Boned Whole Chicken Stuffed and Rolled on the Ugly Drum Smoker (UDS)

My favorite way to pass a rainy weekend day -- Trying something new on the Ugly Drum Smoker.

The idea of having a chicken entirely free of bones intrigued me. I couldn't decide if the correct term is to "bone" or "debone" a chicken. It turns out there are entire debates on this. That made me laugh a little.

I stumbled upon this YouTube video that made it look so simple. I decided to give it a try.

We'll it was easy. I wasn't quite as efficient and no where near as pretty as the shown on the video, but I was able to manage it without much difficulty.

Here's my little chicken free of all bones.

Because this was entirely new to me, I wanted to keep it simple so I just used stove top stuffing. If I were to do this again, I would find something more "home made" to stuff into the chicken. Here's the stuffing (prepared according to instructions on package) in place.

"Rolled"

Topped with a few strips of bacon and tied

Lightly seasoned with a salt free spice mix and ready for the drum

After about 90 minutes on the Ugly Drum Smoker running at about 300 degrees F, I reached the target internal temp of 165 degrees.

I thought it turned out "OK". It's a little bland. The chicken skin under the bacon was rubbery. I probably should have given more thought to seasoning the outside of the chicken. Maybe with a rub that had some sweetness to it. I thought that it would have enough flavor from the bacon and the smoking process to taste good.

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.