Smoked Chicken Skin Issues


 

George C

New member
I tried a search, but didn't have any luck, so I'll try this.

My wife and I like simple, smoke-cooked chicken. However, at 225 degrees, the skin come out a little rubbery. Has anyone tried browning the chicken in a convection oven before smoking?

Here is what I am proposing"
Loosen chicken skin
Salt over skin with kosher salt
Let chicken dry, uncovered, in frig over night to help crisp skin
Place in 425 degreen convection oven and brown/crisp skin for 20-30 minutes.
Let cool and smoke-cook at 225 degrees.

Only drawback I can think of is that crisped skin might not take smoke as well.

Any comments? thanks
 
George it is difficult to get crispy skin at low temps.When I do chicken I do it at 275-300 at least for best results.
 
George do you have an electric smoker? If high heat is not an option , you could smoke the chicken til it's almost done and then sear it quickly on the gas grill....although , I'm assuming you know this technique already. Have you thought of smoking the chicken first and using the convection oven at the end? Then your smoke would already be present.
 
Have to agree with the others. Just cook at higher temps. You still get smoked chicken flavor with crispy skin.
 
I've tried chicken once on the WSM and experienced pretty much the same thing. I've had that issue on my kettle too at times. If the best temps are in the 300 range, is there any advantage to using the WSM over the kettle? What would be the cook time for say, leg quarters at 350?
 
I prefer the chicken I have done on the OTG 22. I have not done it yet but have had my WSM 22 to a temp of 350 so may try that some time with chicken. The low and slow only works if you finish off in high temp grill or you are pulling the skin to serve or for making pulled chicken which is excellent low and slow.
 

 

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