Chicken, skin or skinless?

[jdiver]

Since it's so hard to get good skin on smoked chicken. And some people like skinless chicken anyway. How does smoking skinless chicken do? Normally I'd never even consider skinless chicken. But I'd prefer pulling off the skin, and cooking it, or rendering it separately. I love good crisp chicken skin.

But with a good rub, and or sauce, how would that chicken come out if smoked sans skin?

Anyone do it that way?

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[tbcop-is-smokin]

Jd , I did a whole chicken this past weekend and I left the skin on. Even though my Chicken looked very good after I took it out of the smoker I tried the skin and the taste was not good at all. It was tough and had a strong taste of smoke. Maybe I'm doing something wrong because I'm new at this too.
Good Luck
Tony

http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=2043.0

[Walt]

The skin is what helps hold all the moisture in.  Cook chicken until 150 useing 2 oz of wood.  Remove to the oven & broil it to crisp it up & remove @ 165.

[swthorpe]

If you are doing skinless breasts, then I would wrap them in bacon to retain moisture and also do a 3+- hour brine.    On the other hand, when I do chicken halves with skin, I take them off at 160IT and put them skin down on my gas grill to crisp up the skin..works nicely.   A broiler will work as well.    If I am doing pulled chicken with thighs, then I throw away the skins before pulling.

[jdiver]

Looks like I'm going to have to play. And yes was thinking of doing  brine if skinless. I just hate to waste the skin in the smoker if it doesn't come out wonderful.

My favorite piece is the thigh by far. I'll try some both skin and skinless. Also thinking of smoking the meat for later use. Like on salads, or in other dishes as cut up chicken. Anything I'd want pre-cooked chicken. Even a BBQ Chicken and jalapeño pizza, yum.

[CarlZ]

Try pulling your chicken, moisten it with a little apple juice and put it back in the SI for about an hour on 160 with a little more wood. The moist meat will pick up a little extra smoke and makes delicious chicken salad and ravioli filling.

[Walt]

Very nice Carl! Outside the box.

[Pork Belly]

I use the skin as an advantage. I pull it back and apply the seasoning directly to the meat. I also take any trimmed fat from the body cavity or leg quarters and place it between the skin and the breast meat to render and baste.

[jdiver]

Try pulling your chicken, moisten it with a little apple juice and put it back in the SI for about an hour on 160 with a little more wood. The moist meat will pick up a little extra smoke and makes delicious chicken salad and ravioli filling.

Hey, I like that, great idea... Thanks

[DivotMaker]

I prefer to smoke with skin on; I think it holds moisture, due to the thin layer of fat in the skin.  But, I usually don't eat the skin, so I'm not concerned about the "crispy factor." 

Brine is a great thing for poultry for skinned OR skinless!  Poultry really benefits from brining, so always do it, no matter how you cook it.

I like Carl's idea, too!

[jdiver]

I've never been a big fan of Pulled Chicken... But I've not had it done with a bit of apple juice. And too often it's dry, and just the white meat. So that being said. I'll give it a shot.

Just because I don't like something probably means I haven't liked how it was done in the past.

[DivotMaker]

Just because I don't like something probably means I haven't liked how it was done in the past.

How true!  I know exactly what you mean!