The chicken is cured for 2 whole days before cooking.
The cooking process involves three steps. First, you dry the bird for a couple of hours at 140 degrees F without smoke. Then, you cold smoke or low temperature smoke the bird for three hours. Finally, you roast it at 350 degrees F until fully cooked (180 degrees F) Note: this time I made sure the temperature reached 180 (usually I stop at 160 for fowl) because of the prolonged low temperature exposure.
What surprised me was the skin. After curing for two days before cooking on the third, the skin out of the refriderator was taut and dried. After the two hours at 140, the skin had a yellowish tinge and after the smoking, the skin had turned more orange (but not as much as Peking Duck).
I did the roasting on my gas grill with indirect heat and covered the bird with tin foil.
It turned out perfectly, the breast was moist and the dark meat superb and the skin taste was fantastic. I served it with Anderson's Hoisin sauce blend.
A lotta work though.
