What causes rubbery chicken skins?


 
T

Tom Henderson

TVWBB Member
I'm a noob trying to improve his skills so I hope you won't mind a basic chicken grilling question.

Last night I grilled bone-in chicken pieces. Cut up the ~5 LB bird, then washed and dried the pieces. No rubs oils or other prep.

Preheated the grill (Older Spirit 310) on high for ~10 min.

Pieces were cooked on direct medium for two minutes a side to sear, then indirect medium (med/off/med) until 180F internal temps. Applied Chris & Pitts bbq sauce for the last 5 min or so.

Total cook time was about 35 min.

The meat was ok (done but not over-done). Not as juicy as I would like but OK.

The skin was really rubbery... And I was wondering what I might have done to cause that, or if it was just a tough bird.

In the past, I just did chicken on direct/med until done, without any sear or indirect and no meat thermometer. Results were highly variable as you might expect.

I also used to put the sauce on throughout the cooking instead of just at the end. Often it would burn(not good) but the skin was crisper and not rubbery.

Any comments or criticisms for the noob?

-Tom in SoCal
 
Sounds to me like You need to cook it longer and hotter. High heat means crisp skin. Next time do the opposite of this cook...start out medium indirect until the it hits 160 or so....then crank the heat and put the meat right on the flame. Don't sauce it either....leave it dry til it's cooked.Sear it good and cook it to your desired IT ( (for me it's 170) I think maybe you'll like the skin better. If you want to add sauce do it as the chicken is resting.

edit; ok I'm rereading your post now and seeing some stuff I missed. A whole chicken bone in and all that...I think 180 might be a bit high for the breast but you know what you like. I do 165 in the breast and shoot for 165-170 in legs and wings. Thighs are very forgiving so you have wiggle room there.
also when you go to cook the chicken make sure it ain't wet ! If you can let it dry uncovered in the fridge for an hour before cooking that's a big help...but if not , pat it dry and throw it on the grill after you season it.
 
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+1 for higher heat to get crisper chicken skin. Also, choosing a marinade/brine to help. Cornell chicken for example.
 
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Tom, try grilling your chicken pieces indirect to start, then move to direct and give the pieces some time with the skin
side down direct, but watch carefully so you don't scorch it. You can also try basting the skin with a little peanut oil
while it is in the indirect part of the cook. Save the sauce for the last couple of minutes only.
 
Bob H. said:
Tom, try grilling your chicken pieces indirect to start, then move to direct and give the pieces some time with the skin
side down direct, but watch carefully so you don't scorch it. You can also try basting the skin with a little peanut oil
while it is in the indirect part of the cook. Save the sauce for the last couple of minutes only.
Click to expand...

Thats what I was thinking. Some sort of oil would likely crisp up the skin. Maybe even butter.
 
Thanks folks -- lots of things to try next time...

One question.... How hot do you set up the fire for the final sear? Max? Medium?
 
if you took everything up to 180f then it's overdone (just use more sauce :) ).... fattier pieces can be taken that high or higher (wings for example) and still be good.

I think you should try roadside chicken next......that might help you get a better feel for it.

http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?33874-Roadside-Chicken&highlight=roadside+chicken

>>>edit: seems people always emphasize hot/fast with chicken, but I really want to do some low/slow....smoke ring....not sure if I'll try water even. Just for a change.
 
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Clint said:
.... but I really want to do some low/slow....smoke ring....not sure if I'll try water even. Just for a change.
Click to expand...

I've heard that Bobby Flay says that the trick to crispy skin is lower temps because he says because you need to give the skin time to render the fat.

Sometimes I think I overcomplicate cooking (brining, searing, high heat/low heat, automatic temp control and so on). I cooked chicken last weekend and the skin was pretty crispy, almost purely by accident. It was the least amount of effort I think I've put into cooking. To start with, I had 2 whole chickens, cut them in half, pulled the skin back and seasoned them next to the meat and rubbed them with a litle oil. I didn't even wash them. I put a few coals on one side of my 26.75" OTG, lit my small chimney with a few coals and once hot, poured them over the unlit coals on the grill. I positioned the 4 halves on the kettle so that the breast end was closer to the fire than the legs, then I just forgot about them for about an hour and a half. I looked at the clock and thought, "Dang. I need to go check them". I used my Thermapen in the breast and they were around 160 and about 185-190 in the leg. I left them for about 10 more minutes and pulled them when the breast was 165. The skin was pretty crispy, especially around the wings. It turned out to be some of my best chicken.

I think I get the best results when I never place the chicken over the flame.
 
Darren C. said:
I've heard that Bobby Flay says that the trick to crispy skin is lower temps because he says because you need to give the skin time to render the fat.

Sometimes I think I overcomplicate cooking (brining, searing, high heat/low heat, automatic temp control and so on). I cooked chicken last weekend and the skin was pretty crispy, almost purely by accident. It was the least amount of effort I think I've put into cooking. To start with, I had 2 whole chickens, cut them in half, pulled the skin back and seasoned them next to the meat and rubbed them with a litle oil. I didn't even wash them. I put a few coals on one side of my 26.75" OTG, lit my small chimney with a few coals and once hot, poured them over the unlit coals on the grill. I positioned the 4 halves on the kettle so that the breast end was closer to the fire than the legs, then I just forgot about them for about an hour and a half. I looked at the clock and thought, "Dang. I need to go check them". I used my Thermapen in the breast and they were around 160 and about 185-190 in the leg. I left them for about 10 more minutes and pulled them when the breast was 165. The skin was pretty crispy, especially around the wings. It turned out to be some of my best chicken.

I think I get the best results when I never place the chicken over the flame.
Click to expand...

Darren, maybe those fryers just had some thin skin? I don't know. What I do know is that I haven't had much luck with crisp skin cooking indirect at moderate temps. I've done everything short of using corn starch.

Just the other day I squeezed three fryers onto the cool side of my big kettle. Birds were simply butterflied, dried, seasoned, and the skin was sprayed with light olive oil once on the grate. Gauge was 400-ish; not enough to crisp skin so I just went skin down direct toward the end of the cook. Works a lot better than browning at the start in my experience.
 
Different brands of chicken have vastly different amounts of fat under the skin ie organic chicken us way less than Tyson.. When I do whole chicken I cook low and slow but normally no not eat the skin on these. Chicken pieces is breasts legs etc I usually cook really high Herat like 450 ish indirect to get that crispy skin. Also salting the skin very heavily like more than you think you need will pull moisture out of the skin to help crisp it.
 
pat dry chicken. I like to grill chicken halves indirect on kettle using high indirect heat 375-425 skin side up and they take about an hour and 15 or 30 minutes.
Rub skin with olive oil, then apply rub or seasonings. Cook indirect on high heat. I only use direct to crisp up skin in rare cases it needs it.
If using sauce, I thin the sauce a little with cider vinegar and apply to chicken, still on indirect for last 20 min. Even with indirect any sauce or marinade with a lot of tomato or sugar might burn a little on high so keep an eye on it.

If I'm craving super crispy chicken I usually go with wings or fried chicken :)
 
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