After a bye week, LSU returns to action this Saturday with a matchup against No.1-ranked Alabama. The Crimson Tide are 6-0 on the season with an average margin of victory of 25 points. Before LSU had a week off, the Tigers suffered a miserable 48-11 loss to Auburn, so this week’s game could get ugly fast.
But at least there’s barbecue!
This week, we’re going with an Alabama classic, smoked chicken with Alabama white sauce.
A Brief History
If you’re a fan of barbecue, chances are you’ve heard of Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur, Ala. whether you’ve actually been there or not. While they are known for great barbecue, they’re even more known for their unique white sauce.
Apparently the true origin of the sauce is unknown, but al.com has a 2017 story featuring an interview with Chris Lilly, executive chef and vice president of Big Bog Gibson Bar-B-Q (and husband of Bob Gibson’s great granddaughter), where he shares his opinion.
“His chickens sometimes stayed on his pit for three hours,” Lilly explained. “When you’re pulling a pit of chickens you’ve got to have some way to keep those chickens moist. Keep them from drying out. And I think that’s where the mayonnaise came from. The fat in the mayonnaise basically used as a buffer against the chicken drying out once it came off the pit.”
Regardless of how or why Gibson came up with it, the tangy, vinegary, peppery sauce is perfect on chicken among other things.
The Recipe
You won’t find an easier smoked meat recipe than this one, which makes it great for a weeknight dinner. It’s also inexpensive as it only requires three ingredients: meat, rub, and sauce (unless you want to make your own sauce, of course, but I kept it easy for this one).
You can use whole chickens if you want, but I went with chicken halves for speed. Start by firing up your smoker to 300 degrees indirect using your choice of wood. I usually use pecan, but for this smoke I went with apple. I like the higher temperature with chicken halves so it crisps the skin as opposed to low and slow.
While the smoker is getting up to temperature, season your chicken halves with our Song Bird chicken seasoning. It’s a bold combination of citrus, herbs, and ginger that give great flavor to chicken.
Once the smoker is ready, place your chicken on the rack and let go for about an hour until it reaches 155 degrees internal. If you really want to do it like Big Bog Gibson’s does, you can take it all the way to 165 and then dunk your chicken into a vat of white sauce, but you probably don’t have that much sauce to use.
If you want to make your own white sauce, there are plenty of recipes out there that use vinegar, mayo, pepper, lemon juice, and maybe a few other spices. For simplicity, I went with Lillie’s Q Ivory Sauce because I had it on hand. I also love and highly recommend Thunderbird Whitebird Sauce.
At 155, mop the white sauce all over your chicken and let go about 10 minutes longer until it hits 165 degrees. At this point, take the chicken out of the smoker, pull, and eat. You can serve some more white sauce alongside it and wash it all down with some Rebel Yell 100.
Equipment
- Smoker
Ingredients
- 2 Chicken halves
- Song Bird Chicken Seasoning
- Lillie's Q Ivory Sauce
Instructions
- Fire up your smoker to 300 degrees indirect using your choice of wood. I went with apple on this one.
- Season your chicken halves with Song Bird chicken seasoning and place on a wire rack onto your smoker.
- Let go for about an hour, until it reaches 155 degrees internal
- At that point, brush well with your Lillie's Q Ivory Sauce and leave until it reaches 165 degrees.
- Remove from smoker, pull, and eat.
