Ingredients:

Chicken on the Run
Marinade (Optional)
Air Fryer
Chicken Thighs & Breasts

Super Easy

You can use the marinade that is sold separately from the breading, to marinate your chicken overnight or for a few hours. The step that remains the same is the breading of your chicken. Do your best to keep a wet hand and a dry hand and just coat your pieces in the breading and place directly into your air fryer.

If you’re planning on using the marinade, get yourself something like the Jaccard Meat Tenderizer. It’ll pierce your meat and allow your protein to absorb more of the liquid, resulting in a juicer product.

The hardest part about this dish is deciding what dipping sauces to try out! We tried a few of our favorite BBQ sauces and ranch dressings, and they did not disappoint.

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Watch Waltons: Chicken on the Run

Overview

Walton’s is thrilled to have a new line of smokers and bbq accessories for sale. Camp Chef has been around for over 30 years, making full lines of pellet and gas grills and smokers. Being a family-owned business we also appreciate the fact that they are family-owned as well.

First, these are both pellet grills, so instead of using propane, or electricity to burn sawdust or wood chunks, these smokers utilize wood pellets to act as both the smoke and heat source. I switched to a pellet smoker/combo a few years ago and I am almost certainly never going back. In my mind, it is very similar to the amount of smoke you get from wood chunks and charcoal and the clean-up and setup are far easier. With that in mind, both of these grills have a rod on the side of the units that can be pulled out, which will empty the ash and any partially burned pellets into the ash cup below the smokebox, making clean up a lot easier. They both also have hopper emptying slides making emptying your hopper to change types of wood or to prevent the pellets from getting wet a lot easier.

They also both have something called smart smoke technology. This allows you to set your smoke level from 1-10, the lower the # is the closer the smoker will stay to the set temperature but it will create less smoker, the higher you set the smoke level the further it will deviate from that set temperature. They both also Camp Chef Connect App, an easy-to-use app that can be used on a smartphone or tablet. Now, from my experience with this, I do think it works better with IOS but it does work with android as well. Also, the directions on the Vertical said to burn at top temp for 30 minutes to burn off oils used in manufacturing, I don’t know what the woodwind said in the instructions but they both got considerably longer than 30 minutes. I wanted to make sure it was all burned off so they both ran at top temp for 3 hours.

Woodwind 36 in Wifi Pellet

One of the major advantages of the woodwinds is that the side shelf can be replaced with either a propane-powered sear box or a side griddle. This allows you some versatility that many pellet smoker combos don’t offer. Most pellet smokers top out at around 500-550°, making getting a really good sear on your steak a little difficult. The sear box or griddle makes reverse searing so much easier and better. Previously I would have to start my smoker at around 200 and leave my steak in there until it reaches 118, then pull it out of the smoker, wrap it in foil to prevent too much heat loss, then kick my grill up to as high as it would go and use my grill grates to try to get them as hot as possible, this would take upwards of 8 minutes sometimes. Having the sear box already at max temp means I pull them out of the smoker and begin searing immediately, which is a huge advantage in my mind.

But getting the sear box or the griddle isn’t even necessary to get a good sear as there is a slide of the smoker that when pulled moves the heat deflector out of the way meaning you can get up to 650° above the firebox. Add some grill grates and you could be up to about 800 in the main box. The woodwind also comes with built-in shelving, nearly doubling your available cooking space, 4 probe thermometers and the hopper can hold up to 22 lb of pellets.

XXL Vertical Smoker

For the Camp Chef Vertical XXL smoker you are going to get 8 screens, 3 of them are tightly woven mesh for small items and they total 2408 sq inches of smoking. The screens are orientated fairly tightly so you are not going to get to use all 2408 sq inches if you are making pork butts or something like that, but they will work very well for jerky. The unit also comes with a smoke stick to loop snack sticks over, they also have some s hooks on the smoke stick to easily hand netting from for things like ham. The Vertical XXL can hold up to 18 lb of pellets and comes with 2 probe thermometers.

Let’s get to Smokin’

First, we did a pork butt in both of them. We rubbed them liberally with Sweet Chipotle Lime Rub and smoked them at 225°. Both smokers presented a great finished product, gorgeous color on the pork butts, those of you who follow me on meatgistics got to see how awesome they looked when I pulled them from the smoker. A few important notes though on this were that the Vertical XL did a better job with pellet management, these smoked for over 12 hours and the vertical barely went through an entire hopper. Now, the smoke setting was set at 1 from the first 3 hours. Taste-wise this one was awash in my opinion, they both got amazing bark and the taste was awesome. The laydown finished a little faster but that was because it was situated right on top of the burn box. Also, the grates on the vertical do require some breaking in or spraying as they are not as stick-resistant.

Then we did some chicken wings as well. Both were absolutely awesome but again, the racks stuck a little on the vertical XXL so we lost some of that nice chicken on the run coating. Also, the built-in shelf for the Woodwind was perfect for getting the wings up and away from the heat source. So, both amazing but the woodwind won this one.

We have also used both of these to make snack sticks. The woodwind we did as soon as it came in stock and we again used the top shelf to lay the snack sticks on. 160° is as low as the woodwind goes but the snack sticks came out surprisingly good. I think cooking them at that temp worked fine initially but it dried the casings a little too much and then when they sat in the fridge overnight they absorbed too much moisture and the snap was no longer nice and firm.

What We Learned

At slow and low temp cooking they both functioned fairly similarly, the grats are better in the woodwind but the pellet management seems better in the XXL, so if you do a lot of slow low cooking, you will be happier with either. If you do a lot of steaks and grilled chicken and want that functionality then the 24 or 36" woodwind, especially with the sear box or the griddle on the side are going to be way more useful to you. However, if you want to do snack sticks, summer sausage, or hang hams, bacon, and things like that then the Vertical XXL is absolutely going to give better results.

Shop waltonsinc.com for Camp Chef Woodwind 36 in Wifi Pellet Smoker

Shop waltonsinc.com for Camp Chef XXL Vertical Smoker

Phosphates

In Deli Meats 103 we went over some common additives that are used in commercially processed Deli Meats, most of them are harmless and are aimed at increasing the freshness of the meat, the shelf life, taste and appearance. However, most of these items are not things you are going to have in your home, or have easy access to. However, there are a few additives that are easily available and will give you a nice reformed deli meat that can be sliced almost as thin as a true deli.

It doesn’t matter if you are making homemade deli meats or buying it from the store, some sort of phosphates will almost certainly be present. The phosphates raise the pH of the meat and allow it to hold more water. Commercial processors do this because a) water is much cheaper than meat and b) consumers want cuts of meat that are juicier. We recommend you use Cold Phosphate as this will dissolve easier in cold water than some other types. An important note on phosphates is that if you are injecting it you need to mix this in first so it can suspend in the water. I’d recommend you add phosphates to any deli meat you are making but it is especially important when making low fat deli cuts.

Binders

Binders, especially in low fat cuts, are going to be very key here when making a reformed cut of deli meat. Without it you will have a hard time getting everything to stick together tight enough to let you slice it deli thin without it crumbling. Carrot Fiber isn’t a traditional binder but it holds 26 times it’s weight in water so it can help with a juiciness, if you are going to use carrot fiber, like I do in future videos, is to use it in conjunction with cold phosphate. Super Bind is going to give you carrot fiber and potato starch, so you get the best of the carrot fiber plus the potato starch forms a gel at the same temp as the meat really starts to expel water. The only problem with this is that in a homemade deli you are going to have some voids in your meat. Having no voids with a hand crank stuffer is extremely difficult and those voids will be filled with this gel. It can be very unappealing. Sure Gel or Soy protein blend can also be good choices.

Sodium Lactate

Sodium Lactate is used by commercial processors to extend the shelf-life of meat products. It is sometimes used as a powder but is most often used in its liquid form. It increases the shelf life of meat products by regulating the pH of food and reduces the effects of bacteria spoilage. In its liquid form you would use it at a rate of 1.5% of your meat block, so for a 25 lb batch you would use .375 of a lb. As we sell it in gallons you can see that it would last you a long time.

Sodium Nitrite & Sure Cure

Another option for deli meat can be using sodium nitrite or sure cure. We’ve talked about it exhaustively in the past but using nitrite helps fight botulism spores. Its important to use when smoking meat as you are often creating the perfect environment for the growth of botulism and other bad microorganisms. It can also assist in increasing the shelf life of the meat and preserving the color and flavor.

Watch WaltonsTV: Deli Meat: 202 Additives For Homemade Deli Meats

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Shop waltonsinc.com for Cold Phosphate - Sodium Phosphate

Shop waltonsinc.com for Sodium Lactate

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Overview

Walton’s is thrilled to have a new line of smokers and bbq accessories for sale. Camp Chef has been around for over 30 years, making full lines of pellet and gas grills and smokers. Being a family-owned business we also appreciate the fact that they are family-owned as well.

First, these are both pellet grills, so instead of using propane, or electricity to burn sawdust or wood chunks, these smokers utilize wood pellets to act as both the smoke and heat source. I switched to a pellet smoker/combo a few years ago and I am almost certainly never going back. In my mind, it is very similar to the amount of smoke you get from wood chunks and charcoal and the clean-up and setup are far easier. With that in mind, both of these grills have a rod on the side of the units that can be pulled out, which will empty the ash and any partially burned pellets into the ash cup below the smokebox, making clean up a lot easier. They both also have hopper emptying slides making emptying your hopper to change types of wood or to prevent the pellets from getting wet a lot easier.

They also both have something called smart smoke technology. This allows you to set your smoke level from 1-10, the lower the # is the closer the smoker will stay to the set temperature but it will create less smoker, the higher you set the smoke level the further it will deviate from that set temperature. They both also Camp Chef Connect App, an easy-to-use app that can be used on a smartphone or tablet. Now, from my experience with this, I do think it works better with IOS but it does work with android as well. Also, the directions on the Vertical said to burn at top temp for 30 minutes to burn off oils used in manufacturing, I don’t know what the woodwind said in the instructions but they both got considerably longer than 30 minutes. I wanted to make sure it was all burned off so they both ran at top temp for 3 hours.

Woodwind 36 in Wifi Pellet

One of the major advantages of the woodwinds is that the side shelf can be replaced with either a propane-powered sear box or a side griddle. This allows you some versatility that many pellet smoker combos don’t offer. Most pellet smokers top out at around 500-550°, making getting a really good sear on your steak a little difficult. The sear box or griddle makes reverse searing so much easier and better. Previously I would have to start my smoker at around 200 and leave my steak in there until it reaches 118, then pull it out of the smoker, wrap it in foil to prevent too much heat loss, then kick my grill up to as high as it would go and use my grill grates to try to get them as hot as possible, this would take upwards of 8 minutes sometimes. Having the sear box already at max temp means I pull them out of the smoker and begin searing immediately, which is a huge advantage in my mind.

But getting the sear box or the griddle isn’t even necessary to get a good sear as there is a slide of the smoker that when pulled moves the heat deflector out of the way meaning you can get up to 650° above the firebox. Add some grill grates and you could be up to about 800 in the main box. The woodwind also comes with built-in shelving, nearly doubling your available cooking space, 4 probe thermometers and the hopper can hold up to 22 lb of pellets.

XXL Vertical Smoker

For the Camp Chef Vertical XXL smoker you are going to get 8 screens, 3 of them are tightly woven mesh for small items and they total 2408 sq inches of smoking. The screens are orientated fairly tightly so you are not going to get to use all 2408 sq inches if you are making pork butts or something like that, but they will work very well for jerky. The unit also comes with a smoke stick to loop snack sticks over, they also have some s hooks on the smoke stick to easily hand netting from for things like ham. The Vertical XXL can hold up to 18 lb of pellets and comes with 2 probe thermometers.

Let’s get to Smokin’

First, we did a pork butt in both of them. We rubbed them liberally with Sweet Chipotle Lime Rub and smoked them at 225°. Both smokers presented a great finished product, gorgeous color on the pork butts, those of you who follow me on meatgistics got to see how awesome they looked when I pulled them from the smoker. A few important notes though on this were that the Vertical XL did a better job with pellet management, these smoked for over 12 hours and the vertical barely went through an entire hopper. Now, the smoke setting was set at 1 from the first 3 hours. Taste-wise this one was awash in my opinion, they both got amazing bark and the taste was awesome. The laydown finished a little faster but that was because it was situated right on top of the burn box. Also, the grates on the vertical do require some breaking in or spraying as they are not as stick-resistant.

Then we did some chicken wings as well. Both were absolutely awesome but again, the racks stuck a little on the vertical XXL so we lost some of that nice chicken on the run coating. Also, the built-in shelf for the Woodwind was perfect for getting the wings up and away from the heat source. So, both amazing but the woodwind won this one.

We have also used both of these to make snack sticks. The woodwind we did as soon as it came in stock and we again used the top shelf to lay the snack sticks on. 160° is as low as the woodwind goes but the snack sticks came out surprisingly good. I think cooking them at that temp worked fine initially but it dried the casings a little too much and then when they sat in the fridge overnight they absorbed too much moisture and the snap was no longer nice and firm.

What We Learned

At slow and low temp cooking they both functioned fairly similarly, the grats are better in the woodwind but the pellet management seems better in the XXL, so if you do a lot of slow low cooking, you will be happier with either. If you do a lot of steaks and grilled chicken and want that functionality then the 24 or 36" woodwind, especially with the sear box or the griddle on the side are going to be way more useful to you. However, if you want to do snack sticks, summer sausage, or hang hams, bacon, and things like that then the Vertical XXL is absolutely going to give better results.

Shop waltonsinc.com for Camp Chef Woodwind 36 in Wifi Pellet Smoker

Shop waltonsinc.com for Camp Chef XXL Vertical Smoker