The effect of low & slow on chicken

[Texas Turtle]

I love watching America's Test Kitchen. They give you a chemistry lesson with every recipe. Lately, I have been cooking chicken beer can style on the WSM around 275 for roughly 3 hours or until the thigh hits 175 - 180. Comes out tender, smoky and juicy but the skin is still pretty rubbery.

[ITBFQ]

I know that it is a huge pain in the arse, but I always remove the skin, scrape the fat, and replace. Takes a lot of time and patience and makes a heck of a mess that grosses my wife out, but it seems to do the trick in getting that bite through skin. At least in my experience, anyway.

[El Ropo]

rather than scrape skin, it's a lot easier to crank up the heat so the fat under the skin renders better and crisps up nicely.

That's why so many people do poultry at 325-350

[ITBFQ]

Originally Posted by El Ropo

rather than scrape skin, it's a lot easier to crank up the heat so the fat under the skin renders better and crisps up nicely.

That's why so many people do poultry at 325-350

True. I understand that, totally. But I only have one smoker, and when I have ribs or a butt going at 230-250, I can't very well crank up the heat for the chicken. Someday, when I have a bigger smoker storage unit (aka garage) I'll be able to work that out. I love America's Test Kitchen, too - one of my go to places for recipes and equipment. And bow tie recommendations.

[landarc]

Note that the study is all about braising, not about BBQ at all, the conditions of the cook are totally different. I happen to think the optimum temperature is lower, but, admit that cooking a chicken for 3 hours is not for everyone. But, that cooking is in a braise.

Cooking in the dry and convective environment of a smoker will yield very different results. Although, it does make the good point that it might be possible to get tender chicken and skin at lower cook temperatures, and higher internal temperatures, especially as so many of the people cooking use butter baths.

[El Ropo]

Originally Posted by ITBFQ

True. I understand that, totally. But I only have one smoker, and when I have ribs or a butt going at 230-250, I can't very well crank up the heat for the chicken. Someday, when I have a bigger smoker storage unit (aka garage) I'll be able to work that out. I love America's Test Kitchen, too - one of my go to places for recipes and equipment. And bow tie recommendations.

Ribs and butts will turn out fine cooking at 325. I don't see the issue.