Cooking method

[Cy Robinson]

Is it possible, or worth the bother, to cook 2 or 3 beer butt chickens in a WSM for the smoke flavor and then at about 140*F interior temp transfer them to a gas grill to finish up and crisp the skin? I have heard that smoking chicken leaves the skin kind of rubbery and I do like crisp skin. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

TIA

 

[Russ Hazzon]

Yep, chicken skin is kinda rubbery when Q'd at low temps. It's not a problem tossing the birds on the grill to crisp the skin, but there's one thing to keep in mind. As you cook low and slow you render out the fat in the chicken. The reason chicken skin gets nice and crispy is from a thin layer of fat between the skin and the mmuscle. When cooked at higher temps this fat almost fry's the skin to a crisp consistency. If you want smoke flavor and crisp skin try cooking in the WSM at higher temps (300-350) by using the standard method of lighting the coals and foiling the water pan without any water or sand. Birds are usually done within an hour, have a nice smoke flavor, and have edible skin.

 

[Cy Robinson]

HoodaThunk,

Thank you Russ for the advice. Makes a lot more sense than trying to juggle 2 or 3 hot beer butt chickens from one cooker to the next. I'll give it a try this weekend. (I hope) Thanks again. /infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif

 

[Russ Hazzon]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Cy Robinson:
[qb]Thank you Russ for the advice. Makes a lot more sense than trying to juggle 2 or 3 hot beer butt chickens from one cooker to the next. I'll give it a try this weekend. (I hope)[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Good luck and don't forget to let us know how it turns out!