Smoked Chicken with Peach Ginger Barbecue Sauce for Man Food Mondays

Good morning people!

We’re cooking chicken today,  specifically Smoked Chicken with Peach Ginger Barbecue Sauce.  Michelle and I have been talking about putting together a peach BBQ sauce for a while, and since we live in the peachy zone it seemed like this was a good weekend to do it.

This was done on the smoker and took about 5 hours to complete start to finish, your results may vary….. We started with a whole chicken split spiced with a basic salt, pepper and garlic rub. We had pre-thawed the chicken in the refrigerator then using kitchen shears I split it down the length of the back bone and between the breasts so that it would lie flat on the smoker.  I loosened the skin so that the rub  could easily penetrate the meat and would not be blocked by the fat in the skin. When you do this be careful not to tear the skin so you can press it back into place.  Lightly coat the chicken in canola oil and applied the rest on the outside so the skin would get nice and  crisp.  Once this was done we covered the chicken in plastic wrap and returned it back to the refrigerator while  I went out and put the smoker together and got her fired up.  I wanted to smoke the chicken at a slightly high temp than usual, I got a late start to this so I was getting pressed for time, I set my thermometer to 275°/325° and watched till the smoker settled in.  I used cherry wood for this smoke, remember, when adding wood you need to allow the temperature flare to drop before placing the meat on the grill.  With the smoker billowing wood smoke set the chicken on the grill inserted the food probe into the thigh and close it all up.  I kept it in smoke the entire time it was on the grill adding lump charcoal and wood as needed when the temperature dropped 5° or more.  It is better to add less charcoal when the temperature is at the lower end of the desired temperature range than wait until it drops below the range, it makes the recovery is quicker.  So while the chicken was slowly evolving into a tasty dinner I went in to make the Peach Ginger BBQ sauce.

Fresh peaches, ginger with a little hone.y  Yum!

We start with peeling the peaches and removing the “stone” (seed). cut the slices into 1/4 in chunks. I squeezed a lemon over each peach as I finished it to keep it from turning brown.  I wanted to point this out so that the end result of the sauce is peach colored not brownish and the slight lemon taste adds to it as well.

Ok here we go.

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Smoked Chicken with Peach Ginger Barbecue Sauce

Prep 1 hour

Cook 5 hours

Total 6 hours

Author Steve

Yield 6

Ingredients

Chicken

• 1 2 to 4 lbs whole chicken split in half
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 1 Tbsp kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp fresh ground pepper
• 2 Tbsp canola oil

Peach Ginger BBQ sauce

• 6 medium peaches
• 1 large lemon
• 1/2 cup of sweet yellow onion chopped
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 2.5 Tbsp honey
• 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1/8 tsp dry mustard
• 1/8 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt

Instructions

Chicken

1. Thaw and split the chicken into halves.
2. Loosen the skin and apply 1/2 the salt, pepper and minced garlic as evenly as possible under the skin on both halves.
3. Lightly coat the outer skin of the chicken with oil and apply the remaining salt, pepper and garlic. Cover with plastic wrap and return to the refrigerator till ready to place on the smoker.
4. Once the smoker is up to the desired temperature place the chicken on the smoker skin side up, insert the food probe if you are using a digital thermometer and close the smoker. monitor the temperature frequently during the cook.

The Peach Ginger BBQ sauce

1. Peel and cut up the peaches. Cut the lemon in half and after each peach is peeled and cut up coat it with lemon juice to keep it from turning brown.
2. Peel and chop the onion.
3. Take a 2 to 4 qt. pot and heat the oil, add the onion and saute till clear add the peaches and the remaining ingredients and bring to a slow boil.
4. Reduce heat and simmer the sauce for 45 minutes. If you have an immersion blender use it to puree the cooked peaches in the pot, if you do not have one then use a blender or a food processor to chop up the peach parts. Be careful of moving the hot mixture to the blender and blend in small batches, so that you do not burn your self. Return the mixture to the pot and keep warm till your ready for the meal.

Courses Entree

Cuisine American

The chicken is done when it reaches 165° measured at the thigh this can take up to 5 hours to do.  You can take the chicken off the smoker and finish it in the oven at 350° to speed the process, but it will change the flavor a bit.  Long and slow makes for a tasty meal.  We had the foil potatoes and garden fresh green beans with this.

I hope you enjoy this is was very tasty on a hot summers evening.

Take care,

Steve