Chicken Quarters: FAILED


 
Enrico said:
This is what I did. But it didn't work.
IMG_6471 by Enrico BBQness
Click to expand...
This is what I would have done different

I would have flipped that bowl upside down on the charcoal grate and put the lit charcoal around the outside of the the bowl and I would have put the chicken directly over the upside bowl. Granted, it's not a huge difference because both are indirect, but that's how I might have given that a try. I like concept, and I would have ate that chicken with a huge thank you, looks tasty to me :)
 
Sorry you were disappointed in your results Enrico. With the IT you reached on those quarters I would have eaten them. Bet they were delicious. I believe the info above should help on future cooks. Hang in there!
 
I cook my chicken (usually thigh) indirect until I get an internal temp of 165° or a little higher then I stick them back on the heat with the skin down and get a crispy skin. I was also not getting the crispy skin until one of my cooks I just had a thought of trying it and was amazed I learned something new.....lol.....
 
If you were over 400F for that cook (as it appears from your thermometer photo), I would have expected crispy skin, too. Then again, that thermo placement probably puts the probe very much in the path of most of the heat from the coals in that setup, so maybe the temp at the edges was a bit lower? Anyway, the color on the skin looked good, too bad it wasn't what you wanted.

I'd remove the meat from whatever leg quarters you have left over, and use it up in some other dishes (tacos, enchiladas, soup, etc.), and chalk this one up to a learning experience. If you don't try new stuff, you won't ever learn anything new! Good effort!

Rich
 
I think the article Gregg linked explains a lot. I have no trouble cooking thighs or drums separate but quarters I tend to have a lot of pink also. Always cooked to about 170 and still the pink. I thought that they were not totally defrosted, but maybe not.
 
Well they looked tasty in the pics! As mentioned, pink meat in poultry is not an indicator of doneness, same goes for pork. Besides what was mentioned above about the blood, the meat reacts with the smoke and also give you a pinker color than white (pork included). If your therm was accurate then the temps you had were fine. All of my therms are accurate with in 1-2 degrees for my altitude and that is acceptable in my book. I do however test them monthly. If you haven't checked your therms lately give them a test. I rarely trust the built in pit probes. Most of the time they are inaccurate. Some are just bad therms, the other factor as mentioned is they are usually no where near where the food is being cooking. Having a good remote therm that you can place at the same level, area as the food being cooked is essential.

Here's a write up I did on how to test your therms. You need to use the calculator provided in the tread to adjust the boiling point of water based on your altitude and the barometric pressure at the time of the test.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...is-212-f-an-accurate-measure-of-boiling-water

One more tip for crispy skin chicken, the dryer the skin the better it will crisp up. Air dried in the fridge overnight is best, but in a pinch use a hair dryer on low right before putting the poultry on the fire.
 
Can't we all just admit that unless it's fried, chicken skin just sucks? The best you can hope for is to render the fat and then it just tastes like slightly flavored paper. I've tried everything and it's always crap. "High temp will fix it!" Nope, clearly here it doesn't. Some may see it as a challenge, I say, just never try. "Air drying will fix it!" Nope, still crap. "Don't brine too long!" Nope still terrible.

Well there's always next time. Chicken looks gorgeous!

edit- I'm mostly tongue in cheek on this and frustrated with chicken skin myself!
 
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