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Sunday, April 21, 2013

Slappin my Chicken: Slap Yo Daddy Chicken Rub Review and Chicken Practice

A couple of weeks ago we did a practice chicken cook to try and perfect our recipe for 2013.  At the same time we tried a new rub:  Harry Soo's Slap Yo Daddy Chicken Rub...


After opening the package, we performed the obligatory sniff and finger test.  The chili, onion, garlic, and cumin flavors where obvious upon nasal spectroscopy.  The finger test added a taste of citrus that brought it all together.  This was a rub I could fall in love with.  But, the biggest test was up next: competition style chicken...

We are trying to get away from thighs.  I love a good chicken thigh, smoked to perfection with a blend of rub and sauce.  What I do not like is trimming a scraping a thigh to get bite through skin.  So, we have been experimenting with legs and thighs this off season.  First, I started with some whole chicken legs...


Using poultry shears, I separated the leg from the thigh, removed the knuckles from the thigh bone, and marinaded overnight in Italian dressing.  In the morning, I removed from the marinade, patted dry and placed into foil pans.  Then, I seasoned both sides with a coating of Slap Yo' Daddy Chicken rub...


Once the rub became "wet", I applied a second coat on the top...


The chicken then hung out in the refrigerator all day until hitting the smoker.  The cooking process is as follows:

30 minutes on the rack, 275 F, skin up.
Dunk in sauce, placed into a foil pan, skin side down, 30 minutes at 275 F.
Remove from pan and place on rack, skin side up.  Applied sauce at start, then after 15 minutes.  Ramped temperature up to 300 F.  Pulled after 30 minutes.  So, that is a total cook time of 1.5 hours for those keeping score.  Here is how they looked:


I have to say, I love the SYD chicken rub.  I nice mix of spices with a bit of heat.  Actually, if you go a little heavy handed, it is a lot of kick.  But, after a night in the frig, the heat did mellow out a bit.  So, if you are adverse to spice, watch how much you put on your yardbird.  I will be backing off the rub a bit for competition.

As for the chicken, I am liking the tender and moist meat that the higher cook temperature is creating.  The skin on half of the thighs was bite through and the skin on all of the legs was bite through.  I believe that for our first competition this year, we will be turning in legs that are separated from the thighs on a whole leg.

Overall, the Slap Yo' Daddy Chicken rub will be part of our first competition.  The blend of spices and citrus flavor is perfect with the dressing marinade and sauce.  Rating?  3.5 out of 4 stars.  I can't wait to try this rub on some other cuts of meat...

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill

3 comments:

  1. You must have a very sensitive palate because I could not detect any noticeable heat.

    We rarely see anything but thighs in competition. The few times I have got breast meat it has been dry. It is pretty rare to see legs too.

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    Replies
    1. The legs that were over seasoned were a bit hot. The rub had a chance to concentrate. The thighs were not an issue. Just hotter than I am used to with other chicken rubs.

      So, which do you prefer in competition, legs or thighs?

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  2. I will have to say thighs by default. We have only got legs a couple of times.

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