Smokin-It User Forum!
Recipes => Poultry => Topic started by: woodmeister on December 27, 2017, 01:10:38 AM
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OK folks. My first post here.
For my first serious smoking project, I tried boneless skinless chicken breasts. It was not very successful. Can you say nasty? The chicken meat inside was wonderful. It was moist and tender and tasted great. But the smoked dark brown "skin" on the outside of the chicken was super nasty. Way too strongly smoked.
All I can think is that I put in way too much Apple wood and over-smoked it -- even though total smoking time was a mere 50 minutes.
I didn't do a rub, but did coat the breasts with olive oil.
The basics:
Three large boneless skinless chicken breasts.
Equilibrium brined to 1.25%.
Chicken on top shelf of 2D smoker.
About 4.5 oz. (two small chunks) apple wood.
Cooking temp. 250°.
Probe temp. 160°.
Cooking time 50 minutes (from cold start).
Smoked after 12 minutes to the end. Plenty of wood left at end.
From all the posts I've read, 50 minutes seems like a very short cooking/smoking time to me. But the probe reached 160° and the meat was done. It wasn't over-done or under-done. It was perfect.
The only problem was the super strong outside "skin" of the chicken. It was nearly inedible.
Next time I'm going to try one little chunk of Apple wood (2 oz.), a cooking temp. of 225°, and I'll place the chicken on the second from top shelf.
Any other suggestions? Would a glaze (such as maple or honey) help? Did my wood catch on fire? If catching on fire was the problem, what should I do to prevent that in the future?
Thanks in advance for comments.
Woody
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Welcome!
I have never smoked boneless skinless breast (only chicken quarters or turkey), but I’m guessing you had too much wood. I’d try to cut that down like you mentioned next time. Do one change per cook so you know what is making a difference. Then perhaps buy skin on breasts and smoke those. Most of the time skin is rubbery after smoking so it’s removed, but it may make a difference. I have only smoked turkey breasts and those have turned out well the times I’ve done that. But I didn’t use much wood.
I sure others will provide some feedback for you as well.
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I have a #2 and that would not even reach full temp within 50 minutes, so I am surprised that the chicken breasts would be done that quickly. This could be an issue with probe placement, but then again you indicated that the chicken was done. That's amazing to me--when I do chicken breasts they usually smoke closer to 1.5+ hours. Using 4.5oz of wood may have been too much, but it doesn't sound out of range to me (I would have used 3oz). It is quite possible that the wood caught on fire and the way to know that is to watch the first heating cycle. If at around 180F you start noticing puffs of smoke and then a huge burst of smoke, then the wood was on fire. To avoid this, most of us avoid buying wood from the big box stores that is typically too dry to smoke and catches fire.
On your next smoke, watch the smoker through the first heating cycle until the light goes off and you will know if the wood catches on fire...the "belch" as we call it can't is very obvious!
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Wood quantity is relative to smoking time in these smokers. 4 - 4.5 ounces of wood is generally a 4 - 5 hour smoke. I'd be in the 1.5 ounce range for a short smoke as you experienced. With no skin you get a ton of smoke penetration and poultry takes smoke easily anyway.
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You're absolutely correct that the smoker hadn't reached cooking temperature in 50 minutes. I had it set to 250°, but when the probe reached 160° in 50 minutes and shut the smoker down, it had only reached 246°.
My wood isn't from a "Big Box" store, but relative humidity that day was 7% and it hadn't gone over 10% the preceding week. So I'm sure my wood was very dry.
I never noticed a smoke "belch" but I only went out and checked the smoker a couple of times. Each time a good strong plume of smoke was coming out of the vent hole. When I opened the door to take the chicken out, I was engulfed by a thick black cloud of smoke. I don't know if that's normal or not.
Thanks for the comments,
Woody
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Chicken breasts are better when smoked at 250 with the bone in, and the skin on (skin discarded or fed to the dog). Boneless/skinless are more difficult. Leg quarters or thighs are by far the most delectable, smoked or not, in my opinion. Breasts don't have much flavor, and can be really firm and dry, so it's good you brined them. If you want to try again, I would suggest using maybe just 2 ounces or less of wood, and smoking at a slower, lower temperature, like 200. Maybe brush with a maple or honey glaze to try and keep the outside more moist and flavorful. And go to just 160, like you did.
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A thick black cloud of smoke is not something that I have experienced, so I suspect that your wood did catch fire at some point. If you are seeing a dark gray type smoke coming from the vent, that is another indication of the wood catching fire.
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Maybe look toward foil procedures and clean ups from earlier smokes.
Drippings on top of the wood box might also be flaring up at the highest temps. As I gained experiences from a progression of smokes I've continually lowered my analog temp setting down ... the boxes are really efficient when it comes to heating up and holding heat during the smokes. For that matter, two hours after I turn mine off the cool down time only drops from say 165 IT to 145 IT when left in the unopened smoker. I like to do that on shorter smokes especially with whole chickens instead of pulling and wrapping.
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I've had decent luck on boneless skinless chicken breasts (that I brined ahead of time) with 2 oz wood at 250 until 165. As others have said, I'd cut back the wood first next time and see if that helps.
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One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is the possibility that your wood caught fire and covered your chicken with creosote instead of smoke. In addition to using less wood, I would make what I use into large pencil size chips and cover the floor of the firebox with foil. I might also start the smoker at only 200 until the smoke starts and then turn it up to the 250. I always soak my chips in water first, too, though there are some strong statements that doing so is pointless. :)
At any rate, these steps should help ensure your wood doesn't ignite. One way to diagnose after a smoke is to see if you are left with charcoal or with ashes. Ashes means your wood caught fire and burned up which is undesirable.
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Take-2: MUCH better!
This time I used exactly 2.0 oz. of chunk Apple wood (one small chunk), "Boated" the wood in foil, placed the wood in the back of the wood box, lowered the cooking temperature from 250° down to 225°, and placed a tray of soaked Pinto Beans in water directly under the chicken. This way, the drippings from the chicken went into the beans instead of dropping on top of the hot wood box.
Cooking/smoking time went from 0:50 at 250° to 1:15 at 225°. And smoke was barely coming out when the probe shut the smoker down.
Results: The chicken still had a too strong smoky flavor on the outside. But it wasn't nasty this time and was definitely edible. And the insides of the chicken were even more moist and tender. My wife and I were able to cut the chicken with our forks.
But it's still stronger than I'd like. It's so stronly smoked, it's better for flavoring than eating plain. I've vacuum sealed the two breasts we didn't finish and am saving them for warming and putting on top of salads, or mixing into pasta with cream sauce or stews.
Next time I think I'll go back to 250° and hope that the shorter cooking/smoking time yields a more mild smoke. I'll probably cut down to 1.75 oz. of Apple Wood too.
Thanks for all the tips. I'm learning.
Woody
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I think you'll be right back where you started.
Less wood foiled is a good start. Lower temp less smoke ... might want to drop down to 200 instead of going back to 250. Also could put wood toward the front of wood box as mine seems to get less heated and smoke longer/lighter? I've noticed wood placed at the back of the box burns quicker and first before the wood at the front of the box.
Also it's been mentioned maybe use a light marinade after the brine. I would wash the breast well after the brine and use zero salt on the skinless chicken as it does tend to dry the surface out ...
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I was going to suggest wrapping the boneless skinless breast with bacon, both to keep moisture in and some smoke out of the meat. The bacon won't get fully crisp, but you could crisp it up in the stove or feed it to the dog.
Sounds like boating your wood with foil helped, though.
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I found that chicken needs less smoke. I used 1oz of wood. Nothing more. Found its just right. My $.02.
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Call me crazy but all of the above is why I stick with pork and beef (and salmon once in a while) on the smoker and fowl on the grill. I admire those who can smoke chicken and turkey and get great results. It always looks good.
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Call me crazy but all of the above is why I stick with pork and beef (and salmon once in a while) on the smoker and fowl on the grill. I admire those who can smoke chicken and turkey and get great results. It always looks good.
Smoked chicken is great and generally really easy. Add the words, "boneless" and "skinless", and the train has left the tracks. Lol! If I ever went that route, it would be because the chicken was going into another recipe like a pasta or casserole, smoke time would be very brief.