Comps and Chicken

[GMDGeek]

OK - so I am an low and slow cooker - 250-275 usually. Having never really done chicken and now that I have my new pit I am getting some practice on this weekend.

For those of you who are low and slow and run similar temps how do you handle you chicken? Do you cook it at the same temp? And all that? I know what internal temps need to be but I am seriously wondering about the skin.

 

[Ford]

Butter. Cook to 180-185.

 

[CBQ]

Braise it. Skin has to be bite though, which means crispy or soft. Soft is easier.

 

[boogiesnap]

chicken parts(thigh, wing), both at home and comp 275* 2 hours. whole chicken higher, 325*425* for 40-60 minutes. i don't cook much whole bird, but my wife does in the oven.

soft, melty skin is the way to go. i don't think you can get crispy all the way from the cooker to the judges mouth.

 

[Stark-O-Rama]

Put chicken in a pan and cover with foil for last 20 min of cook - skin will be bite-thru - like magic!

 

[GMDGeek]

Thanks everyone - plan on giving it a shot next weekend.

 

[Southern Home Boy]

Making the skin bite-through has always involved defatting the skin prior to cook. A monotonous and exceedingly tedious process that I only recommend for competitions. Aside from that, at your temps I'd probably go about two hours for thighs, an hour and half for wings.

 

[buttburnersbbq]

I hate prepping chicken. It is the hardest and long process. We use thighs and scrape all fat off back of skin. We smoke them at 225 for 3 hours and make sure internal temp at 165. Also after smoking we quickly seer the skin quickly over open coals to make sure of that crispy bite through skin. Works every time.

 

[J&B'sBBQ]

Good luck getting any detailed information on chicken. It's one of those elusive meats that is difficult to get "great" and when people do they are not very open with how .

With that being said, we cook on a reverse flow stick burner so those are the exact temps we run. We can achieve bite through skin using a very tedious method of skin scraping, marinade, butter bath and covering at the end of the cook. We do put our chicken in the "hot spot" to ensure we hit that 275 or higher temperature. Good luck!