Content
- 1 Benefits of cold smoking chicken legs at home
- 2 Meat selection and preparation
- 3 How to marinate chicken legs for cold smoking
- 4 How to smoke chicken legs in a cold smoker
- 5 Recipe for cold smoking chicken legs using a smoke generator
- 6 How long does it take to smoke cold smoked legs?
- 7 Storage rules
- 8 Conclusion
Cold smoked chicken legs can be prepared at home, but the process is longer and more complex compared to the hot method. In the first case, the meat is exposed to smoke at lower temperatures, and the total cooking time takes more than one day.
Cold smoked chicken has a bright taste and aroma
Benefits of cold smoking chicken legs at home
Cooking homemade smoked meats has many advantages: fresh products are used, there are no harmful additives.
The cold method has a number of advantages over the hot one:
- More nutrients are retained in products.
- Smoked meats last longer.
- Legs smoked in a cold way are less harmful because they produce fewer carcinogenic substances than when smoked hot.
Meat selection and preparation
You can use chilled or frozen chicken parts for smoking.When choosing legs in a store, you first need to evaluate their appearance.
The skin should be uniform in color, without feathers or damage. The fat on the legs is slightly yellowish, but if it is dark, you should avoid purchasing it.
If the cut areas are weathered, it means that the chicken has been stored for a long time, which is unacceptable for refrigerated products.
Another sign of stale meat is its characteristic smell. If the legs are rotten, they will smell even when frozen.
Before smoking, chicken must be cleaned of excess skin and other unnecessary elements, then the skin must be singed.
It is better to choose chilled meat for smoking.
Then you need to salt or marinate the legs for cold smoking. This process should last 1-3 days, since the cooking temperature is no more than 30 degrees. Traditional spices are salt, black and allspice, bay leaf, sugar. But you can use other seasonings to suit your taste: coriander, ginger, cinnamon, garlic, celery, marjoram, basil. You should not overuse aromatic additives so as not to overwhelm the taste of the chicken.
How to marinate chicken legs for cold smoking
Before smoking, the legs must be salted or marinated. There are dry and wet methods of preparing meat.
Classic dry marinade
This is the easiest way to prepare chicken for smoking.
You need to take a few pinches of rock salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix the spices and rub the chicken legs with this mixture. Place the chicken pieces under pressure. You can use stones or a three-liter jar filled with water as a load. Leave to marinate for 1-3 days.
Marinade with paprika
For 2 kg of legs you will need the following ingredients:
- salt – 50 g;
- dried garlic - to taste;
- mixture of peppers - to taste;
- ground paprika - to taste.
Cooking rules:
- Pour the spices into a small bowl and mix.
- Rub the mixture onto the legs and place in a deep bowl. Place in the refrigerator for at least a day.
Classic wet recipe
You will need the following ingredients for 1 liter of water:
- coarse salt – 1 tbsp. l.;
- black peppercorns – 6-8 pcs.;
- sugar – 1 tsp;
- bay leaf – 1 pc.;
- garlic – 1-2 cloves;
- table vinegar (9%) - 1 tbsp. l.
Traditional ingredients for marinade - pepper, salt, bay leaf and garlic
Cooking rules:
- Pour water into a saucepan and place on high heat. Add salt.
- After boiling, pour in vinegar, add bay leaf, garlic, peppercorns and sugar, reduce the flame.
- Boil the marinade for about 15 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool.
- Immerse the legs in the brine, cover with a plate or circle, and place a weight on top. Marinate for 36-48 hours in the refrigerator.
Cold brine
For 5 legs you will need the following ingredients:
- water – 1 l;
- table salt – 100 g;
- nitrite salt 20 g;
- granulated sugar – 5 g;
- bay leaf -3 pcs.;
- black peppercorns – 8 pcs.;
- allspice peas – 3 pcs.
Cooking rules:
- Place all the spices in a saucepan with water and stir until the salt and sugar dissolve.
- Place the chicken legs in a suitable container, cover with brine and leave in the refrigerator for 48 hours. During these two days, turn and massage several times.
How to smoke chicken legs in a cold smoker
After marinating, the legs should be washed and wiped dry with paper towels.Then tie twines to the legs and lower them into boiling water for 1.5 minutes to make the skin softer, then pull them out, let the water drain and hang them to dry for 5 hours in a well-ventilated place.
Cold smoked chicken legs cannot be prepared at home in full compliance with the technology, so they may be unsafe. In this regard, most recipes intended for home use include a heat treatment step, which follows salting or pickling.
When the legs are dry, they need to be placed on a wire rack and placed in an oven preheated to 80 degrees. Cook until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 70 degrees. Next, remove them from the oven and hang them overnight. Then you can begin further preparation.
To do this you will need a cold smoked smokehouse. The peculiarity of the device is that the chamber with food should not heat up, so it is located at a distance from the fire source and connected to it by a chimney. As the smoke passes through it, it has time to cool down.
For smoking you will need wood chips or twigs. For chicken, it is better to use alder or a mixture of sawdust from fruit trees. They need to be soaked first so that they last longer.
The readiness of the legs should be checked periodically
Hang the legs in the smoking cabinet. Fill the combustion chamber with wood and light it. When the coals burn out, pour wood chips onto them. Close the smoking chamber. Legs that have undergone heat treatment in the oven after salting will be ready in 6-8 hours. If you start smoking immediately after drying the pickled legs, the cooking time will be 24 hours. The smokehouse cannot be opened for the first 8 hours.It is imperative to monitor the temperature. Its optimal value is 27 degrees.
To check readiness, you need to make an incision: if the meat is light and without juice, then it can be removed.
Then the cold smoked legs need to be hung for several hours or immediately sent to the refrigerator to ripen for 1-2 days.
Recipe for cold smoking chicken legs using a smoke generator
A smoke generator is a compact smoking device that allows you to cook chicken legs even in an apartment.
Place the legs in a food container. They can be hung on hooks or laid out on a grid. Pour wood chips into the smoke generator and connect it to the power source. The smoke will flow through the chimney into the smoking chamber with food.
How long does it take to smoke cold smoked legs?
It depends on the weight of the products and their preliminary preparation. The longer the marinating or salting process, the shorter the cooking time. On average, it takes a day to smoke cold-smoked legs.
Storage rules
Homemade cold smoked chicken legs last longer than hot smoked chicken legs because the meat is exposed to cold smoke for a longer period of time. The product can be kept in the general refrigerator compartment for up to 7 days, provided the packaging is sealed.
To increase shelf life, you can place the product in the freezer, but after defrosting, the quality of the meat deteriorates. To preserve it as much as possible, you need to wrap each leg in food paper and put it in a bag intended for freezing. This way you can preserve chicken for up to 30 days.
Conclusion
It’s quite possible to cook cold smoked legs yourself. The main thing is to have a good smokehouse and strictly follow the technology.
