Help getting chicken RIGHT

[blandfor]

After struggling through a couple of smokes getting the skin right on chicken I have scoured the internet for help and think I have a solution but was curious if anyone here can help too.  It seems that low and slow is not a great method for chicken skin and with a high temp of 250 on my #2, there is not much that can be done about that.  So for my two smokes, I have brined, and on the first I just patted dry and the second I let sit in the fridge after patting dry for about an hour and then rubbed.(maybe increasing to overnight would help dry the skin more)  Anyways after smoking at 250 for 1.5 hours, I put under the broiler for a couple minutes to crisp up the skin.  Unfortunately I am still getting rubbery skin.  The flavor is unbelievable good and the chicken is super moist but I have to solve this problem.  So I have been reading that chicken wings or legs for that matter are going to take on smoke very quickly, like maybe for only about 30-45 minutes.  So from reading elsewhere and just logic I would think the best plan of action would be to do all the same steps and then after 30-45 minutes of smoke, take them to the oven at 375 until the chicken came up to temp, which I would imagine would only take another 20 minutes max.  That should yield the same delicious flavor and moistness with a perfectly crispy skin.  Any comments or suggestions?

• Tweet
• 

[jcboxlot]

Sounds like a solid try.  Its been noted (though some disagree) that meat only takes on smoke up to 140 internal temp.  Temp your chicken to 140 and then transfer to oven or gas grill for crisper skin. 

[blandfor]

Thanks for the response.  I have read also that I should not be using a water pan for chicken and that will help too.  Figure with a brine already done and a short smoke time I am probably ok not using a water pan, right? 

So for chicken wings:
brine, rinse, pat dry, rub, air dry in refridgerater, smoke(2 oz. cherry wood for chicken) for 45 min without a water pan, to oven or grill to bring up to temp(20-30minutes at higher heat), sauce half leave half unsauced, done!

Sound ok?

[SuperDave]

Sound ok?

I'm sure they will be devoured. 

[jcboxlot]

Air dry in the fridge does work, though I found it a pain and only did it once:)

No need for water pan on a short cook like chicken.

[DivotMaker]

First, and foremost, blandfor, Welcome to the Club!!    Throw a first name and town in your signature line - we're pretty informal around here, and like to get to know each other.

Now....on to chicken skin!  Please read this:

Chicken Quarters - A Day of Enlightenment

Also check out my 325° attempt at crispy chicken skin, in the pic....not pretty, at all.

Bottom line?  Focus on making the most succulent, tasty chicken you can in your smoker.  Pull the skin, and feed it to the dog (if you have one).  Your life will be much more peaceful.

p.s. - Do a search in this section for crispy chicken skin.  You'll find lots of results, and won't have to reinvent the wheel.  Trust me, there are hundreds of posts on this ongoing subject!!
 

[blandfor]

Thanks DivotMaker!  I will definitely check as many of the posts as I have to.

My next try:  I gave a go at chicken legs tonights.  Brined for 4 hours last night, rinsed, patted dry. In the morning put on a drying rack, patted down again and let sit in fridge all day.  They were bone dry so thinking my mistake this time was adding rubbing with canola oil before applying the rub(was thinking there was no way the rub would stick in that state?) From there I went to the smoker with no water pan, smoked for 45 minutes, 2 oz of cherry.(I soaked the cherry for 30 minutes, could that be the moisture problem?)  After that went to the oven at 375 for another 15-20 minutes, applying bbq sauce to a couple of the legs just to see a couple of different finish products.  Let rest for 5 minutes and then ate and it was the second most delicious non fried chicken leg Ive ever had(1st being green street meats in Chicago, I know its Chicago but Green Steet does it right!).  But again the skin was RUBBERY! Not as bad as last time but not even close to what I would consider good eatin

I have to solve this problem!  I know it would be easier to just toss the skin but I love the skin, consider it the best part.  I wonder if there is a way to start by hitting the skin with high heat under the broiler or on the grill and then go to the smoker and then again finish in the oven/grill but worry than I am not gonna get enough smoke?

[blandfor]

Ha DivotMaker! Just read your day of enlightenment! This being only my 3rd smoke with chicken Im not ready to throw in the towel just yet but I do feel your pain.  I don't even care if its a crispy skin, Id take a non crispy skin that just isn't rubbery and you can bit through it well enough.  Gotta be able to make it happen, and if not, eventually I'll just be a two smoker house, one for chicken that gets the heat up to 300-325 and one for everything else that needs low and slow.  Either way, I'll do a few more chicken smokes the next 10 days or so.  Think I have the brine down as Ive been doing that for years but want to try some different rubs out and of course get that skin decent!

Gonna get some shrimp going a couple times this weekend, can't wait to perfect that, hopefully its more forgiving than chicken skin!

[DivotMaker]

Good luck in your journey, Joe!  Hopefully, you will solve the age-old problem!  Remember, if you get an Auber PID, and bypass the stock controller, you can take your smoker to 375 with no problem.

One more thing... no need to soak wood chunks.  All it does is delay the wood from smoking.  I also think your idea of cooking the skin before smoking may very well inhibit smoke penetration.  Best smoke taste is from starting with cold meat, in a cold smoker.

[blandfor]

Auber PID and bypass controls?  That may be a little over my head.  Reading about them now, pretty cool little gadget.  How was the installation?  It sounds like you have done this already, and even at those higher temperatures you still aren't getting a non rubbery skin? 

I'm sure you are right about cooking skin early, just throwing around ideas

[DivotMaker]

Not rubbery, at 325, but sure not pretty either! (See the pic of the 2 high-temp birds, in my post above).  Bypassing the stock controller is easy; there are step-by-step instructions in the Auber section.  We've done all the heavy lifting for new folks!

[blandfor]

Awesome, thanks Tony!!

[blandfor]

I finally did it!  Crispy skin with an easy bite through, moist chicken with that hint of smoke!  Not perfect yet, but real happy with the results.  Was doing chicken wings and not the whole bird so think this route will work well and could probably do the same for legs.

So, brined 4 hours, patted dry, applied dry rub, let air dry in fridge for an hour, and then I tried something a little different.  I got the smoker going early with 3oz of cherry at 225.  Once it was smoking I added the chicken wings and lowered the heat to 200.  I only smoked for 20 minutes.  Needless to say the wings were not cooked when removed from the smoker.  I had a sheet pan in a preheated oven at 425 for about 10 minutes and I sprayed the wings with a little cooking spray and placed on the sheet pan and into the oven.  10 miutes on one side, flipped 4 minutes on the other and I basted a few of the wings in a buffalo sauce and a few of the wings in a chipotle bbq sauce and left a bunch naked. 4 more minutes in the oven and removed, sauced the ones I had basted in their respective sauces and then it was on to eating.

The wings left naked had a great crisp skin, a great smokey flavor and were absolutely delicious.  The ones in the bbq and buffalo sauce didnt have the most crisp skin but it was not bad by any means, a nice bite through and were also very tasty.  I will say that with those two sauces in particular the smoke taste was fairly slight compared to my previous efforts but it was still noticeable.  Would not change the sauce-less ones at all, they were perfect. 

I think I can mess with the times a little bit and maybe try for an extra 10 minutes in the smoker and see what they are like then.  Also Im sure it helped that it was 0 degrees outside as I was doing this.  Kept the chicken from cooking I assume which kept that skin from getting rubbery while still hitting it with the smoke.  Also just ordered the PID controller and probe so hoping to try at a 350 temp and see what happens then.(That project scares me, I struggle plugging things into the wall!)

 

[DivotMaker]

Sounds like you've figured-out that you need some extra work, outside the SI, to get crispy skin, Joe!  This is kind of like the reverse-sear technique I promote for things like prime rib and roasts; low and slow (200°) to cook/add smoke, then sear in a hot oven or grill to finish the outside.  You're on to something!