Smoked Chicken

Summer Supper
The end of July is the middle of summer here in Nova Scotia, and to me that means it’s BBQ time. Not the type of BBQ many think of, but, as I’ve explained before, true Southern style, old school, low-and-slow BBQ – cooking the meat over a charcoal or wood smoker and serving the resulting smoked meat with the requisite sides of potato salad, corn bread, greens and baked beans.
I made the meal last night, and Norma added strawberry shortcake for dessert, and then we had a few friends over for supper. All declared the meal a hit, and I think I may have one convert to try the Weber Smoky Mountain (my smoker/pit setup) for himself. The WSM as it is termed has a bowl for the charcoal, then a water pan to help stabilize the heat and then the racks for the meat. It’s always a bit amazing to me how something so simply constructed can be made to hold precisely 225 to 250 degrees with minimum effort and a little practice – and absolutely amazing is what it does to the chicken, ribs, pork butts, brisket or other meats my ancestors in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky or the Carolinas would have cooked in similar fashion.
It could well be a genetic imprint, and if that’s the case it would also explain my fondness for a good beer, as many of those Southern ancestors were early English or German folks who knew a good brew when they tasted one.
Cheers to summer cookouts!









Blog Feb 4