Hey y'all,
So whenever I do chicken the skin is always rubbery, but the meat is always delicious. The skin looks good but I never eat it due to the chewyness. I know cranking up the heat the last 20-30 degrees is supposed to help. So I have a couple questions:
How long do you dry brine prior? I try this to maybe help dry the skin.
Do you put anything on the skin with the rub to aid in crisp it up? Maybe even in the middle of the cook?
Pat it dry before you put it on the smoker. Rub a little oil on it then apply dry rub. Smoke it at 350 degrees until internal temp hits 165. Do not use a water pan and do not cover with foil at any time during or after the cook. Eat crispy skin.
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Dry brine overnight, preferably longer, uncovered in fridge, 3 parts salt to 1 part aluminum-free baking powder (not soda). You want a dry bird going in the barrel. Smoke as usual, then 350-ish for the final step.
Last edited by BourBonQ; January 19, 2021, 02:22 PM.
fracmeister I haven't noticed anything with the aluminum-free stuff, but maybe I'm just not as sensitive to the baking powder in general. I haven't noticed it with any other recipes that call for BP. Definitely helps with the skin though.
I didn't even know baking powders contained aluminum so that's an eye opener for me.
My wife uses BP to crisp up the skin on chicken wings and I do agree with fracmeister there is a taste to wings done that way.
Going to look for the aluminum free BP
If you are cooking low and slow, it will never get crisp skin. You need 325F or higher to get crispy skin, but you won't get much smoke. If you want smoke and crispy skin you have to start low, then crank the heat near the end to crisp the skin, making sure you don't overcook. I don't use a PBC but I assume it won't go from 225F to 350F quickly. What I would do is cook low and slow on the PBC to an IT of around 125F, then transfer to a pre-heated oven to finish. Personally I cook all my chicken at 400F on my pellet grill and I get plenty of flavor and crispy skin.
Just another quite hack I've been doing lately is do everything that's been mentioned (dry brine, dry skin, high temp cooking) but at the end when the chicken is around 155* in the breast, spray it all over with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. The stuff is mostly oil and does a good job of helping the skin to crisp. That and really crank your heat the last 20-30 minutes.
Quite honestly I get fairly crispy skin but I would consider it more bite through. Crispy only lasts for a short time anyway regardless of how well you do (at least that's my experience). But as long as its bites through I'm happy. Rubbery really sucks.
Last Thanksgiving I smoked a turkey using Malcom Reed's recipe and sprayed the skin with a canola cooking spray with great results so I'll vouch for this.
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I don't cook on a PBC, but I don't think it matters for crispy chicken skin. All of this is what I've learned over the years.
- dry brine early, with salt both under and over the skin.
- If you can, let the bird sit out in your fridge for 24 hours. The more time in cold air that bird gets, the better.
- a bit of oil on the skin helps a lot
- fast and hot is the trick, above all else. Get your grate temp at 350-375
- Do not baste the bird, it just gets the skin wet
I agree, the dry brine for 24 hours is the big player. I have tried to work past poor planning and laziness on my part but having a dry bird and dry brining is the single most important start to crispy skin.
I also agree with a little oil and making sure you are running at least 350. Not hard to goose the temp by cracking the lid.
A whole chicken I would dry brine 1-2 days. If just one day, I leave uncovered on a rack in the fridge, if 2 days I cover with plastic first day and then uncovered the last day.
Then when cooking on PBC - cook on as high a temp as you can go, either by cracking/offsetting the lid or removing a rebar. Higher temp = crispier skin. I do this for the whole cook.
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