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.

Beef Back Ribs and Chuck Roast on the UDS

More experimenting with beef ribs today.

Picked up a rack of beef back ribs this weekend, along with a small chuck roast to play around with on the Ugly Drum Smoker (UDS).

Ribs:

Chuck Roast:

Used my Lonesome Dove Rub I made a few weeks back:

Lonesome Dove Game Rub (courtesy of chef Tim Love):

1 cup Guajillo chili powder
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup cumin, ground
1/4 cup rosemary, finely chopped
1/4 cup thyme leaves, finely chopped
3/4 cup black pepper, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup garlic powder


Ribs and roast all rubbed up:

I thought I'd shoot for the 3-2-1 method on the ribs, with the drum running around 225-250 degrees. After about 3.5 hrs on the drum, I pulled both items and wrapped them in foil and stuck them back on the drum. After an additional 2 hours, I pulled the ribs, removed the foil, and stuck them back on for another hour.

I left the chuck roast in the foil. I was shooting for an internal temp just over 200 degrees -- where you get the connective tissue break-down.

At about 7.5 hours total time, the chuck roast probe "went in like buttah" and was at the 200+ mark I was shooting for. The ribs, on the otherhand where not quite there. I decided to pull them anyway as the back ribs don't have a lot of meat, and I was concerned they might be drying out.

So, here's everything after 7.5 hours of cooking on the Ugly Drum Smoker:

Crisp bark on the outside, nice and juicy on the inside:

All plated up with a few mini potatoes I threw on there for a short time: