Smoked Chicken -- "Smoke Roasting" (Raichlen) or Low 'n Slow (Lampe)?

Hello, Everyone:

I did a quick skimming of the forums (or is that fori?) looking for a recipe/technique for smoked chicken. I found some good photos and commentary, but no detail on technique.

I can do chicken on the grill. I want to do smoked chicken on my WSM. I already got past the water pan issue. I'm now at the "what temp" issue.

Do I go with smoke roasting, as suggested by Steve Raichlen, or do I go low 'n slow, as suggested by Ray Lampe?

Is it possible to get crisp skin with smoked chicken? My plan was to go with a dry water pan, temp in the 350 range, figuring on approximately 90 minutes or until done. If I go low 'n slow, it would be with water in the pan, maybe two hours or so, or until done. With the former, crisp skin. With the latter, spongy skin. Flavorful with both.

If there's something in this forum or in another one here on the VWBB that I missed, I appreciate being pointed in that direction.

OR is there a simpler solution, viz. try it one way, see how it comes out; then try it the other way, see how it comes out; then decide which one I like better?

Only had the WSM for a couple months. Have done three chicken / turkey thigh cooks. The first two the meat was tender / juicy / flavorful, but the skin looked and chewed like an old tire. Third cook, I removed the water pan completely, opened all vents full throttle, and the chicken turned out great. I didn't flip the chicken, but some have suggested turning it skin side down about half way through to crisp the skin more.

I have done chicken as low as 225 and as high as 450. The key is to pull it off the cooker when the meat is up to temp. Higher heat will give you crispier skin, lower heat leaves it in the smoke longer and is easier not to over shoot your temp. Adding salt to the skin- lots of it. Will help dry out and crisp the skin.

Thanks, everyone, for your input.

I vote chicken on the WSM, no water pan, vents wide open, a full chimney of lit on a bed of unlit, with apple smoke wood. That way i get crispy skin and smokey flavor.

Right on.!,,,,,,,

http://virtualweberbullet.com/chicken4.html
HTH

Tim

High temp is your friend. But tender skin low and slow is my go to. If you wanna crisp it put it on really dry. (dryed overnight in the fridge) Or you can go the baking powder route. When i get really crispy skin...and rest the chicken for 10 min the skin gets soggy while the chicken cools down. Fry it or go slow and get that skin TENDER.

If you want a one step cook, go as high as you can (maybe 400F on a WSM) with an empty, foiled pan. Low temps will give you rubber skin. If the skin is rubbery, nobody will care about your rub or smoke. If you go high heat, toss a few chunks of light wood on a few minutes before you put on the bird(s). The wood will catch fire and burn out quick but that's more than enough smoke. If you go low and slow, you may want to finish on a hot grill, which is way too much work for me based on the reward. You also run the risk of oversmoking. Mesquite is way too heavy for me with chicken.

If you really want to do great chicken regardless of technique, brine.

chickens cheap when its on sale. Experiment till you find a way you like to cook your chicken. We eat a lot of chicken so I cook it a bunch of ways on a lot of different things but thats just me. YMMV.