This is just a basic cold-smoked chicken, but it is one of the tastiest things I've made with my smoker yet. It's superb hot as a roast, or cold for a salad or sarnies, and it transforms a dull supermarket broiler into a delicacy (or a good free-ranger into a gormet meal
).Ingredients:
a chicken about 1.6-1.8kg, and it's better if it has been dead a while, so a knock-down from the supermarket is fine.
80% brine (265g of sea-salt and 50g of good brown sugar per liter of water, plus a few peppercorns and cloves, a stick of cinnamon and some lemon peel. Boil for a few minutes.) I usually put the chicken in a stainless pot and cover with water, then measure the amount of water needed and make fresh brine every time. Chill before using. You can use the same brine for three or four birds, but give them ten minutes longer each time, as they take up some of the salt and it gets weaker.
Method:
You need to remove a section of the neck back to where the wings join the body, so there is free passage for the smoke, or spatchcock it, then prick the bird all over the breast (right through into the cavity) and legs/thighs to get good brine penetration.
Brine in the fridge for 2.5 to 3 hours, rinse, pat dry and then rest it open in the fridge for a day.
I hang the bird by putting a skewer through the mid-joint of the wings, but make sure that there is an open channel through the bird for the smoke to pass through.
Cold smoke for 16 hours (give or take), it's best to keep it fairly light.
Rest in the fridge for 24 hours, oil the skin, then roast in the oven as per usual (75-90 mins @ 150-160C, and a quick blast @220c to crisp).
I serve it hot with well buttered mash, and cabbage dressed with cream and chopped capers or gherkins.
Any good?
