There has been some talk here and there on the Pit of the advantages of smoking a chicken at 400°F to 460°F. I've always followed Meathead's advice that chicken is juicy and crispy smoked at 325°F to 350°F, but I wanted to try it at higher temperatures in my PBC.
I had read that charcoal smokers can't sustain those 400°+ temps throughout the cook like kamado cookers can, so I wanted to test it in my PBC.
Last night I did my family's favorite PBC Cook, chicken and sausages. Chicken dry brined, uncovered, overnight in the fridge. Dry brine was PBC's AP Rub. I rub the chicken muscles under the skin with AP Rub and then sprinkle a mixture of 2tsp AP rub:1tsp baking powder on the skin to help dry the skin.
Fired up the PBC with a full load of Kingsford Professional, which burns hotter and faster. I only use it for chicken cooks because it burns down pretty quickly, compared to KBB. I did the 15-10-10 PBC lighting procedure, using a Char Broil Weekender "compact" chimney , (I like that chimney because it gets the topmost coals ashed in 15 minutes and it fits my PBC). By the time I added the chickens, the PBC was nearing 490°F.
The twist this time was that I followed a recommendation here by a PBC user to use a thin stainless steel rod (purchased at Lowe's) instead of the PBC rebar. This allows for even more air flow. I placed it diagonally in the rebar holes like I do for all my one-chicken-6-sausage cooks.
The chicken was a 6lb roaster, and the split halves, with backbone, breastbone, and wishbone removed were 2.5 lbs each. I always remove those bones to make the removal and slicing of the breast meat easier at the end of the cook.
The sausages were both hot and mild Italian sausages from Fresh Market.
The average PBC temp was 410°F and the chicken took 1hr 10 min to cook to 160°F breast temperature. I took the sausages out at 180°F at 40 minutes and broiled them for 3 minutes per side in the broiler to remove tan lines. Here's a link to the sausage basket I modified to hang in the PBC.
The results of the cook:
The chicken was the usual excellent Winner Winner Chicken Dinner on the PBC fare. It didn't cook much faster than chickens I typically cook at 325-350°F. It was juicy and tender with nice crispy skin all over.
In summary, while I liked smoking the chicken at 410°F average temp on the PBC because I liked the challenge to see if it could be done, I don't see much of a difference in taste, texture, tenderness, and moistness as those chickens smoked on the PBC at 325°F-350°F. Just as delicious.
In the interests of research (and to my family's delight), one of these days, I'm going to repeat this experiment with a full load of chickens and sausages (3 chickens and 18 sausages). That's always my ultimate test for the PBC's ability to maintain temperature. The PBC does not perform as well, temperaturewise, when loaded with chickens and sausages, as opposed to this single chicken/6 sausage cook, so I'm curious to see how it does with two skinny stainles steel rods placed conventionally in the rebar holes instead of on the diagonal as in this cook.
Kathryn
I had read that charcoal smokers can't sustain those 400°+ temps throughout the cook like kamado cookers can, so I wanted to test it in my PBC.
Last night I did my family's favorite PBC Cook, chicken and sausages. Chicken dry brined, uncovered, overnight in the fridge. Dry brine was PBC's AP Rub. I rub the chicken muscles under the skin with AP Rub and then sprinkle a mixture of 2tsp AP rub:1tsp baking powder on the skin to help dry the skin.
Fired up the PBC with a full load of Kingsford Professional, which burns hotter and faster. I only use it for chicken cooks because it burns down pretty quickly, compared to KBB. I did the 15-10-10 PBC lighting procedure, using a Char Broil Weekender "compact" chimney , (I like that chimney because it gets the topmost coals ashed in 15 minutes and it fits my PBC). By the time I added the chickens, the PBC was nearing 490°F.
The twist this time was that I followed a recommendation here by a PBC user to use a thin stainless steel rod (purchased at Lowe's) instead of the PBC rebar. This allows for even more air flow. I placed it diagonally in the rebar holes like I do for all my one-chicken-6-sausage cooks.
The chicken was a 6lb roaster, and the split halves, with backbone, breastbone, and wishbone removed were 2.5 lbs each. I always remove those bones to make the removal and slicing of the breast meat easier at the end of the cook.
The sausages were both hot and mild Italian sausages from Fresh Market.
The average PBC temp was 410°F and the chicken took 1hr 10 min to cook to 160°F breast temperature. I took the sausages out at 180°F at 40 minutes and broiled them for 3 minutes per side in the broiler to remove tan lines. Here's a link to the sausage basket I modified to hang in the PBC.
The results of the cook:
The chicken was the usual excellent Winner Winner Chicken Dinner on the PBC fare. It didn't cook much faster than chickens I typically cook at 325-350°F. It was juicy and tender with nice crispy skin all over.
In summary, while I liked smoking the chicken at 410°F average temp on the PBC because I liked the challenge to see if it could be done, I don't see much of a difference in taste, texture, tenderness, and moistness as those chickens smoked on the PBC at 325°F-350°F. Just as delicious.
In the interests of research (and to my family's delight), one of these days, I'm going to repeat this experiment with a full load of chickens and sausages (3 chickens and 18 sausages). That's always my ultimate test for the PBC's ability to maintain temperature. The PBC does not perform as well, temperaturewise, when loaded with chickens and sausages, as opposed to this single chicken/6 sausage cook, so I'm curious to see how it does with two skinny stainles steel rods placed conventionally in the rebar holes instead of on the diagonal as in this cook.
Kathryn
It's a good feeling to share with a community that has shared so much with me.
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