Pulled Chicken?

[JeffJ]

At 160-165 the breast meat is juicy and tender and "pulls" pretty easily.

[3DJ]

fzxdoc thanks for the info. I'm going to leave the skin on then just take it off afterwards. Im glad you chimed in, I always value your advise with the PBC.

Have you or anyone else tried a mop with the PBC? I'm not sure there is any real advantage to do so with Chicken, but I might try it and see. Recently used a mop on a PB apple juice, soy sauce and bourbon. Pit in a spray bottle and it worked out really well.

Thanks again,
Jim

[DWCowles]

I did four whole chickens to pulled not to long ago with the Rec Tec. I set the pit temp at 350F and took the IT temp to 160-165 on the breast and 175-180 on the thighs. Took the bear claws to them WHAM BHAM THANK YOU MA'AM best pulled chicken I ever had

I did wet brine them for 4-5 hrs.

[fzxdoc]

You'll have some good eats tonight! Enjoy!

[_John_]

I think I may try this tonight, haven't done chickens in a while and i'm flying solo.

[DeusDingo]

so pulled chicken is the same exact thing as regular smoked chicken, just pulled apart then? nothing else special?

[fzxdoc]

DeusDingo , I cook all my chickens at 325 deg or higher unless I'm doing a combo cook with another meat like ribs. Then I cook at lower temps--that is, at the best temp for the ribs. Chickens take longer to cook at the lower temps but are still juicy.

HTH,
Kathryn

[fzxdoc]

I must have missed something--200deg internal? I would be sad if my chicken got that high. I like taking them off at 160 deg F internal.

Jim ( 3DJ ) I don't double hook split chickens. I just hook each half through the armpit like Noah shows in his original videos. Never had a problem.

I like leaving the skin on because the bare meat surface can get leathery in the PBC. My only "fail" so far in the PBC was when I smoked large skinless boneless chicken breasts, hooked with skinless boneless thighs. Even though the insides were moist and tender, the skinless surface was so leathery I could hardly cut through it.

Kathryn

[Ernest]

The breast won't survive, I'd guess the dark meat can take that temp.

[JeffJ]

I am guessing it would be dry and chalky if taken to that temperature.

[Ernest]

Are you taking the chicken to 200 IT?

[DeusDingo]

does pulled chicken cook at lower temps than a whole chicken not intended to be pulled?

[3DJ]

Thanks kathryn and Rodcrafter.
I think I will inject them, good idea.
I thought that I should be ok with the skin off because I know MH's articles n smoked chicken talks about doing it this way, but that's not exactly written with the PBC in mind.

Should I double hook the halves since I imagine the skin aids in keep the pieces together?

Thanks again,
Jim

[Rodcrafter]

If you are going to take the skin off you can mix some of the rub in some chicken broth and inject rather than dry brine. That will help keep them moist too.

[fzxdoc]

3DJ , I make pulled chicken a lot but always leave the skin on to protect the meat from drying out. I hang split chickens like Noah shows in his video.

FWIW, I gently separate the skin from the meat and put the (PBC All Purpose) rub directly on the meat, reposition the skin, and add a light dusting of rub on the skin as well. Since the AP rub has a lot of salt in it, it works for the overnight (or several hour) dry brine step as well.

Let us know how your pulled chicken turns out.

Kathryn