Chicken skin HELP!

[skooter]

I just tried for the third time to smoke a whole chicken, with poor results on the skin.
I would like to end up with crispy skin but end up with soft inedible, in my opinion, skin. The chicken meat is juicy and delicious, but I really would like to be able to enjoy the rub on crispy skin. I’ve smoked at a high of 350, spatchcocked, olive oil and rub on the skin. I haven’t yet tried brining. Is brining either dry or wet required to get crispy skin? PLEASE HELP!

 

[chilerelleno]

Dry brine with a mix of baking powder and salt in a 1:3 ratio.
Air dry the bird for 12-24hrs.
Cook at 275° or higher, I cook at 350°-375°.

A light coat of oil on skin is okay, as is rub.

 

[chef jimmyj]

^^^^^^^^^^X2^^^^^^^^...JJ

 

[skooter]

Dry brine with a mix of baking powder and salt in a 1:3 ratio.
Air dry the bird for 12-24hrs.
Cook at 275° or higher, I cook at 350°-375°.

A light coat of oil on skin is okay, as is rub.

One part baking powder to three parts salt?

 

[chilerelleno]

Yes, 1:3 or 1:4 if you like.

 

[tallbm]

I just tried for the third time to smoke a whole chicken, with poor results on the skin.
I would like to end up with crispy skin but end up with soft inedible, in my opinion, skin. The chicken meat is juicy and delicious, but I really would like to be able to enjoy the rub on crispy skin. I’ve smoked at a high of 350, spatchcocked, olive oil and rub on the skin. I haven’t yet tried brining. Is brining either dry or wet required to get crispy skin? PLEASE HELP!

Are you using a good thermometer to measure your smoker temp?
At a true 350F smoker temp your skin should come out fine. If you are relying on a built in thermometer then it is very likely that the temp on the rack where your chicken is cooking is NOT the same 350F that your thermometer is reporting.

Let us know how you are measuring temps and we can provide some more advice on what to do :)

 

[skooter]

by skooter posted Sep

Are you using a good thermometer to measure your smoker temp?
At a true 350F smoker temp your skin should come out fine. If you are relying on a built in thermometer then it is very likely that the temp on the rack where your chicken is cooking is NOT the same 350F that your thermometer is reporting.

Let us know how you are measuring temps and we can provide some more advice on what to do :)

Yes, I'm using a Therm Pro two probe digital with the probe at 1" above the food grate. Also, I'm cooking 22.5" Weber with Slow n Sear and no water in the pan.
I have great results with everything else I smoke, I’ve just never had good luck with chicken skin.

 

[noboundaries]

As tallbm said, at 350F you should have bite through skin. You don't say what type smoker you're using or how you know the chamber temp, but I suspect your grate temp is lower than 350F. Depending on the smoker, you can have 100F differences between the top of the smoker and the grate.

Edit: looks like part of the answer was posted while I was typing. So, not the grate temp. What smoker are you using?

 

[skooter]

As tallbm said, at 350F you should have bite through skin. You don't say what type smoker you're using or how you know the chamber temp, but I suspect your grate temp is lower than 350F. Depending on the smoker, you can have 100F differences between the top of the smoker and the grate.

Edit: looks like part of the answer was posted while I was typing. So, not the grate temp. What smoker are you using?

Weber 22.5” with Slow n Sear, indirect heat, charcoal briquettes and apple chunks.

 

[browneyesvictim]

Try it again with your spatchcocked bird, but this time. There are couple extra steps as already mentioned.

1. Lay out your spatched bird out on a wire rack on a cookie sheet skin side up
2. Pad bird down with paper towels to dry the skin.
3. Rub with aforementioned mix of baking powder and salt and any herbs. (no mustard or oil, etc)
4. Place in refrigerator for at least 24 hours. (Skin will become be slightly yellow and translucent)

Start your Kettle with Slow and Sear, leave all vents open. No water. Place bird indirect Do not throttle any vents while cooking. Don't be afraid of higher indirect heat! I promise it wont burn!

One other thing I have learned recently is to use just a couple teaspoons of straight Baking Powder and NO SALT. You aren't making a coating with the baking powder, but rather you just need enough to change the PH of the skin. Salt will draw water to the surface which can be counterproductive. This method works AWESOME with wings on my vortex that I am tossing with sauce after they are done

 

[noboundaries]

Okay, now we're getting somewhere.
1. Make sure you dry smoke; no water in the Slow n Sear reservoir.
2. The top vent should be on the opposite side of the fire to generate maximum heat circulation. All vents full open.
3. Spatch'd chickens work best if kept whole.
4. I still use my Smokenator on occasion in my Kettle. The Smokenator concept is basically the same as the SnS, but the Slow n Sear is a better design. I fill it with ALL hot coals for poultry, about a half large chimney of hot charcoal, putting a couple wood chunks on top of the coals then loading the chicken when I see hints of blue in the smoke. I've seen temps as high as 450F to start, but it settles into the 360-390F range fairly quickly.
5. The only thing I put on the skin of my chickens is a spray of canola oil and the rub.

Edit: man, everybody's typing faster than me today! Not a problem, kinda fun.

 

[skooter]

Thank you everyone for your help! I have a renewed interest in making this happen. It’s just a bit frustrating getting the chicken skin crispy when I’ve had such good luck with every other kind of meat that I’ve done.

 

[chilerelleno]

When straight smoking you're never going to get 'Truly' crispy crunchy poultry skin.
But you can get a very nice crisp 'Pop!' on the bite through
For the 'Real' crispy crunchy you'll need to finish your smoked bird with more of a direct heat source, grill, rotisserie, oven or broiler to completely render the fat out.

 

[browneyesvictim]

I keep going back to this (apply first cooking step in a smoker):

 

[skooter]

Okay, now we're getting somewhere.
1. Make sure you dry smoke; no water in the Slow n Sear reservoir.
2. The top vent should be on the opposite side of the fire to generate maximum heat circulation. All vents full open.
3. Spatch'd chickens work best if kept whole.
4. I still use my Smokenator on occasion in my Kettle. The Smokenator concept is basically the same as the SnS, but the Slow n Sear is a better design. I fill it with ALL hot coals for poultry, about a half large chimney of hot charcoal, putting a couple wood chunks on top of the coals then loading the chicken when I see hints of blue in the smoke. I've seen temps as high as 450F to start, but it settles into the 360-390F range fairly quickly.
5. The only thing I put on the skin of my chickens is a spray of canola oil and the rub.

Edit: man, everybody's typing faster than me today! Not a problem, kinda fun.

Still had the kids over the day after Thanksgiving and not enough turkey left overs so I picked up two chickens and followed your directions except I loosened the breast skin and added some rub under the skin. Dumped in the lit coals from the chimney in the SLO n Sear and added some pecan chunks, waited for good smoke and put the spatchcock chickens on with both vents wide open. Everyone liked it better than my Sister in laws Thanksgiving bird. Nice bite through skin! Thanks again everyone for the help, next time I’m going to try a little baking powder to see if I can get some crunch.

 

[illini40]

Dry brine with a mix of baking powder and salt in a 1:3 ratio.
Air dry the bird for 12-24hrs.
Cook at 275° or higher, I cook at 350°-375°.

A light coat of oil on skin is okay, as is rub.

I have had good luck with wet brines producing really tender and tasty birds. If I wet brined, could I then still do something with baking powder to help the skin. Or should you not combine these two methods?

 

[chilerelleno]

Yes, you can wet and dry brine.
Let the bird drain well and pat down to dry, then brine the skin and let air dry.

But it is easier to dry brine the skin and inject a brine solution into the meat.
And both can do their magic at the same time.
*Note: Don't inject through the skin.

 

[uncle eddie]

Pop it in the oven at 425F for 10 minutes or so at the end of the smoke....when the skin sizzles...give it a couple of minutes

 

[illini40]

Dry brine with a mix of baking powder and salt in a 1:3 ratio.
Air dry the bird for 12-24hrs.
Cook at 275° or higher, I cook at 350°-375°.

A light coat of oil on skin is okay, as is rub.

When you said air dry, is that air drying with the dry brine on it?

Do you wipe the baking powder and salt brine off before seasoning and hitting the smoker? Or leave on?

How thick should this mix be on the chicken?

I'm planning on doing some drumsticks tomorrow and wanting to try this.