Chicken for comps

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Buckscent

Knows what a fatty is.
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Ok, all of you chicken winners out there tell me the best way to win with chicken? How do you get bite thru skin? It seems I can't get a call in chicken to save my life. What I do is:

Take the thigh out of the pack. I then pull off the skin and scrap the inside of the skin. While the skin if off I take my knife and "square up" the chicken. I then rub and put the skin back on.

My big problem is "squaring up" the chicken, cutting thru the bone seems I have to chop thru it which messes the meat up. Plus I end up with very small pieces Any help would be great. Thanks
 
What were you scores from the judges at the last three comps? My bet is it's not how you trim your chicken. Also, buy a cleaver.
 
Mostly 7's. A couple 8's. My scores are low but consistent so I think I am just doing something Wrong. My skin is not really bite thru and I cannot get even pieces for nothing
 
Do u use a commercial rub? Do u use a butter bath? The butter bath increased my chicken a ton
 
Poultry shears work great for trimming the ends of the bone. But buy a high quality pair, the cheap ones dont work so well.

As far as the other questions, experiment or take a class. Basic knowledge is given freely around here, but specifics are sometimes a closely guarded secret.
 
Red Valley BBQ said:
Poultry shears work great for trimming the ends of the bone. But buy a high quality pair, the cheap ones dont work so well.

As far as the other questions, experiment or take a class. Basic knowledge is given freely around here, but specifics are sometimes a closely guarded secret.
Click to expand...

Shears are awesome. How soon do you put the rub on? I trim my chicken Weds or Thursday night. Then when I get to the comp I marinade it for a few hours (after inspection). After that I look at it again and trim again if needed. I don't put rub on till about 45min before putting it in the cooker. I've never been first, but we have had good results in chicken (knock on wood).
 
I don't trim until I get meat inspected. I don't
Marinate at all (maybe part of my problem). I rub
Just before I put on the smoker.
 
By my question I mean what are the 6 judges scores for appearance, the 6 judges scores for taste and the 6 judges scores for tenderness? Looking at those 3 categories will tell you where your biggest issue lies. My advice is to go to the bottom of the page and search for competition chicken. Our chicken was developed by reading everything I could find, taking a class, and by practicing chicken all the time and making changes along the way. If anything, search for the pickled pig's chicken method.
 
Buckscent said:
I don't trim until I get meat inspected. I don't
Marinate at all (maybe part of my problem). I rub
Just before I put on the smoker.
Click to expand...

. Try trimming at home, it's a lot easier in your kitchen, and will save you a bunch of time at the contest.
 
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