Anyone cook chicken with skin removed?

[realdocBBQ]

I'm tired of fighting with the chikkin. Skin is never worth a damn. And seasoning with skin on is a PITA, then half of it doesn't get seasoned, blah blah blah.

Anyone totally skin their chikkin before throwing it on the smoker? Does it get tough and leathery on the outside of the meat? I'm going to be pulling mine into shredded chikkin 97% of the time, anyways, so I'd like to get it with some reasonable seasoning all over, since once it's cooked I just pull off the skin and give it to the dog anyways.

What say you?

<edit> I'm talking whole chikkins - either hung in the drum, or spatched in the offset or pellet or Weber.

[N227GB]

I've pulled back the skin on breasts so they get some smoke flavor/color. Properly brined, they won't dry out.

[captainlee]

I hear you and my wife won't eat it. The only thing I have done no skin are chicken thighs that have been marinated so I am anxious to hear some feedback. If it works I would like to try a rotisserie whole chicken. With the skin on all your rub flavoring disappears as the skin comes detached while slicing.

[captainlee]

Just a thought, I wonder if olive oil or a tallow could be applied to the meat to protect it from drying out.

[realdocBBQ]

Yeah I don't see myself brining these. The whole point of cooking multiple chikkins is the speed and ease and getting a bunch of meat all at once I can separate and vac seal and freeze. Although, I do have a true meat-only refrigerator now, I just can't see myself doing a brine with like 4 chikkins in it.

I might just have to try this out and see how it works. I like the idea of a little spray-on oil before applying rub and hanging.

Maybe we'll see how it goes... and who knows, if I get a bunch of chikkin skins, I might fire up the deep fryer and make some chikkin chicharones!

[gcdmd]

I used to season them, stretch them out on a rack, and bake them. Muy Bueno!

[N227GB]

Just to clarify, I meant a dry brine. Depending on the size of the birds you could get 4 in a stainless steam table pan. 😉

Posted from my phone.

[fitzoo7]

Rubber skin is a pain. I let my last turkey sit in the fridge with a dry brine for 36 hours, guess what? Still rubber.

I haven’t removed the skin because I inject mine with butter, rub, and let it sit in the fridge for a while before smoking. I believe the skin helps contain the injection and moisture.

I rotisserie it on the WSM, take out the water pan to purposefully let the flames rise. I run it at 225 F for the first hour, then run it at 350-400 for the remainder. Doing this, is the closest way I’ve gotten to crisping the skin.

Let me know if you try it out, would be interesting to know if it’s better to have the rub intact with no skin.

[captainlee]

I use the exact same cook temps. Can never get that skin correct.

[Dan Deter]

That's why I rotisserie my whole chickens. Skin comes out good. And enough seasoning gets on the meat that it comes out good too!

[Dan Deter]

captainlee Darned if I can tell you. I do them on my 6 burner gasser. Outer 2 burners are on high, next two on low, center 2 off. When the ceramic rotisserie burner worked it was on for the first 20 minutes, but I've discovered that it comes out about the same with out it.

[Dan Deter]

Also, dry brine only for around 24 hours before cooking.

[captainlee]

Dan Deter. That's exactly how I used to do it before I got the smoker.

[RonB]

I cook whole chickens in my kettle using a rotisserie. It runs as hot as I can get it and I use the Weber baskets so I can move the coals closer or farther from the bird as necessary. I get crisp skin by pulling the skin away from the carcass almost all the way around. And I pull at 158° in the breast to keep the meat moist.

[captainlee]

Looks great, I get the same appearance but never satisfied with the skin

[RonB]

@captianlee - do you separate the skin from the carcass - at least around the breast?

[Starsky]

I've removed the skin from thighs and breasts, seasoned them and then laid the skin back over for protection while in the smoker

[Davek8282]

I spatchcock my whole chickens skin on. i use a product out of Australia called Chicken Salt as a dry brine and then follow up with BBQ rub of S&G. Skin comes out awesome. It's available on Amazon as well as a couple of private perveyurs.

[fzxdoc]

I looked up the ingredients of Mitani's Chicken Salt. Is that the brand you use?

Ingredients. Sea Salt (81%), Rice Flour, Spices, Vegetable powders (onion, garlic), Natural Flavour, Yeast Extract, Anti-Caking Agent (551).

Kathryn

[Davek8282]

fzxdoc I am using a Canadian Brand called "The Salted Rooster" Their ingredient list does not list percentages but they are ranked from most to least. Salt, Chicken stock (contains dehydrated chicken, chicken fat & rosemary extract) Spices, Brewers yeast, Rice flour, sugars. As this is mostly salt when prepping chicken I use in place of a salt, when I dry brine. They do recommend its use on french fries and roasted vegetables and popcorn, I have not tried any of these other uses.

[STEbbq]

We don’t eat chicken or turkey skin so I always put the rub underneath the skin. I remove the skin for service and we have flavorful rub and meat left.

[TripleB]

I generally like to cook thighs without skin on a Weber kettle with a vortex. Just different recipes and it comes out great. I too do not like rubbery chicken skin.

[realdocBBQ]

Yeah it's just that in order to get 'edible' skin you have to do things to it - like dry brining, adding stuff, and honestly, if I'm doing pulled chikkin in large batches, I'm not putting the effort into that because I'm discarding the skin anyways. So it makes me think I ought to dispense with the skin completely and get the rub and seasoning on the meat.

I think I'm going to try it. Maybe today., since it's a nasty day and I can't really do much, if anything else.

[captainlee]

Post your results, tnx.

[Jessterr]

Looking forward to the results as well!

[Skip]

I've done Aaron Franklin's Smoked Turkey Breast with success. He takes the skin off and smokes to a nice color then wraps in foil with butter to desired doneness. It's very good IMO and I would think it should work well with well with whole chicken too.

https://houseandhome.com/recipe/bbq-turkey-breast-recipe/

[fzxdoc]

I love that recipe. So good each and every time, especially served with his Espresso BBQ sauce recipe on the side. Steve R. turned me on to this recipe with the sauce. My family has been forever grateful to him for that.

Kathryn

[jfmorris]

I think that removing the skin from an entire bird before cooking, assuming you can get it off wings and legs well, will lead to a lot of areas of the bird drying out during the cook. But try it and report back with the results of your experiment!

Personally any time I grill chicken, it normally ends up with crisp skin. However, I never cook chicken indirect below probably 350F, and I often direct grill over gas or charcoal using my Grillgrate panels as well for spatchcocked or split birds, or parts. My preference is direct grilled unless its a whole bird - then my preference is rotissery on the kettle, or back when I still had the offset, with the fire as hot as I could get it in the firebox.