I have acquired the taste for smoked chicken in the past year and I am trying to improve the quality of my cooks. Invariably when I smoke chicken on charcoal I get leathery skin that takes away from the eating experience. Have read in some places that smoking (lid on) makes it more challenging to crisp the skin. I have tried upping the temps with no success. I pulled one off the charcoal a few days ago at 140 internal and moved it to my gas BBQ to finish and it was noticeably better. Next test will be to pull the lid off the Weber Kettle and put it over the coals to finish. I'm hoping direct heat combined with less moisture due to lid being off is the ticket.
What temp are you cooking and for how long? How are you prepping the chicken? Dry brine? Are you coating with any oil? I am assuming a whole chicken or chicken parts?
You can do what ya did with a hot finish, you can smoke the whole way and then remove the skin to toss or to fry up and serve along in fried strips with the bird, or you can cook at a hotter temp.
You can play the silly games with baking powder or corn starch but I personally believe I can taste and do not like the flavors that brings to the party. You do want to pat the bird dry and ideally let it sit in the fridge overnight at minimum (but if you only have an hour or two that's better than nothing). You can also peel back the skin to scrape excess fat off the underside then toothpick the skin back on. But that's just too much work.
I generally sear the skin at the end of the cook if its not crispy.For the Weber I recommend using a Vortex or one of the cheaper knock-offs on amazon. The Vortex turns the kettle into a chicken cooking machine! Run it hot, add wood for smoking. The chicken will have plenty of smoke and you can sear right over the Vortex if the skin isn't to your liking. If the smoke level isn't enough then start at a lower temp (less coals) and add fresh coals to finish.
I getting leather on charcoal and rubber on the pellet smoker. I can see how adding direct heat can save the rubbery chicken skin, but I have always assumed that once the skin turns to leather, more heat can't fix it??
You will need high temperatures to get crisp skin on chicken. You can smoke it at lower temps if you want but you will need to finish it at temps above 350F. Otherwise you end up with the tough, leathery skin you experienced.
Hi Jerod. I tried the PBC using a fan and ran it at 350 the whole time and got leather. If you say 450 then 450 it is. If I use my fan, can I get there with a rod removed or will I be running a cracked lid the whole way?
If your using lower temps to get more smoke you'll never get crispy skin. I smoke on the rotisserie at 225 for an hour then take it up to 375 for the finish. The skin still isn't crisp. Wife won't eat the skin anyway so I'm just concerned about the flavor. Some day I'll just start at 400 and see what happens.
I agree. We grilled everything back home but plenty skin was rubbery from holding the chicken for dinners. NOBODY complained about the skin since things were well-seasoned and juicy!!
If not cooking outdoors, I am cooking on the stovetop with my 14" carbon steel wok, 12" CI skillet, or in the oven with my two Lodge CI pizza pans, or two dutch ovens. I've also got a nifty Lodge carbon steel grill pan that rocks for veggies outdoors.
No MCS here. I promised myself I would learn how to make what I have work before buying another toy. I have to get thru: 1) PBC hanging to test skin with smoke flavour 2) PBC in pieces on the grill, 3) Kettle/SnS (sear if needed) at ripping hot 4) just grill it over open fire on kettle with banked coals similar to Santa Maria 5) improve transfer bird to Gas BBQ at 140 internal. Then the Vortex! But, How much do they cost, are there cheap clones on Amazon? Maybe I should get one today....
One of the first lessons I learned when I started my BBQ journey was that poultry just doesn't lend itself to low and slow for exactly this reason, tough, chewy skin, so I stick to hot and fast all the way. It ain't just you!
Agree with the others. Regardless of what you do to prep the skin (e.g., dry brine, baking powder), if you are smoking at low temps, you are not going to get good, crispy skin.
You either have to cook at a higher temp at around 400 or more, or finish over direct heat either by grill, broiler, blow torch or hot oil/deep fry. I have also found if you cook low and slow, even finishing at a higher temp in the kettle/PBC is not hot enough, so you really need to go direct heat or super high oven temps to get the skin crispy
I am realizing part of the challenge is we all like our chicken different ways so it leads to different cooking preferences. Also, some of the things we like might be at odds with other characteristics we like.
For example:
1) I like a mild smoke flavour and I like crispy skin, but I'm realizing that the smoking environment can inhibit crispy skin. The PBC flavour is perfect, Cooked around 350 with 1 chunk on kettle is perfect smoke for me as well. Crispy skin is another matter!
2) Juicy breast meat and well done wings/dark are at odds with each other. I like my wings and dark meat cooked in pieces because I like the breast at 155 and the wings/dark meat at 190.
3) Our partner can have different preferences. My wife prefers a dry breast (175), no skin and no smoke. Gawd, no wonder I'm finding it so challenging (I mean cooking chicken, not my marriage).
Right nowI butcher the bird into pieces and either have two cooks going on, or make compromises that find something workable. I only need a light smoke which helps. If I smoke the whole bird, I get the wings and the outside slice of the breast with the skin which is where the most smoke flavour is and it works since she doesn't like smoke or skin. I don't mind the breast being cooked too dry if II have a nice piece of smokey skin to go with it. I can get things right for both of us if I cook pieces on multiple cookers which sounds like a hassle, but if I'm in the mood to BBQ I don't mind.
I think you'll be happy with the bird cooked with one rebar. The extra air/heat should also make the legs cook a bit quicker than the breast (assuming you hang through the breast) which should get the legs closer to your preferred temp while keeping the breast at 155.
I would also recommend halving the birds instead of cooking whole - that way if your wife wants an overcooked breast, you can still enjoy your perfectly cooked one.
3) Our partner can have different preferences. My wife prefers a dry breast (175), no skin and no smoke. Gawd, no wonder I'm finding it so challenging (I mean cooking chicken, not my marriage).
You will find your marriage challenging if you don't make chicken the way your wife likes it.
Sorry for bumping an older post but this was the most recent on a topic that is now pertinent. The couple of times I did chicken (parts) low and slow on my WSM it came out great - juicy with a nice smokey flavor. But the skin was terrible. If I finish it on a gas grill to sear do I have to worry about over cooking the chicken? Do I slightly under cook/smoke first? May be tough to do with varying sections such as wings vs thighs vs breasts. I can help by maybe getting just thighs and legs
I understand I won’t get full coverage crispy skin as if I cooked it at 400, but understand one has to optimize low and slow versus full blown crispy skin. Just want to get a balance but lean towards juicy and smokey
Any other tips on the searing portion at all would be outstanding. Appreciate you all as always.
I struggle with this as well. I've gotten closer to crispy skin grilling the smoked chicken from the PBC on my weber kettle. I have yet to make sure my smoke temp is totally correct and I'm able to finish without overcooking on the kettle. I usually poke the heck out of the meat with a meat thermometer making sure I hit the right temp for breast meat. The good news is dark meat is much more forgiving. I'm not very worried if I go 5-10 degrees over my target temp.
Comment