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The breast and wings are the
most popular pieces of meat on a chicken, but if you plan to
smoke your chicken, the dark meat is by far your best choice.
Chicken Leg Quarters is where it’s at! Not only do legs and
thighs have more flavor than their counterparts but they’re also
more forgiving when it comes to cooking. If you over cook a
breast on the smoker or grill, you can forget it. There’s no
amount of sauce that will save you, but legs & thighs stay
juicy even if you overshoot the temperature by 10
degrees. They are by far your best bet for a long, low and
slow smoke.
Note:
If time permits, it is highly advisable to soak your chicken in
a brine for a few hours to overnight before applying the rub.
See PaPa's Brine
for chicken recipe.
Ingredients:
4 to 6 Chicken Leg Quarters
Ingredients for the rub
Your favorite BBQ sauce
Rub:
(This will make
approximately 1 cup of rub. Enough for about 4 to 6 leg
quarters.)
4 Tablespoons
Sea Salt
4 Tablespoons black
pepper
2 Tablespoon paprika
2 Tablespoons Garlic
Powder
2 Tablespoons ground red pepper (Optional)
Preferred wood:
Apple or Pecan
Preparation:
Combine all rub ingredients in a small bowl and mix well or
you can apply spices one at the time to suite your own
taste.
Apply spice rub evenly to leg quarters.
Wrap the prepared chicken
tightly and place in your favorite
non-reactive container (Tupperware), and place in the
refrigerator.
Allow it to rest for at least 1 hour but preferable over
night.
Take
the meat out about an hour prior to cooking so it can reach
room temperature.
This will help considerably
to shorten the smoking time.
Smoking:
Preheat the smoker to 275 degrees.
Place the Leg Quarters skin side up on
the rack and smoke for approximately 1 hour.
After an hour, the skin should have
started to get some color and firm up a bit.
It’s a good idea to check the internal
temperature here.
Continue to cook to an internal of 175
to 180 degrees.
If you plan to use a traditional BBQ
sauce, it can be applied now.
Allow the chicken to cook and additional 15 minutes or so to let
the sauce set up.
This is where the Alabama White Sauce comes into play. It’s a
mayonnaise based sauce with a touch of vinegar and a little
heat.
White BBQ Sauce:
2 cups mayonnaise
1
cup distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup apple juice
2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
2 teaspoons ground black
pepper
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon
salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Whisk the above ingredients in a
large bowl and drizzle over the chicken just before serving.
It makes enough sauce for 8-10 Chicken Quarters.
Can be finished on a
hot grill "Before Applying Sauce" if you want to crisp the skin
up a little more.