What chicken cut for KCBS competition?

[handsomeswede]

What cut of chicken do you recommend for use in a KCBS competition? I was planning on using thighs.

Also, how do you handle the chicken skin during cooking and for presentation to the judges?

 

[jminion]

I use thighs, brine overnight, start brine after you have had meat check.
Rub and smoke hot 275 plus until get get them to an internal of 175.
At this point I place them in a hot sauce bath skin down and that goes back on the cooker for an hour. This step gives you bite threw tender skin. After the sauce bath the thighs goes back on the grate to set the sauce. The sauce is a mixture of sauce, a little hot sauce, honey, pad of butter and a little apple juice. Can add a little cayenne if you want more heat in the flavor profile. The butter gives the glaze a great shine.

Hope this helps.

 

[yankeerob]

Pretty much everyone uses thighs. However, they need to be trimmed up to perfection. Trimming chicken takes the most time of all the meats. Here's the method:

- Find the BIGGEST thighs you can find (lefties work the best)
- Trim out all that nasty white fat that they leave on the meat
- flip the thigh over. There's a small piece of meat you can pluck off with 2 fingers. Remove it!

For 6 thighs get a bottle of Newmans Original dressing and pour it over the chicken in a zip lock bag and seal overnight.

Cooking:

Chicken takes 2 hours and is grilled hot and fast. Remove the chicken from the dressing and pat dry. Wrap the skin around the meat tightly and secure with tooth picks.

Get a grill up to high temp and place a half pan on it. Foreach thigh - cut a pad of butter into the pan and place the thigh skin side up. Cook 30 mins then flip. Cook another 30 mins skin side down - all this over medium heat. Sprinkle your rub on and flip again to skin side up for 15 min. Sprinkle again then flip. Crisp up the skin directly on the grill skin side down - flip, glaze and add a final sprinkle of rub to set in.

This is a modified DrBBQ technique that earned us our second walk last year. 2nd in chicken at Troy.

We got new techniques this year that involve this device:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-REVEO-MARIV...NG_W0QQitemZ110346922127QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH _DefaultDomain_0?hash=item110346922127&_trksid=p32 86.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A 1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

A certain team won a MAJOR contest last year using it.

-rob

 

[alx]

We trim and toothpick skin down over sides, so it doesnt shrink up. Here is Paul Kirks method.This method won the first perfect chicken score ever, all 9, at American Royal in 2001.1st place out of 364.
Marinate to give good flavor
Smoke at 275 until cooked(doesnt give his internal)
Crisp skin 10-30 seconds a side on HOT Grill
Glaze and serve up to judges
jminions method has been good to us and will give you that bite through skin.We have forgotten to apply rub last three comps, and i dont drink.
I will try YankeeRobs as well at next practice.The JACK DANIELS INVITATIONAL you have to turn in White MEAT.--BlackCatBBQ---The Pickled Pig is great website for looking at his comp pictures in box's.