do you bring meats to romm temp or not before a smoke?

[john enea]

Doing 2 chickens for dinner and was wondering about whether to bring 'em to room temp or not. My thinking is that cold meats need more time to cook and thus should allow for a little more smoke and in the case of chicken, a crunchier skin.

thoughts?

 

[Tom Chips]

You're never going to get " crunchy" skin on chicken that is smoked on a WSM.

As far as temp of the meat goes, yes, you will have the potential for a larger smoke ring, etc. if the meat is colder than room temp ( fridge temp) when put on.

 

[K Kruger]

I bring poultry and roasts cooked to lower internals to room temp first, for more even cooking. Butts, ribs, briskets--barbecue, in other words--go in cold.

Chicken needs high heat for crisp skin. Putting it in cold won't affect skin finish.

 

[Jon Merka]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Tom Chips:
You're never going to get " crunchy" skin on chicken that is smoked on a WSM.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

just run the WSM wide open without any water in the pan. i can crank mine upwards of 350 doing that. plenty of heat to crisp up a chicken skin if that is your desire.

 

[Tom Chips]

True, especially if you remove the entire center ring, and run the grate right over the coals like a normal Weber grill. That's part of the great flexibility of the WSM. What I was referring to was that you couldn't crisp up your skin by just smoking it at normal temps of 225 even up to 300. Not enough direct heat.