chicken Skin

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KIRBBQ

Wandering around with a bag of matchlight, looking for a match.
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Hi Fellas:

this was my first year competing in BBQ. I did two backyard comps and competed in my first pro division this month. What I wanted to know, if anyone is willing to share, is there any other way of getting bite through skin without having to remove it from the thigh and scrape off the fat? Maybe because I'm newbie, but this method takes too much time and I was hoping there was another of achieving this without spending hours on 12 pieces of chicken.

thanks for your replies.
 
You can prep the chicken before the competition. On Thursday night turn on the TV and start prepping your chicken. I keep the skins in the fridge and scrape them with a very sharp knife. It only takes a few minutes per thigh once you get the groove going. We do 16-20 thighs for a comp. The nice thing about doing them the night before is you're in the comfort of your own home and you can focus on other stuff at the competition.
 
Learn to cook your chicken at 375° and that will break down the fat layer quickly and give you a bite through skin...
 
Honestly I don't scrap skin I just make my brine 2x Strength for 16-18 thighs for 2 hrs and cook em HNF and had consistent 8-9 in tenderness
 
I think a couple things come into play here, the quality of your yard bird is number one, good quality = good flavor. Second, if you like to spend the time removing the skin and fat you can have some great results, but that doesn't mean it will turn out the way you planned every time (its a bird thing). Some like to leave the skin on and untouched, some don't (kinda like some like nutz, some don't). You could always remove the skin and provide a crispy pretty look if you like as well. In any case, yard bird is just nasty to clean at times but seems to always taste great. Well I hope my indecisiveness has helped you to consider your options.
 
It used to take me forever to scrape as well, but the more I did it the better I got. Doesn't take near as long now. A good knife is key, I use ceramic.
 
No scraping of skins here and we get consistent 9s in tenderness. One word: Jaccard.
 
Rub with mayo before seasoning. Cook hot and fast. But if all the fat doesn't rend down a more experi.enced judge may still find some fat and will hammer you. I buy about 30 thighs and pick the best 16 to cook. The rest become dinner or are taken home for something like stir fry or soup.

My advice is to filet the fat off the skin. Sure it takes time but it makes a better product. If you want to win you should be doing whatever it takes. Shortcuts are fine if you want good chicken.
 
As a judge, I see some thighs with skin on and some without. I don't judge any differently between the two. Usually I can't tell if it has skin or not during the Appearance scoring and only find out when I take a bite. I'd much rather have a skinless piece than a thigh (or other piece) that doesn't have good bite-through skin!
I judge it as presented.

Just saying...
 
Between practice and comps we became 10 times better with the chicken skin over the course of a year. The more we did it the more we learned what was best to do.

The one thing I learned was that more scraping was not always better - getting too agressive with the skin worked against us. Just get most of the fat off the rest will pretty much render.
 
this year chicken has been our strongest catagory, i believe we have 14 top 10 chicken calls out of 18 comps. Dont over think the process... just cook chicken and you will find that the best results come from the most simple means...
 
We've actually gone skinless the past two contests and have had our highest scores in chicken to date.
 
indianagriller said:
this year chicken has been our strongest catagory, i believe we have 14 top 10 chicken calls out of 18 comps. Dont over think the process... just cook chicken and you will find that the best results come from the most simple means...
Click to expand...

Spill the beans!! :biggrin1::biggrin1:
 
Just cook the chicken and let the chips fall where they may, and do great on the other three meats. I am a firm believer that chicken is the hardest meat to be consistent in. Unless you burn it or send it in raw, you have a shot. I have won with rubbery skin and bite through, dry and juicy. let me add I have also been stomped on with both. No matter how good I think it is, it doesn't much matter. We now just cook the chicken and turn it in. We do trim nicely into nice looking thighs.
 
I am happy with 10th place. Like you said, it really is a crap shoot anymore. I honestly have no clue what the judges want. Right when Ivrhink I have them figured out, I can't cook chicken again...
 
Heck, I've learned more from this thread then reading 1,000 others. :thumb:

You know me and my cupcake stuff..... :mad:

Don't want to derail this, but:

Do you all ever try cooking in the oven? Is cooking in the oven that much different? I am only considering this as an easier way to try to get consistent bite thru skin.

Thanks.

wallace
 
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