Hey all, been lurking for about a year, and I'm now into month 5 with my WSM. The hard part is learning to relax and let it do it's thing. (Sorry "Guru" guys, but I'm comfortable and successful with 50 degree temperature swings, so I don't think I'll be joining you on the technology bandwagon quite yet!)
Anyway, I don't do a lot of chicken on the WSM, (yet) but have experienced the same frustration with rubbery chicken skin that many do. Most of us know that higher temperatures are needed to crisp up the 'ole bird, but I don't think many realize HOW high.
When roasting a bird in my regular gas range, I actually start the bird out (rubbed with your favorite oil/grease of choice) at 450 degrees for 15-30 minutes, depending on how large the bird is. Then I cook the bird to completion at 350 degrees after visually confirming the amount of browning I want to achieve.
This process was obtained from one of the Gourmet cooking magazines, and is highly successful with crisp skin, yet moist meat everytime. I do not brine or otherwise marinate the chicken for roasting, though I do for my WSM birds at the moment. I also insert small slivers of butter and some herbs under the skin before starting the browning process.
That 450 browning temperature is substantially higher than I've ever gotten (or want to get) with the WSM, plus I don't know how you would cool the WSM down 100 degrees to complete the cooking as the bird only takes about an hour or two total to cook.
So I'm going to begin some experiments with water pan out at the beginning, pre-cooking in oven, opening the side door to lower/raise temp, etc. to figure out what will give those results we're looking for.
Just thought I'd throw in a guideline temperature for others to experiment with as well.
I'll report back when I have my results . . .
Anyway, I don't do a lot of chicken on the WSM, (yet) but have experienced the same frustration with rubbery chicken skin that many do. Most of us know that higher temperatures are needed to crisp up the 'ole bird, but I don't think many realize HOW high.
When roasting a bird in my regular gas range, I actually start the bird out (rubbed with your favorite oil/grease of choice) at 450 degrees for 15-30 minutes, depending on how large the bird is. Then I cook the bird to completion at 350 degrees after visually confirming the amount of browning I want to achieve.
This process was obtained from one of the Gourmet cooking magazines, and is highly successful with crisp skin, yet moist meat everytime. I do not brine or otherwise marinate the chicken for roasting, though I do for my WSM birds at the moment. I also insert small slivers of butter and some herbs under the skin before starting the browning process.
That 450 browning temperature is substantially higher than I've ever gotten (or want to get) with the WSM, plus I don't know how you would cool the WSM down 100 degrees to complete the cooking as the bird only takes about an hour or two total to cook.
So I'm going to begin some experiments with water pan out at the beginning, pre-cooking in oven, opening the side door to lower/raise temp, etc. to figure out what will give those results we're looking for.
Just thought I'd throw in a guideline temperature for others to experiment with as well.
I'll report back when I have my results . . .