I came into this with high hopes.  I have been infatuated with how tasty it looked.  I kept counting down the days until Wednesday to give it a try.  I found this recipe last week for Grilled Mexican Roadside Chicken, and it looks delicious and sounded interesting.  So I whipped it up today per the recipe, but in lieu of a whole chicken used several drumsticks I had in the freezer, same concept.

Grilled Roadside Mexican Chicken

And I have to say it was not bad chicken, but it wasn’t chicken that left me wanting more either.  It let me down.  It was juicy, but I attribute that more to technique than the recipe.   I had high hopes for it and it just fell short, flat on its face at my feet, I was disappointed but when piled onto of a salad with some taco-ranch dressing it was almost just like any other chicken, but perhaps with just a hair more Mexican flavor and eaten that way it was quite alright.  So here is a copy of the recipe should you wish to try it.  I did use half the amount of cinnamon because that was all I had around.

Ingredients
1 1/2 tsp ground ancho chile pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
pinch of ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 garlic cloves pressed
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 c fresh orange juice
1 tsp Kosher salt
chicken (parts or a whole)

Instructions
If using a charcoal grill, get some charcoal going in a chimney (I used half a chimney full).  Mix all ingredients except chicken together in a bowl to create a wet rub.  Once the charcoal is ready place all of the coals on one side of the grill to set up a cool zone and a hot zone.  Place the chicken on the cool side of the grill, brush healthily with the wet rub.  Turn chicken and brush the other side with the wet rub.  Cover the grill and cook until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken reads 165°F; basting with any remaining rub throughout the cooking period.  Remove chicken from grill and allow to rest for a while 5-10 minutes for parts or 10 to 15 minutes for a whole chicken.

The original recipe called for green onions to be grilled once the chicken was done, maybe this is where I went astray.  It also called for a whole chicken and not for parts, maybe that was the problem.  Either way it wasn’t bad, but like I said it let me down, it wasn’t all I had hoped for and the process of making the rub filled my kitchen with a heavenly familiar aroma of Jerk Chicken and made me think, why am I not making Jerk Chicken?  Well I may just have to do that soon.

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Smoking and grilling are expensive habits.  Not only do you get to cook some prime cuts of meats occasionally but there are lots of gizmos and toys that make smoking so much more cool easier and more consistent.  But perhaps the most important aspect of all of these are those gizmos that help me know when my food is done!  And for that I rely on my thermometer(s).

Smoker Cooking Temperature Thermometer

The first and perhaps most important thermometer in my arsenal is the one I have affixed to the top of my smoker.  It is an expensive, non fancy 2″ thermometer I picked up off of Amazon.  It was simple to install just had to drill a hole in the top and of the smoker dome, insert the thermometer and tighten the nut on the back.  When I initially go it I calibrated it with boiling water and it was dead on.  I have been using it for a little over a year with no complaints.  This is a must have in my book.

Maverick ET-84 Thermometer Next on my list is my Maverick ET-84.  For a long time this was my bread and butter thermometer, I have two of them and they both rock.  You can get replacement probes for them with either a silicone encased or braided stainless steel type wire.  It also has a nice back light for outdoor after dark cooking.

The talk of replacement probes may scare some away but I have been using both of mine for well over a year and have had to replace the probes once, as a result of a terrible mishap in the oven.  The silicone probes do not survive extreme temperatures, greater than 500°F.

Ordering new probes was easy and inexpensive via email through the Maverick Industries website.

I use these with meat on the grill, in the smoker and in the oven.  Its nice to be able to see where the meat is at temperature wise without having to lift the lid or open the door.  In addition these thermometers talk, kinda creepy when you aren’t expecting it but they will remind you to baste.  This can also be turned off.

As I said I have used these thermometers for quite a while in hot weather, in cold weather and in nice weather.  Typically in unfavorable I have increased the geek quotient of my smoking operation by adding a wireless webcam to the set up to monitor the smoker from the comfort of my home.  With the proper set up it is possible to monitor both the thermometer on the smoker itself and the ET-84 positioned near it (the probes have a 48″ lead).  With the webcam I am also able to see if the smoker is well smoking, this is a bit more difficult in the bitter cold because you have a bit more steam, but smoking is after all an instinctual thing.

I calibrated or rather made sure they were properly calibrated using the same method as for the grill top thermometer above, dunked it in boiling water and it checked out.  It is important that when calibrating this way you are sure not to touch the probe to the bottom of the pan.  The pan will be much hotter than the water inside of this, you could zap a probe.  Its not nearly as scary as it sounds

Maverick ET-901 Receiver Unit

Finally the latest and perhaps coolest addition to my thermometer arsenal, the Maverick ET-901.  Like the ET-84 above the ET-901 is an electronic thermometer that allows you to monitor the temperature of meat you are cooking without opening the door or raising the lid.  But it has the added benefit of being wireless it consists of two pieces, the transmitter seen below that will sit with the smoker, grill or oven you are cooking with and a receiver you take with you.

Maverick ET-901 Transmitter with smoker

This is the newest addition to my arsenal and it was met with some skepticism.  The internet is full of bad talk about wireless thermometers and their range, so I was quite skeptical when I got it but wanted to give it a try for monitoring temperatures when I am away from a computer or don’t feel like hooking up the webcam and want to know how my food is cooking.  I could not be happier with the results,  this thing is money and well worth the money I spent on it.  I am currently using it as I cook up some pork to pull and it has limited my trips to the smoker drastically.

Maverick Industries ET-901 Transmitter RangeJust to get an idea of the range at which I am using the remote thermometer, the image above is an action shot of my set up today.  The transmitter is sitting next to the smoker outside the garage and I am in the house with the receiver.  I am well within the 150′ range touted by the manufacturer, I am passing through a brick wall and have had no problems thus far.  It also works well from behind my condo, which suggests it would work great next to my bed for overnight cooks, more sleep less worrying.

In addition being wireless the ET-901, like the ET-84, has a back light for after dark cookouts and like the ET-84 it has user programmable doneness levels.  So for instance when cooking pulled pork to 205°F, I can set it for 205°F and it will alert me when my food has finished cooking, instead of at a preset doneness level, of which it also contains several.

Like the ET-84 replacement probes are available for this model from Maverick Industries.

So after all that which one do I use the most?  Well that is a tricky question, inevitably the thermometers mounted directly to the smokers and grill get used the most.  But of the electric ones it is a trick question, they wireless ET-901 is the newest and will get used the most on single piece of meat cook I imagine.  But like today where I have two pieces of meat on the smoker the ET-901 is in the smaller of the two pieces of meat to give me a heads up when they are getting close to being done; while the ET-84 is in the larger piece of meat just so I can periodically check on its progress.

With that I will leave you with a picture of my setup today and a question.  Do you have a thermometer you you can’t live without and why?

The smoker thermometer setup today

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Tonight we marched onward with the chicken and with such nice weather it would have been a crime not to grill out, and grill out we did.  My wife scoured the internet and came back with a recipe she started with on Recipe Zaar for ‘Amazing Chicken Marinade’.  I don’t know that it was amazing but it was pretty good.  After a surprisingly strenuous medicine ball work out, I fired up the grill.  Well technically I got the charcoal chimney started.  Once the grill and charcoal were ready, I lubed up the rack with a paper towel and some cooking oil, threw a small handful of mesquite chips on the coals and put the chicken on.

Chicken Breast on the Grill

Ingredients
1/4 c cider vinegar
3 tbsp mustard seeds
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 lime, juiced
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 c brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp olive oil
ground black pepper
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

Instructions
Crush 1 tbsp of the mustard in a mortar and pestle.  Then in a large, non-reactive container, whisk together ingredients beginning with cider vinegar through salt.  Then whisk in olive oil and pepper.  Place chicken in the mixture.  Cover and marinate chicken in the fridge 8 hours or overnight.  Remove chicken from marinade and grill for about 10 minutes per side over medium high heat.

Even though the recipe wasn’t mine or Vanessa’s for that matter;  it was simple and with a little tweaking (mustard seeds over mustard) it was most tasty so I thought I would share it here.  Enjoy.

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It’s only recently that I have realized the simplicity and remarkable flavor of dry rubs.  While I was in Gatlinburg recently I picked up Bad Byron’s Butt Rub from the Pepper Palace (go there if in Gatlinburg or Myrtle Beach or St. Augustine or online at www.pepperpalace.com), back home I had already received the Penzey’s Spices (what I don’t grow I get from these guys, they have some amazing stuff) BBQ 3000.

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BBQ 3000 v. Butt Rub the rubs

As fate would have it I have a couple of country style pork ribs in the freezer and a good day to grill/smoke out tomorrow.  I will be attempting to smoke these fine specimens of meat on my Weber charcoal grill.  Should be interesting.  That said I prepared the meat by rubbing it a day ahead.  And here is what I have come up with.

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BBQ 3000 v. Butt Rub the rubbed meat

After rubbing both of these rubs into the meat I must say they both have a very pleasant aroma but the Butt Rub rubs much better into the meat where as the BBQ 3000 has a tendancy to clump and not want to rub well.  I guess tomorrow is the day we find out what these rubs are made of.  Off to bed for some grilling sleep!

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