Anyone Crutch Chicken?

[rat88]

I have tried everything and they either have gooey skin or plastic skin. The last batch was 2 hrs on the MES with an apple bong at 300, then 1 hr to get to 165 on the grill with IH at 300. I now have 3rd degree burns on my round belly from the juices, but the skin was tough. Foil wrap for an hour????

[MBMorgan]

You need to cook chicken at 350-375 for decent skin (325 minimum). Crutching would only make it worse.

[Nate]

What MBMorgan said

[DWCowles]

I guess you can crutch it if you're going to pulled it.

[rat88]

Confused .. cooking it kinda semi sorta slow for chicken to get smoke, then grill to crisp. Tough skin 2 hrs in at 300 on MES. Would 375 fix that? I am hard headed and wont try anything that doesnt make sense. Wrapping, saucing, or even DF makes more sense than cooking hotter than I smoked to soften up the skin.

[rat88]

I guess i should add what kind on MES... crappy un insulated, no door seals, no top vent, with an FD bong on the side

[Huskee]

Confused .. cooking it kinda semi sorta slow for chicken to get smoke, then grill to crisp. Tough skin 2 hrs in at 300 on MES. Would 375 fix that? I am hard headed and wont try anything that doesnt make sense. Wrapping, saucing, or even DF makes more sense than cooking hotter than I smoked to soften up the skin.

MES? DF? Please enlighten me/us. Might have to add those to our acronym list.

Anyway, why do we wrap our typical BBQ meats? What happens to you if you wear a wet suit on a hot day? Your sweat can't evaporate, you overheat and possibly die. Meat, when wrapped (crutched) can't 'sweat', which in the case of some BBQ meats is a good thing, it's how we speed through the stall such as with a brisket or a pork butt. Doing this with chicken locks that hot moist air in that cocoon and doesn't let the skin dry out and crisp up.

Crisp chicken skin needs HOT air, and dry air. To ensure hot airflow and low humidity, don't wrap it. Cook it naked and hot. ("Hot" is relative to the typical low & slow BBQ temps)

My preference for skin-on chicken is 340-360, but Mbmorgan hit the nail on the head, minimum of 325, up to 375. If you're using a sugary rub you should try to stay under 350 though. Saucing the skin will only complicate crisping it, especially if you sauce it early. If you wait until the chicken is done, and skin is crispy before saucing, and eat right away, you'll be ok.

I still find some chicken skin to be thick, and even when crispy it's still thick and can be tough. I'm not a meat scientist but my guess is some breeds of chicken just have a thicker skin? Not sure on that.

[rat88]

MES is Masterbuilt Electric Smoker. DF is deep fryer The skin turns out better on the grill for me. The smoker seems to make it worse. Cooked around 300 and moved to the grill at 150 IT. It started to get hard to get the thermopen through the skin .about an hour in to the cook. It seems to me that cooking hotter would make it worse. I will try it next time. Adding a top vent to the MES this weekend, maybe that will help

[Huskee]

Electric smoker, that was my guess! Anyway, electric smokers are somewhat tightly sealed and humid. Not the best environment for chicken skin. Are you still using the barrel smoker picture in your avatar?

[rat88]

I still use the UDS every once in a while. I mostly smoke on the HOS, but have been doing a little more on the cheapy charcoal grill for the long overnight cooks

[Steve R.]

I'd think more along the lines of cooking the chicken in a 2 zone setup on the grill. Foil packets of wood chips will give you all the smoke you need, and chicken doesn't require all that much. I used to have a Masterbuilt electric and it is way too humid in there if you are trying to get crispy skin, and mine even had a top vent.

[rat88]

The summit has a smoke box. I usually toss in some apple sticks. Sounds like I should give up on the electric for chicken.

[Michael Brinton]

Dry brine unwrapped in the fridge for a day or two helps the skin start drying out. Also gently separate it from the meat (handle of a wooden spoon) as best you can before the dry brine.

[rat88]

I usually dont get that much notice, it's more like.... "we are having chicken tonight, go start the grill".
She prefers skinless chicken anyway. Smoked chicken skin is something I have never been able to get right on a regular basis. Still looking for that little tip or technique get it better

[RonB]

MES? DF? Please enlighten me/us. Might have to add those to our acronym list.

Anyway, why do we wrap our typical BBQ meats? What happens to you if you wear a wet suit on a hot day? Your sweat can't evaporate, you overheat and possibly die. Meat, when wrapped (crutched) can't 'sweat', which in the case of some BBQ meats is a good thing, it's how we speed through the stall such as with a brisket or a pork butt. Doing this with chicken locks that hot moist air in that cocoon and doesn't let the skin dry out and crisp up.

Crisp chicken skin needs HOT air, and dry air. To ensure hot airflow and low humidity, don't wrap it. Cook it naked and hot. ("Hot" is relative to the typical low & slow BBQ temps)

My preference for skin-on chicken is 340-360, but Mbmorgan hit the nail on the head, minimum of 325, up to 375. If you're using a sugary rub you should try to stay under 350 though. Saucing the skin will only complicate crisping it, especially if you sauce it early. If you wait until the chicken is done, and skin is crispy before saucing, and eat right away, you'll be ok.

I still find some chicken skin to be thick, and even when crispy it's still thick and can be tough. I'm not a meat scientist but my guess is some breeds of chicken just have a thicker skin? Not sure on that.

Just the ones that were in politics.

[Huskee]

Or any level of fame I guess

[Stevo]

I've cooked whole spatchcocked birds in my MES, but I did it low and slow with smoke, then toss the skin and pull the meat. For crisper skin, i use my gasser with a smoke tube at ~340-360.

[Spinaker]

I think I would opt for a higher cooker temp, as opposed to wrapping the bird. I would think that the skin would turn to rubber and you'd wouldn't have gained anything by wrapping. I try not to wrap anything anymore. It really plays games with one of the best parts of BBQ, THE BARK.

[rat88]

that was my angle for wrapping. I thought it would soften up the tough skin. I still may try it just to see what happens the next time I get plastic skin. (hope I never get the chance)

[Jerod Broussard]

I wouldn't crutch a chicken if it had Synovitis in both legs.

[CandySueQ]

More like steaming chicken to get skin to bite through texture. Dip in sauce and put in a warm space (if done). If close to done, put it back in the cooker.