New to the Competition Scene...Need Chicken Help

[Cat797]

Howdy folks.........

I've never done a comp before, but am going to do one in July with my buddy who has done quite a few. He didn't score very good at this one last year, so hopefully I can bring some good luck to him. I've never been impressed with my chicken, and I'm baffled at some of the stuff I've seen (Like in Myron Mixon's book). I'd like to try some of these methods, but need some help to put me on the right path. Here's what I think I understand:

1. Remove bones from thighs (at minimum cut off knuckles and remove oyster)
2. Loosen skin and scrape fat from underside
3. Trim to consistent size
4. Season under skin
5. Put skin side down in muffin tin with holes poked in bottom of muffin cups
6. Set muffin pan in aluminum pan
7. Pour either chicken stock or butter over chicken
8. Smoke/braise @325 ish for about 30 minutes, flip chicken in tins to skin side up
9. Smoke/braise for about another 30 minutes
10. Crisp skin on hot side of grill?
11. Glaze pieces and set sauce

Am I close? Any recommendations on a starting point for a homemade glaze? I guess what makes me somewhat nervous is I have no idea what the flavor profile is to shoot for..........

Thanks for your help in advance.
Ed

 

[bradgreer]

As far as the muffin pan goes, it seems like judges now want their chicken to look like chicken. The "extreme" trimming is not what they are looking for. Just nice "uniform" pieces.
Just my .02

 

[Blanton]

I think it is hard to come in and get "how to cook comp chicken" in a thread. Your methods are one way and a good place to start if you have none. I will offer:

Doesn't need to be boneless. Most I have judged have not been. (KCBS)
Becarefull rubbing under skin. Sometimes it stays gritty. Try it first.
Trim yes, muffin shape....I wouldn't
Skin doesn't have to be crisp, and if you sauce after crisping, it likely will not be.

 

[midwest_kc]

I feel like chicken is one of those categories where you don't have to do the "status quo" to get good scores. Doing something different has a risk, sure, but there are so many different pieces of meat, flavors, etc. that I think a lot of different ways can work.

We've done it this way in the past, but ditched the muffin tin pretty quickly. I'm a believer in Bone in, but like was said, it doesn't have to be.

 

[Burnt at Both Endz]

It's all about getting a system that will work for you and your smoker.

With that said, yes I do number 3 and 11. Can't help you with all that other stuff though. Folks work just to hard on chicken. :wink:

 

[Cat797]

Thanks for the replies........so you think leave the bones in? Do you braise in butter or stock while in the smoker?

.....I agree I need a system, my problem is that I don't know where to start that will at least get me to the ball park. Everything I read says chicken is the toughest category to crack. I'm just looking to get onto the learning curve! :biggrin1:

Thanks!

 

[Burnt at Both Endz]

I'm lazy! Yes I leave the bone in and yes I do a butter bath(well sorta) and braise by covering the pan with foil for part of the cook.

If you lived closer I'd love to talk chicken on a Friday evening at a contest....

 

[Ron_L]

Try it out and see how it works for you, Ed.

Here's the problem with stuff like this...

I could tell you exactly what I do, and you could do it, and the results will be different because we cook on different cookers, possibly with different wood, etc. There are a bunch of variables involved that can, well, vary

 

[rdstoll]

OP I'm I the same boat am giving chicken another go this weekend in order to do a comp or two later this year. My only goals this weekend are to get consistent size and bite thru skin.

I was gonna try boneless but was dissuaded by stuff I read around the net.

 

[Jason TQ]

Try it out and see how it works for you, Ed.

Here's the problem with stuff like this...

I could tell you exactly what I do, and you could do it, and the results will be different because we cook on different cookers, possibly with different wood, etc. There are a bunch of variables involved that can, well, vary

Exactly. Good to get a bunch of idea, but it can cloud you as to where to start. Go with what you typed and adjust from there.

 

[Cat797]

10-4 guys!.....Thanks for the advice. I'm gonna give it a go this weekend and will post up some pics.....

Ed

 

[MarleyMan]

This is a good tutorial to get you going with pictures and step by step instructions.

I used this when I started competing as a reference.

http://thehogblog.com/?p=2081

 

[Pappy Q]

Also try legs.

 

[MarleyMan]

Pappy....shhhh :razz:

 

[timzcardz]

Everything I read says chicken is the toughest category to crack. I'm just looking to get onto the learning curve! :biggrin1:

Thanks!

Read the following and you will not be able to say that again . . .


The two categories that I have taken first place in are ribs and, wait for it . . . . CHICKEN!

Everyone's learning curve is different, for each category.

For some chicken is the most difficult, for others it's brisket, etc., etc.

You just needs to find what works for you. Next practice cook, try a few different combinations of things so that you can compare side by side.

I can't comment on the method that you posted, because it is very different from mine, which does not include a muffin pan, I leave the bone in, all rub is outside the skin, and I use different combinations of rub on the top and the bottom, I inject with chicken stock, and the differences go on . . .

Good luck, and along the way I'm sure you'll still enjoy some mighty fine chicken while figuring out what is best for you.

 

[egorham]

I agree with most of the responses above, you have to find a program that works for you. A perfect chicken recipe that has you cooking at 325 doesn't do you much good if you have cook ribs on the same smoker at the same time at 250. That being said there are some good resources to get you started, I have listed a couple below. The one bit of advice I would give is to figure out how to do chicken without scraping the skin. Scraping chicken skin is the biggest PITA of any chore in BBQ.

1) Youtube and internet searches will give you a lot of advise on all meats. I find some of the videos are very good at showing you how to trim chicken. I would also spend time looking at successful turn-in boxes to make sure you don't give away appearance points.

2) The BBQ Central Show has great round table discussion on all of the competition meats. You can find them on Youtube, Itunes or the BBQ Central Show web site. Ribs-8/26/14, Brisket 8/5/14, Pork 8/19/14, chicken 9/16/14.

 

[rdstoll]

Well my chicken experiment yesterday was a complete disaster. Oddly I can get bite-thru skin no problem but can't figure out how to secure the skin to save my life. I'm thinking of skipping the butter bath next time because there's just too many opportunities to make a false move. Very frustrating. If I can't get a decent chicken product down no sense spending the money on competing.

 

[Cat797]

Thanks everyone for your help and wisdom! :thumb:

We had a good day and I think I learned some stuff. Here's the photo-proof.

Got home at about midnight Saturday night and still had to get my pork shoulders trimmed up and seasoned. (Sorry no pics of them....:tsk.....Got to bed about 2:00AM Sunday and back up at 4:30AM to light the smoker.....Gunna need some coffee....



So, I decided that I would do a couple different types of chicken, since this was mainly about that. First, I spend a couple evenings looking at chicken recipes and I decided I would do thighs with scraping the skin (have done that before and know it's a Royal PITA). I would cook half of them just on the grate and the other half would get the butter bath. I also found a guy on Youtube named Malcom Reed and he had a video up on doing Chicken Lollipops so I tried that. These also get cooked in butter. Then the balance of legs just got tossed on the grate with no special prep. I used a commercially available rub on all the chicken (Cabela's Maple-Jalapeno) and finished with Myron Mixon's Basic Chicken Glaze.

Straight up on the grate:


Butter bathed:


I did not care for the butter bath....I think I would be better served by brining and straight on the smoker. I would say it was a good day. I achieved bite-through chicken skin and good taste. They got a little dark on me cause I was done way early. Also, I used Pilgrim's Pride variety from Sam's, but I think I could have found better at either Costco, Kroger, or Hy-Vee (or even a butcher). The skins looked nasty and when I trimmed them to look good, they were too small. I can work from here to something good, so am happy! :biggrin1:

I also did some spares trimmed to SLC yesterday since we were practicing. They looked good and had good texture, but I didn't care for the rub......It was Oakridge Dominator Sweet Rib Rub. I love their products but am not crazy about cinnamon in my bbq and I could really taste it. I think in the future will go back to Secret Weapon which is my favorite. I smoked these on the 2/2/1 program and gave them the Parkay/Brown Sugar/Honey Combo in foil, then finished with a touch of Cosmo's BBQ Sauce.





Happy Easter!
Ed