Wild Bill's Chicken Quarters on the Ugly Drum Smoker (UDS)

Rainy weekend project -- trying new things on the UDS.

I bought two whole chickens at Costco -- one to quarter, and one to bone (or is it, "de-bone"?) and stuff.

I found a YouTube video that showed me how to quarter a chicken. Pretty straight forward and not too difficult.

Here's what I did with the quartered chicken:

Found from the 'net
Wild Bill’s Chicken Quarters


Brine
1 quart water
4 tablespoons Kosher or Sea Salt (2 tablespoons if using regular Morton salt)
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

Thoroughly mix all ingredients in a non-reactive container such as porcelain, plastic, glass or stainless steel.

BRINE CHART
Whole Chicken 4 to 8 hours
Half Chicken 3 to 6 hours
Bone-in Skin-on Breasts 1 to 2 hours
Boneless Skinless Breasts 30 to 60 minutes
Legs, Thighs, Skin-on 45 to 90 minutes
Legs, Thighs, Skinless 30 to 45 minutes

Remove chicken from brine and rinse under running cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Rub olive oil onto chicken quarters and sprinkle a heavy coat of Wild Bill's Meat Rub or rub of your choice on each chicken quarter and massage the rub into the pores of the chicken quarters.

WILD BILL'S MEAT RUB INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup paprika 1/4 cup ground black pepper
1/4 cup salt 1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons chili powder 2 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper 1 tablespoon garlic powder


I brined the chicken quarters for about two hours while I worked on my other projects. When I was ready, I pulled them from the brine, then rinsed and patted dry. Hit them with a little olive oil and then a generous dose of the Wild Bill Meat Rub. Here they are right before going on the drum:

I ran them on the UDS for about 90 minutes at about 300 degrees. I thought that they would be done earlier, but I checked the internal temp beginning at about 60 minutes and they were not quite to the 165 internal temp I was looking for. At about 90 minutes they were within range and I pulled them.

Here they are all done:

The rub has a nice kick to it. I used a blend of dried peppers that I make up myself. I really think the rub has a nice mix that goes great with the smokey flavors and the meat.

An easy project that turned out well.