I smoked them with hickory for about 3.5 hours. They turned out good, but just a tad tough. I should have smoked them a little longer or perhaps foiled them to get them a little more tender.
I also decided to use a 12 inch clay saucer in my WSM instead of water in the water pan. Supposedly this is more efficient on the charcoal and eases cleanup. I don't think I will do that again. I found it pretty hard to keep the cooker around 250. It kept wanting to get to 300. The little bit of money saved on charcoal isn't worth it since I only smoke foods ~once a month. I'm probably just going to use the water pan w/o foil from now on just to simplify things.
Also, this week, I decided to make some firestarters. I used paraffin wax and shreaded paper in an egg carton. They work well, but for me, they're not worth the effort when I can get the starter cubes for about $4.
Last thing for today. I actually discovered this tip on another site (http://www.bluesmoke-bbq.com/006chicken/washing_chicken.php), so I really can't take credit for it, but I thought it was such a great idea that I am doing it now. When you're going to cook any meat, its always good to wash it off to remove bone particles and etc from it. So, on this site, this guy suggests using a vinegar and water bath to accomplish this. Just mix the vinegar and water in a bowl and give the meat a bath. According to the site, this will clean, disinfect, and tenderize the meat. I'm convinced. I saw how dirty the water was after I finished rinsing some chicken. Yuck, I was actually eating that stuff!! He uses a good quote on his site to convince you to use the vinegar bath. It is "A good food poisoning can ruin more than just your reputation as a Pit Master... ". That alone was enough to convince me.
