Chicken Leg Quarters - Hot and Fast vs. Low and Slow

[Richard Ef]

I've been smoking leg quarters for years at 225 with the water pan and they'd turn out great after about 2 hours. Today I saw the Hot and Fast recipe here which uses no water pan, all vents open, 30 minutes skin up and 30 minutes skin down. Fo the sake of time I'd prefer hot and fast but it sounds like way too much heat.

Any advice? TIA!

 

[Brett-EDH]

HAF = crispy skin. LAS = rubbery skin.

HAF with wood chunks makes for a Smokey and crispy skinned chicken.

You’re cooking dark meat so it can easily handle higher heat without drying out.

I’ll usually do half birds and cook at 400-425° and they’re always moist, juicy and crispy skinned. Just watch your done temps. Dark can go to 170°-175° and be perfect. On a half bird, I’ll shoot fot 158-160° on the breast temp and the dark is always perfect, and hotter too.

Jus don’t cook at above 450° dome temp and you should be fine.

 

[MartinB]

Yup, no need to slow cook birds and have rubbery skin. And that's chicken or turkeys. 350F is what I do