Well Fleur de Lolly followers and friends, I got so caught up in the Oktoberfest Celebration I neglected to take pictures of the "before" chickens. Sweet Harold spatchcocked the chickens (which simply means removing their backbone and flattening out so they cook evenly) and I mixed up a spice/herb rub that was amazing.
And then, yes, I forgot to take a picture of them ON the smoker.....and yes, then I forgot to take a picture of them OFF the smoker before he cut them into serving pieces. So, guess what? You'll get a step by step walk through demonstration of that process soon. You have my apologies.
I used two small 6 pound hens. They were organic, free range, no steroids, no antibiotics, no nothing. They were SO natural, I fully expected them to be holding wings singing Kumbaya when we opened the smoker. I hope you laughed.
As I said, we put these on the smoker at 225 degrees and added 3 bottles of Oktoberfest beer and 1 bottle Pumpkin flavored beer into the water bowl. The steam/smoke created by the smoker imparted all these delicious flavors into the birds.
Here's the rub recipe:
Mix the following together in a small bowl:
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/8 cup sweet paprika
1 T. salt
1 t. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground fennel seeds
1/2 t. dried marjoram
1/2 t. dried thyme
That just smells good reading it, doesn't it?
You can use this seasoning blend on the chicken whether you choose to smoke, grill, roast or bake the chicken. It added amazing flavor to the chicken.
Rinse the chickens and pat dry with paper towels. Pour a small amount of olive oil over the chickens and rub both sides until fully coated. Very gently, loosen the skin from the chicken breasts and thighs and very carefully begin to place the rub directly on the meat. Repeat until both chickens have the seasoning blend placed under the skin. Sprinkle/rub remaining seasoning on front and back of the chickens.
The chicken was tender, moist and SO flavorful.
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