Dear Dr. Barbacoa,


 
H

Hank Hill

TVWBB Fan
I have a question about bbq poultry. More specifically the Basic BBQ Chicken recipe provided on this site.

I have cooked this recipe twice and each of the cooks, the poultry seemed juicy/raw. Is this a character trait of chicken that is 160 on the breast and 170 at the thigh?

On the 2nd cook, I even left the poultry in for 45 minutes longer than the recipe suggested, and it still came out too juicy/raw for my liking. When I say juicy/raw, I can only describe it as watery and rubbery/slippery.

In fact, when I put the initial probe in, it was like I punctured a hole in a water balloon and the juices shot about 2-3 inches like a geyser.

Can anyone diagnose what I'm doing wrong? My goal would be to have the bbq smoke flavor, but the chicken have a Kentucky Fried Chicken consistency for level of doneness.
 
Hank,

I would say that is NOT a characteristic of chicken to be raw. Some juice coming out though yes.... The skin is holding a lot of yummy juices in there and putting a thermometer in gives it a chance to escape. Are you sure your thermometer is calibrated?
 
I read what I believe the moderator of this site wrote, wouldn't swear, its been a while, but there's places such as joints I believe that appear pink and "spooky" looking, it reads that its ok and if your SURE of your therm and temps. your good to go, if its a color thing your worried about, you say "raw" that sounds like a look thing. As far a juice I have the same problem, but I happen to love it, sounds like your doing great. To be honest im a "chicken" when cooking chicken so take it from me, you wont hurt it overcooking it and I don't care if I don't cook to pro standards, i'll never undercook one again... it only takes once
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maybe someone could give you that thread if your interested if that sounds like what you would want to read. I would but im special and dont know how. thank you _Dan
 
Steve, one of the problems was you're right, my thermometer was off. I was using a cheap faberware digital therm. I cant afford a thermapen, so I will get the CDN DTQ450 in the interim. But it is off by 10 degress lower. So when my chicken was 160/170, it was actually 170/180.

Dan, I'm with you dude, I'm just going to overcook the stuff, until I get it to the desired consistency.

Bob, thanks for link. Egads! Although deemed safe to eat, I couldn't bring myself to do it...It looks like the cook flung the chicken from the pan to the floor, then ran it over with the serving cart.
 
First, I would make sure I was using an accurate thermometer. See Testing Thermometers for Accuracy.

If the thermometer is accurate, then it may be that you just don't prefer chicken this juicy. I know of some people who are averse to chicken that is moist and juicy because they are so used to eating dry chicken that they equate anything moist with undercooked. Same as the way some people will only eat a well-done piece of steak.

Dry chicken is a common problem with backyard barbecued or grilled chicken, and overcooking is the reason. Many would be thrilled to get juices shooting out like a geyser.

Comparing with KFC is difficult because it's fried in a pressure cooker at really high temp, so it's thoroughly cooked but also juicy and greasy at the same time. I don't think you'll be able to achieve that.

I would suggest making sure you're using an accurate thermometer, and if so and you don't like the results, just cooker to a higher internal temp until the moisture content and meat texture are to your liking. If you like it a little bit drier and firmer, that's perfectly fine.
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Good luck,
Chris

P.S. Looks like you posted a reply just as I got started typing. Since the thermometer was running on the low side, as you say I would just cook longer.
 
Chris, I think you definitely hit the nail on the head in that I don't like chicken this juicy.

I'm thinking I was in denial...here I used to look down my nose at people who ruined a good steak by ordering it med-well/well done, only to find out I'm doing the same thing with chicken
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And for the record, I hope you don't think I was blaming your recipe, I just made reference to it so I wouldn't have to describe all cooking factors like temp, time, size of chicken, volume of fuel, etc. BTW, my wife and son loved the chicken, I was the only one who didn't like it. I guess it's true, the cook is his own toughest critic
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