First Smoke - Chicken Thighs

bradt35 · Jan 7, 2016

Disco said:
With all being said, these look way better than my first thighs did, Brad. You are well on your way.

Disco

Thanks Disco!

BDSkelly said:
Perfect! b

I appreciate it Skelly

mike5051 said:
What's wrong with that? Slow smoking gives the chicken flavor, high temps get the skin crispy. You can't have both unless you get very lucky with your cook. There is nothing wrong with crisping the skin after a smoke, there is nothing wrong with cooking at temp to achieve crispy skin. Achieving both at once is a challenge.

Mike

This thread has some good info related to crispy skin:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/201599/chicken-thigh-taste-test-2-comp-styles-vs-backyard

I've read a couple of threads about removing the skin and scraping the fat off for crispy skin

campfirestu said:
I want to thank everyone for the input on this post - our first couple tries with chicken breasts was not good but they were skinless and we tried to smoke at 225 degrees.

As a result of these posts we changed the plan and went with higher temps:

Last evening's smoke:

2) Bone in / Skin on breasts 1-1/ lbs ea.

Smoker temp 325

Smoke duration 45 mins (under smoked somewhat going to do 1hr 15 mins next time)

We do use the AMPS in a side box

We got distracted (helping with homework) and the IT got to 195 and 200 before we pulled them out. Surprisingly they were still great. Were going to try to pull them at 180 deg next time.

Thanks again for all the great info on these posts!!!!

Glad it was helpful Stu! I'm a bit of a nerd/geek and was a little timid to type so much info up at first. I'm glad I did now, I learned more from everyone's comments than I did the actual smoke! Now to try out some pork!

gwschenk · Jan 12, 2016

Missourismoker said:
I still can't get the chicken skin right. Each time I try chicken with skin on it I reach my IT and the skin is no where close to crispy, every time it is rubbery, and I have to finish on direct flame on the grill to get the skin edible...any recommendations?

This seems to be the quandry of every chicken smoker. The crispiest chicken skin I ever achieved was in a El Cheapo Brinkmann, unmodified. Must have been the totally uncontrolled high heat. Still came out juicy. I'm thinking of dusting it off and doing another chicken on it.

mike5051 · Jan 12, 2016

gwschenk said:
This seems to be the quandry of every chicken smoker. The crispiest chicken skin I ever achieved was in a El Cheapo Brinkmann, unmodified. Must have been the totally uncontrolled high heat. Still came out juicy. I'm thinking of dusting it off and doing another chicken on it.

Yep! I get crispy skin every time with my kettle, but use indirect cooking with a full load of hot coals and all vents wide open. I'll bet the temp is about 400, I've never measured it. I just know that in 45 minutes to an hour, I've got awesome grilled chicken. It's the smoked chicken that causes the skin issues.

Mike

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First Smoke - Chicken Thighs

bradt35

Newbie

gwschenk

Smoke Blower

mike5051

Master of the Pit

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