Need help with leg quarters!!!

[lhaile21]

I have a Masterbuilt electric smokehouse and I smoked some leg quarters tonight. The meat was moist and juicy and tasted good but the skin wasn't fit to eat. I could've made wallets out of the skin it was so tough. I set the temp at 200 and cooked them to an internal temp of 180. It took almost 3 hours and I used hickory. If I had set the temp at 250 and cooked them to an internal temp of 167 as the guide says, would the skin have turned out better? I had this problem when I smoked some Johnsonville brats.

The reason I had set the temp at 200 was because I had put a meat thermometer in the smoker when I seasoned it, and there was about a 25 degree difference between the smokers thermometer and the meat thermometer. I'm assuming that the digital meat thetmometer was more accurate than the smoker so I've been cooking at 200 degrees assuming the temp was closer to 225. I'm having my doubts now and should probably just go with the smokers temps. I'm wanting to smoke some turkey legs and don't want to run into this problem again. Also, I like a smoky flavor but my wife prefers a more subtle smoke flavor. Would apple or oak be a better alternative than hickory? Any advice would be great. Thanks -Larry

 

[pineywoods]

For poultry I suggest running the smoker as hot as you can get it which i think is around 275 on your smoker. The higher temps help with the skin the other things you can do is finish them on a hot grill or in the oven at 350. As for the thermometer check your digital one with a pot of boiling water get the water boiling and stick the end of the probe in and it should read 212 or very close to it then you'll know which one is right. Apple is a much lighter smoke flavor and I really like apple with poultry

 

[eman]

As far as i know you are not going to get crisp skin on the smoker.
you may try cooking the bird over some good hot coals to finish it and crisp the skin.
I like to use apple or cherry wood for my chicken . also if you brine it add some apple juice to your brine

 

[pineywoods]

Hey I just saw you have a propane smoker in your roll call thread. Use that instead of the electric for poultry and crank the temps to 325 range and you will get a much better skin. I still like apple for poultry