Another chicken skin texture thred.

[dave197878]

I been doing a lil reading and after a unsuccessful chicken smoke (tuff skin) im wondering which technique would be best.

I was thinking of a cold smoke for a few hours then cooking it in the bbq or oven... or I read allot about useing hot smoke then bbq or oven roasting it after the smokeing is done ... which would work best ? And will the cold smoke process tuffin the skin? Really i want texture close to bbq as i can with the smoke flavour.

Doing jerk chicken (or even tandoori) by the way....

[Habanero Smoker]

If cold smoking make sure you move the chicken directly from the refrigerator to the smoker. I would try to keep it below 2 hours. The hot smoke method, then finishing on the grill on in the oven works well.

Sunday I'm going to try something different. A recent article in Cook's Country Magazine gave me an idea. I'm going to butterfly the chicken, smoke until an internal temperature of 120°F, measured at the thigh. Remove from smoker, and finish on the grill skin side down until an internal temperature of 162°F. This will be a brined chicken, and it will be basted with a sauce prior to placing it on the grill.

[Buck36]

I'm going to butterfly the chicken, smoke until an internal temperature of 120°F, measured at the thigh.

Hab,

Are you talking about spatchcocking the chicken?

[Habanero Smoker]

Yes! I've always known it as butterfly until about 5 years ago. Spatchc0cking is another name for preparing a chicken in this way, but butterfly is easier to spell, and doesn't get filtered out. ;D

[kiyotei]

To make better skin move the chicken to either a very hot grill or oven to finish it off.  You cannot get crispy skin in the smoker.  I just does not get hot enough.

[dave197878]

After the hot smoking process I noticed the chicken skin was dry and seemed to have lil to no fat in the skin..  then again I brined and air dried the ckicken that may have had something to do with it.

[Habanero Smoker]

The skin becomes thin and dry because at low temperatures the moisture has evaporated out of the skin, and the fat just renders out, temperature of the cabinet, length of time in the cabinet, and the final internal temperature you take it to. That's what makes the skin tough or leathery. I don't believe it has anything to do with brining. Generally during cooking a brined chicken will not loose any more moisture then unbrined; but since it had more moisture to begin with you end up with meat that is more moist.

So which way did you choose to finish; oven or the grill, and what was the final internal temperature.

[West Coast Kansan]

HabS, are you still dusting with corn starch  ???

[Habanero Smoker]

Most of the time I will dust with the cornstarch and that works very well. I do it so regularly that I forget to mention it when talking about ways to crisp the skin. :-[

With today's chicken, I didn't dust because I wanted to see how the skin would turn out. I decide to split the chickens instead of butterflying them. I smoked at around 200, and removed them when they reached 120°F measured at the thigh, then finished on the grill skin down at medium high setting; two burners on, and the middle off. Grill until the thigh reach 160°F and removed them from the grill. This worked out well, the skin crisped up and did not burn.

[Smokin Soon]

Today I did some chicken leg quarters, turkey legs and some wings all brined with some TQ and db sugar overnight. Trying to overcome the rubber skin issue I pulled everything out of the smoker at 145, dusted with some cornstarch and into the oven at 350. The meat was fantastic but the skin was still on the chewy side. Should I transfer to oven/grill at a earlier temp?

[Habanero Smoker]

The skin on turkey legs is much thicker than chicken, and I've never done this on turkey legs. The cornstarch is another tip from America's Test Chicken.

I should have explain the procedure in my earlier post; this is what I do for chicken. I put the corn starch on just before I apply the rub. You don't need much just a dusting, just make sure that the skin has oil or is moist enough for it to adhere. I generally finish the chicken on a grill. If you do use an oven, you need to use a much higher temperature; such as a preheated 425°F to 450°F oven (the broiler may be a little too much for turkey legs). Monitor carefully so you don't burn the skin, and with turkey legs you may want to turn them half way through the crisping time.

In the past I would remove the chicken at around 150°F for dark meat, before crisping the skin.