Pulled Chicken?


 
J

Jay Turner

TVWBB Member
I asked my girlfriend what she wanted me to smoke for International Smoke Day tomorrow and she said "pulled chicken like they have at Sonny Bryan's." Of course, I will sneak some ribs on the smoker as well.

Sonny Bryan's is a local Q joint that has passable BBQ. We haven't really eaten there much since I got my WSM. I have since smoked brisket, butt, lamb, beef ribs, and pork ribs, but have never tried chicken low and slow. I have cooked the Roadside Chicken recipe from this website (wonderful), but have not tried any of Chris's low-temp chicken cooks.

What they had at SB's was a chicken version of pulled pork. It was moist and shredded chicken. My question is this: Is that what you get from cooking chicken low and slow? Should I foil the chicken? How would you recommend I cook the chicken to get these results?

Thanks for your input.
 
Jay,

I might be completely off on one part of this, but here it goes.

You're talking about what I would call shreaded chicken. I've done this with my low smoked chicken and put it on tacos.

I also believe, this is where I can be going wrong, that you can take some of that shreaded chicken and put some liguid in the bottom of a pan with spices in it and simmer it to infuse some of the spice flavor into the shreaded chicken. I'm guessing this not only adds flavor, but also makes sure the chicken is moist.... but as I said this part is iffy at best
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I hope it goes well and enjoy.... Also btw I am one of the few and proud who loves their chicken smoked low and slow! Join the revolution!
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Josh, you're not off at all. The chicken can indeed be shredded and gently simmered in spiced liquid or in sauce. The chicken will be plenty moist already--especially if you're using dark meat only--but the sauce will add flavors.

Dark meat is common for this approach because it is forgiving but it is possible to use breast meat as well or alone; it is trickier however. It is easier if you do whole or halved bone-in breasts, and if you're doing dark meat pieces as well make sure to temp the breasts separately so that they can be pulled just shy of done (upper 150s); rest 5 min, skin, and shred directly into sauce/liquid in pan. Heat gently and be sure to include some fat in the sauce or liquid (unsalted butter is my choice but oil will work) to reduce the evaporative potential of the meat's juices--and heat gently. I'd suggest brining if you want to do breasts. Dark meat has superior flavor and is much easier to work with so if dark alone is acceptable do it alone.

The CI recipe calls for a higher heat (300+) smoking session and leq quarters only. While you certainly can go a higher heat route I think low/slow more suitable. Their suggested pull internal of 185 might seem high but dark meat shreds easier at higher finish temps; it's relative and marginal though so a lower temp is possible but I wouldn't suggest lower than 177. A higher 'fall-off-the-bone' temp is easier though.

A good suggestion from CI: When the meat is cool enough to handle, separate the meat as you pull it off the bones into two piles, one of the small pieces and one of the large. They suggest pulsing the small pieces in a processor to finely chop it (running over it with a sharp knife works fine too), shredding the large pieces with your fingers, then mixing the two in the pot with the sauce. They are right--imo--that this makes the overall texture of the finished dish much better.
 
Kevin,

Thanks for backing me up there
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I wasn't sure exactly how to pull of that idea, but that is what I would want to do if I were making shreaded chicken.

I hope it turns out well for you!
 
The most recent America's Test Kitchen on PBS showed their pulled chicken recipe. The cooked indirect on a weber kettle.
 
Weber's big cookbook has a recipe for pulled chicken. It is excellent. I've making it on the kettle for years. It is the wife's favorite recipe from that book.
 
You inspired me to try this today. I generally followed Kevin's instructions. I made a paste with butter, kosher salt, turbinado sugar, chile powder, black pepper, onion powder, granulated garlic, smoked paprika, apple juice & pear juice. I used chicken thighs and rubbed the paste all over, but especially under the skin.

I cooked them at 300 degrees on the kettle with apple smoke, pulling them at 180. I let them cool, then pulled. I put about one-fifth of the chicken in the food processor. Then I gave this a bath in some sweet baby ray's cut with butter, apple juice, pear juice, lemon juice, lemon zest, honey, smoked paprika, chipotle, garlic and black pepper.

I topped my sandwiches with grilled red peppers, skinned and seeded and marinated in a balsamic vinegar, EVOO, honey mustard vinegrette dressing. (I prefer marinated red peppers for pulled pork as well, rather than cole slaw.)

This was some of the best Q'd chicken I've ever had. I will definitely do this again. I urge you to try this recipe.
 
Sounds great, David. Standardize your recipe as best you can and post it in the poultry section of the Recipes threads. It would be an excellent addition.
 
Thanks to everyone for the wonderful advice. Just to let you know what I ended up doing:

I fired up the cooker via Minion Method using the last of my old Kingsford for the starting coals and a full ring of new Kingsford (I noticed no real difference, btw). I used the recipe from the link above to the Cook's Illustrated site and took Kevin's advice about cooking it low and slow. These were thigh/leg cuts. I smoked it for around 4 hours at 225 until they measured 180. I also used apple smokewood. The chicken recipe called for only salt and pepper on the chicken while it was smoking, so that's what I did.

I really did like the results of cooking this chicken low and slow and will do it again. Its appearance was very similar to pulled pork. I pulled it and simmered it in the peach sauce per the recipe.

The chicken was very smokey. Of course, this is the way I like it, but my girlfriend liked it, too. I imagine any harsher smokewood than apple would have made it bitter easily if too much was used. The sauce was unusual and had a peach/chili thing going on. I think I will experiment with different approaches.

The bottom line is that I will definitely be trying slow-cooked chicken again. Thanks for the tips and encouragement.

BTW...after I took the chicken off, I cooked a brisket and butt for lunch the next day. It was International Smoke Day, after all! That's why I used a full ring of charcoal.
 
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