First off I want to say sorry for not being able to do any runs on the smoker this summer; fortunately though, after a long summer of working more hours than I expected to, I finally gave Old Smoky a good run! Prior to Baylor's (unfortunate) loss to Liberty. I hosted a tailgate at the student tailgate area at McLane Stadium! This was my first time using the smoker for anything more than just some burgers on the grill over the fire box, so I decided to make it easy on myself.
I made about 13 lbs of chicken leg quarters, 25 hamburgers, and 15 links and luckily had a pretty good turnout! ( Shout out to Waco Custom Meats for having everything fresh and ready! )
For the leg quarters, after rinsing then and patting them dry, I strained about a half large bottle of italian dressing and injected that into all of my leg quarters. I then put them into a large tupperware and layered them as high as I could while still being able to close the containers. Between each layer I sprinkled over some brown sugar rub, and cavender's greek seasoning. I then poured over enough non-strained italian dressing until the chicken was covered. I let that marinade overnight.
Come gameday, I came prepped with 2 bags of large mesquite chunks, a half bag of apple chunks, and a half bag of cherry chunks. I made a little pile of charcoal brickettes and lit them and waited for most of the black to burn off. Once they were white, I placed a couple large mesquite chunks over the coals. I had a bit of a rough time keeping the fire up and stable in the beginning. After about an hour and a half of fluctuating from 180 to 200 degrees I was finally able to keep the fire stable and therefore the temp up around 250-270 without billowing out a ton of dense smoke. I left the chicken skin side up for the first two hours, and then once I had the temp up, I started brushing on some Stubb's Sauce mixed with some spicy rub and turned the chicken skin side down. I let the chicken go until the internal temp was around 165-170 and the juices ran clear, then brushed it one more time and moved it all to the far end of the smoker.
Sometime around 3/4 of the way through the chicken being done, I threw all the links down in the pit and left them there until just after I pulled the first batch of burgers off.
For the burgers, I opened up the fire box when the chicken was done and grilled them over direct heat. I just seasoned them with some burger seasoning and let them get a good crust on each side without letting them get too dry.
I mainly focused on the meat for this tailgate since it was my first and really didn't want anyone getting any raw chicken, so for the sides I just threw some Bush's baked beans in the crockpot, and threw together a Thanksgiving style fruit salad with marshmellows and coolwhip.
Overall, I was pretty happy with the food and the turnout! The main thing I struggled with was keeping the flames instead of smoking itself out, and in turn keeping the temp consistent. I didn't get to eat more than a few tastes of the chicken when it was fresh off the grill, but I had a couple pieces left over that I brought back home! Waiting to see if anyone saved some pictures of the meat on the pit, but if not I will definitely at least share some pictures of my leftovers! Feel free to critique my newbie methods, and drop down any tips, questions, and ideas for next weeks game! (leaning toward some ribs
![Cheers :cheers:](./images/smilies/icon_cheers.gif)
Sic'em,
BUnewby