Oil injection instead of butter?

[WhiskyJoe]

Hey Folks. I'm doing some pulled chicken (~15 lbs ) this weekend. Normally I inject with a rub/whiskey/fruit juice/butter mixture. However, this round, I have some food allergies to deal with so butter is off the table. Has anyone had any experience using a neutral oil instead of butter in injections? I have avocado, light olive and veggie. I also have coconut oil and coconut fat. That has the right consistency but I don't think the flavor would work.

Would love to hear y'alls opinions...

 

[Bill-Chicago]

I've done injections of Dreamland BBQ Sauce. It's a very runny Alabama dipping sauce, hate to admit mustard based, that is usually for pulled pork but is great injected into chicken or turkey.

Didn't really answer your question, as it sounds like you have a spice blend in mind, you're just looking for delivery method besides butter.

IMO, a very light oil should work just fine, but, to me, a heavier oil (like olive oil) might be too much.

You said pulled chicken, thats why I thought of Dreamland.

Good luck in your cook!

 

[Itsdone]

If you are pulling the chicken, why even bother injecting. Just add you seasonings after its pulled.

 

[Big George's BBQ]

Do yu have time to put it in a brine. I use one from thirdeye for chicken and its really good. I bring a quart of water to a boil with 2 TBS of kosher salt and the same with brown sugar, add a little old bay seasoning a bay leaf and some honey- thats added after done boiling and get it ice cold. I brine thighs for 2-3 hrs

 

[WhiskyJoe]

thanks all. I'm used to the injection process so I'm going to run with that. Gonna try a light oil and see what happens. At the end of the day, no one will need an EpiPen. May just not taste as good as prior rounds. Hoping for the best...

 

[4ever3]

Who in the werld is allergic to butter?

If there’s time dry brine it, somehow i don’t think the oil injection would work out

 

[Juggy D Beerman]

Hey Folks. I'm doing some pulled chicken (~15 lbs ) this weekend. Normally I inject with a rub/whiskey/fruit juice/butter mixture. However, this round, I have some food allergies to deal with so butter is off the table. Has anyone had any experience using a neutral oil instead of butter in injections? I have avocado, light olive and veggie. I also have coconut oil and coconut fat. That has the right consistency but I don't think the flavor would work.

Would love to hear y'alls opinions...

Hey Eric, Are you cooking 15 pounds of chicken or is your goal to wind up with 15 pounds of pulled chicken? My results have been on an average of 30% of the original weight of a ten pound bag of leg/thigh quarters. You will lose a pound of weight of water that is left in the bag. You might get more than three pounds of pulled pork from a ten pound bag, but do not count on it.

I cook the pieces with no rub, brine, marinade or injection. I do not baste the chicken either. This allows me to add the flavor profile for when I use the pulled chicken for all sorts of different recipes. I use this stuff in soups, casseroles, tacos/burritos, chicken salad and even pulled chicken BBQed sandwiches.

 

[Itsdone]

I cook the pieces with no rub, brine, marinade or injection. I do not baste the chicken either.

It makes no sense to do all this work if your end result is pulled chicken. Put a drip pan underneath and add all the drippings back after its pulled. Then add your seasonings.

 

[Itsdone]

Who in the werld is allergic to butter?

Vegans are mentally allergic to butter.

 

[Juggy D Beerman]

It makes no sense to do all this work if your end result is pulled chicken. Put a drip pan underneath and add all the drippings back after its pulled. Then add your seasonings.

The first sentence in your post confuses me. You quoted my post, but did not address me in your response. Are you agreeing with me or disagreeing with me, Bob? My method is as simple as you can get. As to adding the collected drippings back to pulled chicken, I will pass on that. Pulled chicken is still moist enough to suit my tastes.

The elephant in the room nobody has talked about is that the majority of all retail chicken is tumbled/injected before it leaves the processing plant. Those ten pound bags of leg/thigh quarters include at least one pound of the injection solution. The industry standard is 12% solution added to the original weight of the chicken during the tumbling process. All sorts of chemicals such as sodium and phosphates are added to the solution as well as natural spices. Because this, I feel no need to add even more moisture to the meat before cooking, especially if it is dark meat which is more moist than white meat.

 

[Itsdone]

The first sentence in your post confuses me. You quoted my post, but did not address me in your response. Are you agreeing with me or disagreeing with me, Bob? My method is as simple as you can get. As to adding the collected drippings back to pulled chicken, I will pass on that. Pulled chicken is still moist enough to suit my tastes.

The elephant in the room nobody has talked about is that the majority of all retail chicken is tumbled/injected before it leaves the processing plant. Those ten pound bags of leg/thigh quarters include at least one pound of the injection solution. The industry standard is 12% solution added to the original weight of the chicken during the tumbling process. All sorts of chemicals such as sodium and phosphates are added to the solution as well as natural spices. Because this, I feel no need to add even more moisture to the meat before cooking, especially if it is dark meat which is more moist than white meat.

I was agreeing with most of your post. But whats wrong with adding drippings back? Have to never made chicken or Turkey gravy from the drippings?

 

[Juggy D Beerman]

Bob, I thought you were agreeing with me. I just wanted to make sure.

When I bone the cooked chicken, I keep the bones, skin and cartilage pieces and throw them in a stock pot. I add bell peppers, onions and celery along with some rub to make stock. My version of the stock comes out fairly gelatinous. I can make gravy out this if I want, but I seldom do. The drippings would be better for making gravy , but I rarely make gravy for smoked chicken or turkey. If my stock does come out being like jello when it is cooled, I will thin it down with store bought chicken broth for when I make soup.

One trick that I had forgotten about for making a more tasty pulled chicken for sandwiches is this one. Keep the skin off the cooked chicken and cut it into half-inch squares and crisp them up in a skillet that contains a little oil. I bet the drippings would make better flavor than cooking oil. Once crisped, the skin pieces can be added and mixed in with the pulled chicken. These pieces add a lot of flavor to the mix. It has been years since I have done this as it is tedious to cut the little skin pieces out of the cooked skin. Next time I cook up a batch of chicken, I will try this again. I will lay the skins flat on a cookie sheet and freeze them to see if this makes for easier cutting. I know this method works for cubing half-inch squares of bacon slices.

 

[Itsdone]

When i smoke chicken or turkey, the temp is so high and its done so quick there is a faint smokey flavor, so i hardly consider it any different then cooking a chicken or turkey in an oven. And there has to be gravy for whole chicken and turkey at my table. Only time there is no gravy is if its bbq chicken.

 

[txsmkmstr]

On a weird tangent I recall a BBQ forum member (on a different forum) that injected his brisket with canola oil. I'm guessing if it works for brisket it would work for chicken. I have no clue as to advantages or flavor profiles - just trying to address your question.

 

[Juggy D Beerman]

When i smoke chicken or turkey, the temp is so high and its done so quick there is a faint smokey flavor, so i hardly consider it any different then cooking a chicken or turkey in an oven. And there has to be gravy for whole chicken and turkey at my table. Only time there is no gravy is if its bbq chicken.

Bob, My cooking temperature for the chicken quarters ranges from 275F to 325F. The temp range for turkey varies between 300F to 350F. I do get more smoke on the birds than you do, but that is what I like. And you like what you like and neither of us is wrong about what we like.

I do have a question for you. You stated that cooking a whole chicken at a higher temperature on a smoker or grill gives the meat a hint of smoke flavor and is no different to cooking in an oven. I won't argue with that. My question is, how is that method of cooking not considered BBQ? I ask this because you mentioned bbq chicken in your post not getting gravy, and I agree with that, unless it is more of that "red" gravy that comes out of a bottle...........

 

[Itsdone]

Bob, My cooking temperature for the chicken quarters ranges from 275F to 325F. The temp range for turkey varies between 300F to 350F. I do get more smoke on the birds than you do, but that is what I like. And you like what you like and neither of us is wrong about what we like.

I do have a question for you. You stated that cooking a whole chicken at a higher temperature on a smoker or grill gives the meat a hint of smoke flavor and is no different to cooking in an oven. I won't argue with that. My question is, how is that method of cooking not considered BBQ? I ask this because you mentioned bbq chicken in your post not getting gravy, and I agree with that, unless it is more of that "red" gravy that comes out of a bottle...........

What method, oven? I am just saying that most of the time when i do chicken in my smoker there isnt much of a difference in flavor other then the faint smell/flavor of smoke and wood fired flavor. Its very faint, so it still goes great with gravy. Now if i went low and slow for a real smokey flavor, i prefer it with bbq sauces, white or red. Now when i said unless its bbq chicken, i meant with bbq sauce.

 

[Juggy D Beerman]

What method, oven? I am just saying that most of the time when i do chicken in my smoker there isnt much of a difference in flavor other then the faint smell/flavor of smoke and wood fired flavor. Its very faint, so it still goes great with gravy. Now if i went low and slow for a real smokey flavor, i prefer it with bbq sauces, white or red. Now when i said unless its bbq chicken, i meant with bbq sauce.

Bob, to use my favorite line out of "Cool Hand Luke", "What we have here, is a failure - to communicate."

Our nomenclature is different. BBQ to me means cooking over or with a wood based fire regardless of whether it is cooked low and slow or hot and fast. BBQ to me does not include something cooked in the oven and then covering it with BBQ sauce and calling it BBQ. In my world, whether you cook that chicken hot and fast for little smoke exposure and low and slow for more smoke flavor, both styles of cooking are what I consider BBQ. Putting BBQ sauce on something does not make it BBQed. How it was cooked makes it BBQed whether it has that white or red sauce on the meat or served naked without any sauce.

If it makes you feel any better, I used to argue that hot and fast was not true BBQ. I hit a point of realization that I was wrong. I also used to argue that pellet cookers should not be legal to cook on in BBQ contests. My argument was that if pellet cookers were legal, gas and electric grills should be allowed too. I still feel that firemanship should be a part of contest cooking, but I gave up that fight. I still won't admit I am wrong on that argument.

 

[jham0077]

thanks all. I'm used to the injection process so I'm going to run with that. Gonna try a light oil and see what happens. At the end of the day, no one will need an EpiPen. May just not taste as good as prior rounds. Hoping for the best...

We've injected turkeys with zesty Italian dressing, it's an oily mixture. I don't see why you couldn't make a homemade dressing of sorts and shoot em up.

 

[Itsdone]

Bob, to use my favorite line out of "Cool Hand Luke", "What we have here, is a failure - to communicate."

Our nomenclature is different. BBQ to me means cooking over or with a wood based fire regardless of whether it is cooked low and slow or hot and fast. BBQ to me does not include something cooked in the oven and then covering it with BBQ sauce and calling it BBQ. In my world, whether you cook that chicken hot and fast for little smoke exposure and low and slow for more smoke flavor, both styles of cooking are what I consider BBQ. Putting BBQ sauce on something does not make it BBQed. How it was cooked makes it BBQed whether it has that white or red sauce on the meat or served naked without any sauce.

If it makes you feel any better, I used to argue that hot and fast was not true BBQ. I hit a point of realization that I was wrong. I also used to argue that pellet cookers should not be legal to cook on in BBQ contests. My argument was that if pellet cookers were legal, gas and electric grills should be allowed too. I still feel that firemanship should be a part of contest cooking, but I gave up that fight. I still won't admit I am wrong on that argument.

Failure to communicate, or w/e you want to call it, If i say bbq chicken in my neck of the woods, 9/10 people would just assume i am talking about chicken with bbq sauce on it, regardless of how it was cooked.

 

[Juggy D Beerman]

Failure to communicate, or w/e you want to call it, If i say bbq chicken in my neck of the woods, 9/10 people would just assume i am talking about chicken with bbq sauce on it, regardless of how it was cooked.

So in your neck of the woods, if you cook chicken in the oven and put BBQ sauce on it, it is considered BBQ? How about frying chicken and putting BBQ sauce on it? Is that considered BBQ too?

In my neck of the woods, calling a piece of meat BBQed means it was cooked on a grill or smoker regardless of whether it has sauce on it or not. You give someone in the greater KC area a piece of meat cooked in the oven and cover it with BBQ sauce, and then call it BBQ, saying that will get you laughed right out of town. BBQ is more than just red or white sauce and it is not cooked in an oven. And I would be willing to bet that nine out of ten people on this forum would agree that BBQ is not cooked in an oven.