*** Slather experiment *** chicken skin ***

[smoke ninja]

*Ok here is my inconclusive, nonscientific, one-time test of several different slathers and their various effects on chicken skin. I will test 5 different slathers in addition to none.

The test will be done with chicken thighs cook with direct heat on the bird barrel live fire rotisserie. The unique nature of this cooker may give this test different results than that of other grill/smokers. results should be, in theory, comparable for most direct fire situations.


Each thigh was seasoned lightly with tony Cs and a coat of this garlic herb rub before the slather



The 5 slathers were oil, mustard, egg wash, hot sauce, and mayo. 4 of the 5 are known slather agents. Ive heard egg in the mayo a reason for the positive effects so i tested that too.



None. Oil Mustard



Mayo. Eggwash. Hot sauce


Cooking. I cooked super hot and they tempted out at up to 190. I wanted to go close to the extreme here.



Done.


None. Oil. Mustard



Mayo. egg. Hot sauce



None. Oil. Mustard



Mayo. Eggwash. Hot sauce

Conclusions

None





Skin wasn't overly crisp compared to others and had slight tug, bite through. No extra flavor.


Oil





Skin more tender and crisp than plain. Could taste the flavor of the oil, with a good oil thats a plus


Mustard





The biggest surprise for me. Super crispy and color.


Mayo





Crispy skin and most tender of all. Good flavor.



Egg





This one did have crispy skin but was least tender. In fact it had the least bite through skin compared to the rest (none of them would be considered rubbery) it did foam up something crazy



Hot sauce





One of the best. Great flavor crispy and tender. Watch the salt in the hot sauce.


Rankings

6. Plain
5. Eggwash. More crisp than plain. Wouldn't discount an eggwash and dredge in bread crumbs though
4. Oil. Good slather, a good oil will produce better flavor
3. Mustard honestly mustard and oil were pretty close. Oil could do more for flavor but mustard did alot for color and the skin.
2. Hot sauce strong number two. Overnight marinade would have been killer.
1. Mayo. was there ever any doubt?


Conclusions:

A slather seems to help. I would recommend one on chicken. Vinegar seems to be a common ingredient with effective choices, maybe the acid? On this test mayo and hot sauce were the best, mustard and oil right behind.

 

[pjtexas1]

Nice test. That hot sauce one has my mouth watering.

 

[robert-r]

Have been doing Amazon Sunshine (am going to give Melinda's a try soon) for a slather & adding rub after. Mas Fino!
Did it with BB Ribs, too.
Loved them.
I really like your comparison test! Great job!!!!

 

[Stingerhook]

Thanks for the work you put into the experiment. All of the chicken looks great, looks like I am going to have to try a mayo & hot sauce combo.

 

[dport7]

Thanks for sharing, I've never tried mustard, Its a must now.
I would have liked to have been your taste tester, six thighs, thats about right for me!

 

[mattmountz94]

Thanks for the test results. When you cook direct over the fire do you cook without a lid?

 

[cheez59]

I would not feed any of those to the dog. :biggrin1: The hot sauce one looks the best to me.

 

[fuzzy1626]

Thanks for the test. I've settled on mayo on all my poultry, hot sauce on pork, and mustard on beef. Did a rump roast and a shoulder roast this past week and they were great. The seasoning stuck to the beef like glue.

 

[Wolverine]

Nice test there Ninja, I was thinking of doing the same thing however you did all the work for me, I like the mayo test, i.e. alabama white sauce,

 

[smoke ninja]

Thanks for the test results. When you cook direct over the fire do you cook without a lid?

Correct. No lid. Hot fire.

 

[Metron]

Nice test. Thank you for sharing the results.

 

[Fwismoker]

Looks good! Don't read too much into the foam bubbles though, I'll put the same thing on and some will foam a little and others much much more. It is the complete rendering of the fat in the birds skin...some have more/less but all of them have some. It'll be rare for anybody to get remotely close to that kind of rendering unless they're cooking with this style though.

The chicken you had from me was just rub ( I forgot which rub?) and panko but when I did flour, egg wash and panko tapping on with my finger was like tappng on a hard countertop.... very nice shell! You need to try Island spice all purpose on chicken ....sooooooo tasty. Their jerk is amazing too.

I like it all kinds of ways but mostly it's olive oil with different rubs, then mix it up with the versions of fried. Either way it's always pretty crispy skin and the tenderness just varies from piece to piece.

Edit: Yea that's right it was rub, louisiana hot sauce then panko y'all had.

 

[BeginnerBBQ]

Great information! Thanks for sharing!

 

[QDoc]

Good job but most importantly is the cooking method. Chicken is best when cooked about 18-24 inches over a very hot generous coal bed just above the flames.

 

[Thatgrimguy]

I'm gonna build me one of these bird barrels.

 

[Fwismoker]

Good job but most importantly is the cooking method. Chicken is best when cooked about 18-24 inches over a very hot generous coal bed just above the flames.

I agree....Always had excellent chicken over hot coal bed, and over flame fire even better. My guess is because the fire puts off more infrared energy.

 

[QDoc]

I agree....Always had excellent chicken over hot coal bed, and over flame fire even better. My guess is because the fire puts off more infrared energy.

I think youre right. Most of the good chicken joints that I've been in had deep pits with the chicken in flip over racks. Sure there were flames but the flames didn't reach the chicken and burn it.

 

[rickv14623]

Now to prove the theory you need to be able to replicate the results and then have them peer-reviewed. Standing by to help!

Nice test, thanks for the report.

 

[MisterChrister]

This kind of thread is one of the things that make this such a great site and resource. Thanks for taking the time to do and report this!

 

[Happy Hapgood]

I've never heard of putting mustard or mayo on chicken or a mustard rub on ribs etc. But that's the reason I'm a member of this fine site. To learn. I'll have to give the bird a try int The Big Easy with mayo because of your excellent post.

Thanks!