First attempt at chicken was dry


 
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Frank M

TVWBB Member
I'm a new bullet owner (first attempt was 3 slabs of BB ribs that turned out great) and tried to do some chicken yesterday. I followed the Chicken page recipes to the letter doing two butterflied chickens-- except I used a store-bought chicken rub on both and used regular apple juice to baste instead of the special brand in the recipe). The chicken was very flavorful, but was pretty dry-- not at all like the description of the meat at the end of the recipe (which I believe described it as tender and juicy.) I maintained the temp right around 250 for the whole 4 hours or so as measured with a remote probe thermometer stuck through the lid vent.

Any suggestions as to what might have caused the chicken to dry out?
 
If it was dry then it was over cooked, what were your finish internal temps?
Brinning will increase the moisture levels at the end of the cook if you hit correct internal temps.
White meat 160? is the number and 175 to 180? for dark meat.
Jim
 
That's the thing-- my finished temp in the thigh was about 175?. I didn't measure the breast. To be clear, the dark meat was not too dry-- just the white meat. Yeah, I know white meat cooks dryer than dark in general, but I was hoping to be able to keep the white meat nice and juicy in the smoker.

Guess I'll try brining next time?

Thanks!
 
I also suggest brining, but here's a trick I've learned with chicken, either butterflied or whole. After you remove it from the smoker, wrap it in foil to rest and turn it breast side down. This allows all the juices to run into the breast meat to make it moister. I usually let it rest for 1/2 hour before cutting into it. Hope this helps.
 
You know, I pulled off the chicken breast quarters and the pastrami at the same time yesterday, wrapped up both and buried them in towels in the ice chest for a couple hours, but didn't think to so position the chicken-- probably because, visually, it looked so great there in the pan-- presentation thing, I guess.

I'm a big fan of brining poultry-- it both gives you the flavor deep into the meat, plus some leeway if you don't happen to pull it off at exactly 160* (white meat).
 
I seldom cook chicken whole or butterflied because of the fact that there is 15 to 20? difference in finish temps between white and dark meat. By the time the dark meat is done white meats is well beyond where I want it to be. Brinning helps but cooking pieces allows you to pull them when they are in prime condition.
Jim
 
Brining is a must IMHO, plus I put a pat of butter under the skin of each thigh and make sure I don't cookem too long. Breasts dry out worse than thighs, that's why I don't smoke'em.
 
Frank...

Try the beer butt chicken next time... It's moist and taste wonderful... The steam and flavor goes right in the chicken breast... you can't go wrong...

Cheers!!!

bugg /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
 
The only success I have had at keeping the breast meat from drying out while making sure the whole bird is cooked is to either brine the bird or smoke it beer can style.
 
I have great success in keeping breast meat moist when cooking whole birds by brining my chickens, and then starting them breast-side down in a regular v-shaped oven roasting rack on the bottom rack of the WSM (with ribs on the top rac, usually). About 2 1/2 hours into cooking, I'll reach in and flip them over to breast side up to finish cooking. Works great.

Keri C
Smokin on Tulsa Time
 
Frank,

I'll second Bill's suggestion, the beer can chicken in Smoke and Spice is excellent. I've left in on for 5 hours and it was moist even on freezing and reheat.
 
Count me as another advocate of beer-can chicken. I brine the bird as well and smoke it with an empty water pan at 350 degrees.

You can't beat the beer can for chicken. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
 
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