Smoked Chicken Legs
Needed:
- Chicken legs – 4 pcs – about 3 lb
- Butcher Twine
Making about 3 inch long loop tie the twine around the end of the leg
Brine ingredients per 1 liter/quart of brine:
- Course, no additives salt – 100 g
- Cure#1 – 10 g
- Water – 1 liter/quart
Dissolve salts in cold tap water to make enough brine to cover the legs.
Place legs in a container, pour brine and put in the fridge for 24 hours.
For Poaching:
- Vegetable broth – 1 liter/quart
- Celery sticks – 3 pcs
- Green Parsley – 1 bunch
- Bay Leaves – 2 pcs
- All Spice – 4 grains
Make enough broth to cover the legs.
- To vegetable broth, add spices and veggies and bring to 90°C (195°F).
- Poach legs in that temperature for 10 minutes than lower the temperature to 75-80°C (165 – 175°F) and continue poaching until the inside meat temperature reached 70°C (160°F).
- Hang for 1 hour to drain the water and dry.
Smoking:
Preheat the smoker to 45°C and hang the legs in the smoker to dry the legs without smoke for 45 minutes.
- Smoke with light smoke until the skin becomes sticky and then use heavy smoke and keep smoking for another 3.5-4 hours until desired color.
- After smoking, the chicken legs are ready for consumption.
The whole bird can be prepared in a similar way.