spatchcock chicken- rubbery skin

[bigcab]

Did my 1st spatchcock whole chicken today...great results EXCEPT the rubbery skin...I did not do a true smoke ( No time) Grilled at 350 for exactly 1 hour without flipping ( Medium big Green Egg ) The chicken looked good enough to be onl the cover of bonAppetit' magazine, but alas the skin was rubber ( Interior meat was awesome). Any Advice..Dont want to burn it.. or break the beautiful skin... Thanks.

 

[pignit]

Smoked chicken is notorious for rubbery skin. I would have thought at that temp it would crisp up. I'm not very familiar with the green egg and cooking with one though. I know on my gas smoker 280 and up will give me somewhat crisp skin. I would suggest a few minutes under the broiler. Anytime I take up chicken and it's not got the skin on it the way I like it... under the broiler or onto the grill.... hot hot hot.... does it for me!

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Just a theory here:

Your BGE is a charcoaler, which requires a low draft (I'm assuming) to keep the temp under control. The low draft through the chamber may not allow the hot gases to flow across the top of the bird, as it is laying down flat and covering a large area. Hence, the skin was not subjected to a high enough temperature to get crisp. Basically, cooking from the bottom up, without the top being exposed to much thermal energy.

To correct:

Use less coals and add to the bed more frequently while using a higher draft. Maintaining chamber temp with the coal bed, and not as much with the intake and exhaust vent controls. May be more cifficult to control, and adding fuel often?...is that a problem?...Top load for fuel?

That's my take on it.

Eric

 

[bigcab]

Thanks Eric..Wow your a real science kinda guy huh !

Your right about the low draft...the coals sit in the bottom of cooker,,requiring removal of food and grate to acess the charcoal..I was looking for some magic bullett idea for crisp the skin up, but it probably is just an easy solution of broil finish or flip the bird over to finish and raise the temp to 400. I would hate to ruin the picture perfect skin though..will experiment with higher temp..flipping bird for finish and the broil method that was suggested. Thanks for your thoughts on the matter...