and seal. Place the bags in a large bowl or on a rimmed baking sheet to catch drips. Allow the chicken to brine for 6 to 12 hours in the refrigerator, turning the bags once or twice to redistribute the brine.
5 HOURS BEFORE DINNER
Remove the chicken from the bags and rinse the chicken under cold running water. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Lay the chicken halves on a cooling rack set on a rimmed baking sheet. Place the baking sheet, uncovered, in the refrigerator. Low-and-slow cooking typically makes chicken skin rubbery. Air-drying the chicken for several hours in the refrigerator increases the odds of crisping the skin.
2 HOURS BEFORE DINNER
Set up and start a KISS method fire according to the instructions for your WSM (page 32), offset