Slow Smoked Chicken

Posted on Jun 04, 2016 by Jack McCann
Tags: newsletter member news handbook

EDIT:  

We've added a recipe article with ideas and tips for using our Smoked Sous Vide Chicken.  Check out this article for cooking tips.   

Seriously... Best.  Chicken.  Ever. 

Please keep your comments and ideas coming! 

Wings and Drumsticks

The one advantage factory chicken has over ours is that since their birds never have the option to run around or live long good lives, the meat is always super tender.  

Their chicken doesn't have much flavor nor is it all that healthy... 

... but it sure is tender.

Our drumsticks and wings are trickier to cook, but man, when you get it right, the flavor is out of this world. 

The Challenge

Getting it 'right' means slow cooking and then using in soups or then crisping up the skin to make an amazing texture contrast.  

While amazing, this takes a lot of time that frankly most of us don't have on a daily basis.  

I figured there has to be a better way.

The idea

I worked over the years on perfecting our chicken and I want to share it with you.  The catch is that I don't know which or how many of you would prefer the wings and/or drumsticks to be pre-smoked and ready to eat.  

I know many of you love to cook and have your own favorite recipes for these cuts and I'd hate to take that away from you.

Here are some ideas that I'd love feedback on, please be candid in your comments so that I can adjust and make TC Farm be just what you'd like it to be for your family. 

Wings

Our wings are really best when smoked and then cooked slow for 8-10 hours and then grilled, pan seared or broiled to crisp up the skin. I can't tell you how good they are after all that work!

We can handle all the smoking and slow cooking if you can warm and sear them. 

The wings would come to you in a vacuum sealed package ready to eat after quickly crisping up the skin on a grill or in a pan or broiler.  We can include some organic local BBQ sauce or just have a simple preparation of smoke and salt so you could use them in any dish or sauce. 

Would you prefer:

  • Fresh wings
  • Smoked with salt
  • Smoked with BBQ sauce
  • No wings at all
  • Special boxes of wings with a variety of sauces 

organic ready to eat slow smoked chicken wings

Tender smoked pan seared chicken wings

Drumsticks

I think drumsticks are a bit more versatile than wings. However, they pose the same cooking challenges and rewards.

Again, we'll handle all the slow smoking and cooking, so the drumsticks would come either ready to crisp up and serve or incorporate into a quick meal. 

Would you prefer:

  • Fresh drumsticks
  • Lemon butter chicken
  • Coconut chicken confit (great crisped up or in any type of pasta, salad, tacos, etc)
  • Chicken carnitas 
  • Smoked and salted (also great alone or in a variety of meals)
  • Chicken soup starter (to quickly use in any soup that you make)
  • Specific recipe soups, less ingredients for you to add using favorite recipes of ours, like this coconut chicken soup. 
  • No drumsticks at all
  • Special boxes with a variety of drumstick ready to serve meals (perhaps along with other ready to serve meals like those found in our sous chef packages)

Smoked Sous Vide Drumsticks and a Cold Belgian

Feedback, Ideas, Suggestions

Please post your comments, ideas, other recipe suggestions and anything else you think would be helpful for us to plan out the meals we create for you this season.  Please note there will be a delay in your comment appearing after you submit it. 

For other cooking tips for our dark meat chicken, please read this article.

Thank you again for being a member, YOU make TC Farm a reality.  I know my family appreciates the opportunity to have such good clean food.  

All of this simply wouldn't be happening without you as a member. 

Comments (26)

  1. Mike:
    Jun 04, 2016 at 07:45 PM

    That sounds like a terrific idea. I've cooked enough of your pasture raised chicken to know the difficulties of cooking wings and drumsticks. The best I've done is to smoke them at 180 for about two hours and then turn it to high until it reaches temperature. They're pretty good, but not as tender as the breasts and thighs. The convienence of just putting the chicken in a pan and heating it up really appeals to me. I would prefer just wings and salt and maybe with BBQ sauce depending on the sauce.

  2. Shawn:
    Jun 05, 2016 at 07:06 AM

    I agree, this sounds awesome. We tried your pre-prepared ribs from Lakewinds on a weeknight where we didn't want to cook and they were amazing. For chicken, we usually sous vide and then crisp it after either with a short stop for roasting (or not) and always to the cast iron skillet to finish. This takes some time but is amazing. To be able to have most of this done would be fantastic because otherwise we just get lazy and eat TC Farm Brats most nights of the week :)

    Preference would be confit (I like the taco idea) and just salted and smoked.

  3. Tanya:
    Jun 07, 2016 at 08:54 AM

    I like the smoked and salted idea for both the wings and drumsticks, that way it's more versatile for a variety of meals and sauces.

  4. Lisa M.:
    Jun 07, 2016 at 09:48 AM

    I love the smoked for wings and drumsticks! I ruined my first attempt at drumsticks...so sad. :( I would love the convenience of just being able to heat/crisp up. The variety of sauces sounds fun and interesting too, but not a necessity for me. I also really like the idea of the chicken carnitas (sounds so good I want to eat it right now). :)

  5. Dan P.:
    Jun 08, 2016 at 06:54 AM

    I would go for the wings, smoked and BBQ, and the assorted sauces sounds intriguing. For the drumsticks, the lemon butter leg quarters look great! I'm a fairly new customer so I haven't had the chance to try a variety yet. But I'm looking forward to a great summer from the TC Farm!

  6. Jen C:
    Jun 08, 2016 at 07:55 AM

    Yes, please - I love this! For wings, I’d prefer smoked with salt and can add some variety with my own sauces. For the drumsticks, the variety you’re suggesting sounds great – lemon chicken, coconut chicken, carnitas, and simply smoked and salted. Specific soup recipes appeal less to me, but I’m not sure why because the sous vide meals from TC Farm are fabulous for convenience and flavor. Our family inhaled the lemon chicken – including both toddlers, which is a feat these days. Right now, I tend to favor your pork and beef but I’d buy more chicken with these options.

  7. Jack McCann:
    Jun 08, 2016 at 08:02 AM

    Thanks for all the comments and emails so far. Please keep it coming...

    I realized I should have linked to our 'how to cook dark meat' article for everyone :

    https://tc.farm/blog/2015/11/28/more-about-cooking-our-chicken/

  8. Dawn Schirm:
    Jun 08, 2016 at 03:20 PM

    I think smoked and salt sounds great!

  9. Lisa Domyahn:
    Jun 09, 2016 at 06:12 AM

    I think smoked and salted would be great too! And pre done...like it!

  10. Jaime:
    Jun 09, 2016 at 06:41 AM

    Smoked with salt! Sounds amazing!

  11. Marcel:
    Jun 09, 2016 at 09:16 AM

    I'd love to try these prepped wings and thighs. I usually put the thighs and wings in the crockpot frozen with some water, pull the meat off, then add them to a frying pan with seasoning for another dish (tacos, rice dish, etc.). That has worked well for us.

  12. Brett:
    Jun 09, 2016 at 10:10 AM

    Carnitas and confit sound like pretty cool options. But smoked is good too!

  13. Barbara Reis:
    Jun 13, 2016 at 09:29 PM

    Love the idea of smoked and salted wings and drummies and would order them. I used your slow cook method for the thighs and fell in love! Thx for your efforts.

  14. Cherri:
    Jun 14, 2016 at 08:13 AM

    Love the idea! Smoked and salted would work great for me. Provides a lot of flexibility.

  15. April:
    Jun 14, 2016 at 04:10 PM

    I would love to still have the options of fresh wings. I have a great recipe that does not take long to cook on the grill. As far as the legs go, I would like the option of not having them or having the carnitas.

    Thanks so much for all of efforts to provide us with high quality food!

  16. Tracy T.:
    Jun 16, 2016 at 12:06 AM

    We really enjoyed the drumsticks!
    We definitely like the idea of pre-cooked, smoked and salted, and we love the idea of a carnitas option.
    We really enjoy when the meats in our box are prepared in different ways to sort of force us to make different meals and to try different recipes, but like most people, we don't have a ton of time to cook and prepare extensive meals. We truly appreciate some of the pre-cooking so that we can still feed our family high-quality food without spending all day preparing it.

  17. Nora M.:
    Jun 23, 2016 at 07:35 AM

    I would like the option for fresh wings and drumsticks. I have several different recipes for both. There are many recipes where the smoked chicken flavor wouldn't really work.

  18. Shannon F.:
    Jun 23, 2016 at 07:39 AM

    Just tried the smoked chicken this week....it was so GOOD! My vote goes for smoked and salted as well as the coconut chicken confit.

  19. Jessica Marlin:
    Jun 23, 2016 at 08:13 AM

    I would love smoked and salted for both wings and drumsticks, I think that would be great and very versatile for different recipes. Plus we are a household with food allergies so we prefer to buy things with limited additives and then make our own safe sauces and accompaniments.

  20. Lilli:
    Jun 23, 2016 at 09:10 AM

    Chicken Carnitas, hands down, every day..

  21. Gina S:
    Jun 23, 2016 at 02:05 PM

    Fresh wings, fresh drumsticks, smoked & salted drumsticks. Yummmm!!

  22. Jenny:
    Jun 27, 2016 at 11:41 AM

    Would love smoked and salted and also fresh options for both wings and drumsticks.

  23. Mary:
    Jan 23, 2017 at 06:03 PM

    Wow! These were great and so easy! Thanks Jack, for a super simple and healthy meal. My husband couldn't get over how tender and delicious the drumsticks were, just crisped under the broiler.

  24. Ron:
    Aug 19, 2019 at 08:04 PM

    Hi all, any suggestions on oven temp and cook time for the smoked drumsticks Sous vide?

  25. Jack McCann:
    Aug 19, 2019 at 09:08 PM

    My recommendation for an oven finish would be as hot as possible - the meat is already cooked, so the goal is to just crisp up the skin. I'd probably broil it, turning the drumsticks once the skin was golden brown.

    My go-to way to cook these is to add a small amount of butter or oil to a heavy pan, then cut the meat off the bone right on the pan so I can cook all the pieces skin side down at once. It takes 3 or 4 cuts to get all the meat off - just use a sharp knife since the meat is so tender.

    These are one of my favorite foods to have around the house - super quick and delicious by themselves or easy to use in any meal.

    Check out the recipe link at the top of this article for some more tips...

  26. Chickpea:
    Aug 14, 2021 at 12:52 AM

    Hey, your blog post is so nice...thank you for this post..!!


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