Effects of smoking poultry with skin on vs. skinless (Or how I learned to love my in-laws)

[Ignorant Chimp]

Was thinking about smoking some birds for family this year. After smoking, I'll be wrapping and storing in cambro for upwards of a couple hours. I suspect any delicious, crispy skin I produce on the birds will be softened by a couple hours of steaming in the cambro. Want to avoid hassling receiving folks with re-crisping in oven upon delivery. And then there's the next paragraph...

I love the skin, but a lot of folks in the immediate family don't. So between my in-laws gustatory developmental retahdation and the travel time in the cambro I was thinking about smoking the birds skinless...and saving the skin for myself to make gribenes and schmaltz.

Looking for some feedback based on experience or science, no speculation please:

• Has anyone smoked poultry skinless before?
• Will the flesh dry out?
• Will I get any tasty bark directly on the flesh?
• Should I wet brine and/or wet rub the birds?

Many thanks in advance!

Edit: Well, folks, thanks for the input and warm welcome. Sounds like I'm going to be cooking a bunch of birds different ways to see what works. Either way, some gribenes and schmaltz fried whatever is in my future. Cheers.

[smokin fool]

I've smoked a couple of whole turkeys unstuffed with great results as far as the meat goes, the skin is a different story.
I always smoke with the skin on to keep the flesh covered, guess I'm in the flesh protection corner.
I put the rub on the outside of the skin personally, some will put butter and dry rub under the skin to enhance the meat.
Whatever floats your boat there. I never really saw any bark formation on my birds.
The last bird I did I used Malcom Reed's idea of spraying aerosol canola oil on the bird while cooking. I only had Pam but it did seem to help crisp up the skin. Next time will go for real aerosol canola oil.
I brine but only over night with a witches brew of ingredients. Only used a portion of kosher salt called for as the meat can handle the salt but if your saving the drippings for gravy its almost inedible its so salty.
My turkey cooks are still a work in progress, see what happens next time.
Opps forgot, I've held birds in cambro for hours, the longer the better sometimes.
Like you say does nothing to help the skin.

[Ignorant Chimp]

Thanks for the input. I have a chicken in the freezer. May smoke it skinless next week for science. I also want to look into how tandoor chicken is made. Maybe there's something useful there.

[SMOG MAN]

When I smoke larger skinless parts of a chicken there is some drying out of the outer boundries of the flesh, worse when using a higher temperature but when I keep the cook temp. lower it comes out great. I would spatchcock the bird to shorten the cook time.

[Ignorant Chimp]

Yeah, I was intending to spatchcock or halve to reduce cook time.

[RonB]

Welcome to The Pit. How many birds are you cookin'? If more than one, you could leave the skin on some and remove on some. A nicely browned skin on chix with some herbs dusted on the outside does make a great presentation...

[rickgregory]

You are missing the obvious solution. Remove the skin... and wrap in bacon.

[HawkerXP]

BACON!

[Polarbear777]

Exactly!

[EdF]

The terrorists lose again!

[lostclusters]

Welcome! Another option you may want to consider is removing the skin either before or after the cook, and sandwiching them between some pans and baking them until crisp. They do it on Iron Chef all the time.

[tbob4]

Ernest posted a fantastic photo of grilled/fried skins last week, I believe. I am betting he could give you advice on his method.

[EdF]

"First, acquire yourself a KBQ ..."!

[bbqLuv]

Skinless chicken breasts on a pellet grill works for me, only dry when over cooked. Pound the meat to a even thickness helps in even grilling/smoking. Fowl is a low fat meat, inject.
Game Hens I leave skin on, spatchcock those foul fowl.
BTW, Bite through skin is cook properly, and not crispy, rubbery, or tough.

[SheilaAnn]

rickgregory beat me to it! 🥓🥓🥓

[mnavarre]

Another option is to cook parts. That way you can, say, do the breasts skinless and the dark meat skin on. That way there's something for everyone.

[Polarbear777]

Skinless thighs smoked around 225F turn out good. White meat dries out too much.

If you remove the skin, you could just wrap the white meat areas in bacon and try that.

Definitely dry or wet brine and spatchcock it to make it cook faster and more evenly.

[Rocinante]

Skinless chicken breasts on a pellet grill works for me, only dry when over cooked. Pound the meat to a even thickness helps in even grilling/smoking. Fowl is a low fat meat, inject.
Game Hens I leave skin on, spatchcock those foul fowl.
BTW, Bite through skin is cook properly, and not crispy, rubbery, or tough.

I agree with the flattening of the breast. Makes the piece more uniform in thickness. I do this all of the time and never have dried out breasts. I will season them first, then pound them out. For whole birds, I spatchcock then pour some olive oil, or melted butter in between the skin and meat then spice it. Also do the same with the skin. That way it can be eaten, or removed with moist seasoned meat underneath.

[Ernest]

I have smoked skinless thighs but not a whole bird.