Chicken Advice/Help

[El Ropo]

brining adds a bit of flavor, If you want fully rendered skin, cook hot. In the 350 area.. If you desire rubber band skin, go ahead and keep smoking low n slow at 240.

[buccaneer]

Originally Posted by Offthehook

That's perfect for at home cooking, I've been trying to work on a comp type cook.

Fair enough, I shouldn't have posted because I have no idea what comp food is.
I just got carried away with the fun of comments on hotnfast.

[jmoney7269]

Some nice lookin chicken there! I cook @350 on the UDS direct and glaze right at the end, but 10 min before I take it off. That chicken looks kinda sauced instead of glazed. Brining works well, and I find that pecan is best on chicken IMO, hickory makes it taste like bacon. I used to be hooked on plowboys and walked occasionally, now I use a rub called REO made in huntsville tx, it is super awesome! Also you might wanna foil the wing tips so they don't burn. Good luck on your experiments, the good thing is you get to eat them.
Beer can or ceramic chicken sitters is another option, I have done well with both.

J$ mad hunky chicken - YouTube

J$ mad hunky chicken - YouTube

If you have any questions, feel free to pm me.

[buccaneer]

^^^ Is this what competition chicken is guys?

[jmoney7269]

Down in tx it is. Kcbs is mainly thighs.

[BigBellyBBQ]

the number one problem with flavorful chicken is it has been frozen..find fresh kill birds...stay with applewood, as hickory will over power and you are better to be light in wood / smoke then heavy...stay away from perdue and other big names...

[Offthehook]

Comp chicken and home cooking will vary, when I'm at home I will throw a whole bird on a rotisserie on my char broiler. I usually smoke thighs for 1 1/2 hours.

[John Bowen]

I am in the brining school – you can get a lot of flavor in the meat with the right brine. I personally think that chicken doesn’t stay on the smoker long enough to get rich smoke flavor deep into the meat.
I also agree that you need to sauce the chicken last 15 min or so.

[jmoney7269]

Originally Posted by John Bowen

I am in the brining school – you can get a lot of flavor in the meat with the right brine. I personally think that chicken doesn’t stay on the smoker long enough to get rich smoke flavor deep into the meat.
I also agree that you need to sauce the chicken last 15 min or so.

Rich smoke flavor in the meat is easy, use a chart/lb for equilibrium brining. Take a whole container of kosher salt, spread it out on a pan, and smoke it in the same smoker with the same wood you plan on cooking your chicken with. Use the smoked salt for the brine. Chicken is cheap to experiment on, try it. Also make zipper cuts through the membrane of the chicken cavity where the tenderloin and thigh meat are. That's all I'm givin up. Good luck bro!

[Friscoag]

Thanks Jmoney. That sounds like what I'm going to try next time, along with all the advice from this thread. My one question is what do you mean by "zipper" cuts through the membrane?

I'm guessing you mean from the bottom side, make some cuts so rub/flavor gets through and into the meat?

Thanks again everyone.

[jmoney7269]

I don't know if that's technically what it's called, that's how it was taught to me, so that's what I call it. Yes, the flavor gets deeper in to the meat that way