Curing Chicken Legs

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Why would you take it so high?
My opinion is it really helps the texture . Moist and tender .
Cut shot of a chicken thigh . Skin on , soaked over night in Pop's brine .
Cooked indirect at high temp . Taken to around 190 .
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Why would you take it so high? I'm curious for real so if you can point me in the direction that would be swell.
Charlie,.... For this reason.....clean bones and clean eating 😉
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Wings, thighs and legs... definitely not for the breast!

Here are some wings taken to about 200°.......and yes those little bones are the wing tips! Lol! 0303222246~2.jpg
 
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I forgot to ask... is there a target internal temp I'm shooting for with cured chicken as opposed to any other I might smoke/grill? I see alot of folks say they smoked for so long at 225ish, then finish at a higher temp, but I can't recall any IT being talked about.

In short cook the same as though it wasn't cured.

I take dark meat chicken/turkey to like 180F or can go a little higher. This is for better texture and taste on the dark meat. Wings do well at these higher temps as well.
For breast and whole birds (probed in the breast) I take to like 163F so it can climb to 165F.



Why would you take it so high? I'm curious for real so if you can point me in the direction that would be swell.

For dark meat (and wings work this way too) the texture and taste are better at the higher temps mentioned.

Breast and whole birds temped in the breast do not generally go to these temps.

Feel free to experiment with it. Chicken quarters are cheap for a 10 pound bag of frozen. cook some and pull at a few different temps from 165-190F and see which temp range you like the most.

At 180F or so the thigh and dumb meat is less squishy and I believe more of the flavor and fatty tissues (skin, cartilage, ligaments) releases more flavor at those temps.

I hope this info helps :)
 
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mr_whipple mr_whipple - sorry for hijacking your thread. Looks like you've got some good answers even if they don't all agree. Please follow up on how you finish these chicken legs and at what temp and how you liked them.
 
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mr_whipple mr_whipple - sorry for hijacking your thread. Looks like you've got some good answers even if they don't all agree. Please follow up on how you finish these chicken legs and at what temp and how you liked them.
Not a hijack! It's what I call a good discussion, or what may border on a vigorous debate, although I see little argument. This is how we hash things out whilst still being friendly. I'll post up the results when I'm done.. pics and details as needed.
 
I have to add that We enjoy our Chicken Thighs & Drums when I take them up to 180°, 190°, and even 195°. However I never knew that until I got my Ninja, because it never was so easy to get them up that high. I used to think it was important to keep them not too far above 165°, but it's much better in the 180° to 195° range---Inside & Outside.

Bear
 
I did mine for 36 hours , only because of timing so 24 hours would be fine also

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David
 
I did mine for 36 hours , only because of timing so 24 hours would be fine also

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David
Your thread was one of those that I read, and caused me to buy those racks. According to the tracking should be here today. It did remind me of a question... how important do you think the drying time involved with your process is? Was that something to do with the skin or?? I ask because I'm targeting late Sunday afternoon for the cook if I toss them in the brine some time Friday.
 
mr_whipple mr_whipple what smoker temp do you intend to smoke these legs at? Also are you planning go finish them up on the grill to try and make the skin edible?

If you can smoke at 325F or higher the whole time you wont have skin issues. If not then you will very likely have to figure something out for sure to create edible skin vs leather skin :)
 
mr_whipple mr_whipple what smoker temp do you intend to smoke these legs at? Also are you planning go finish them up on the grill to try and make the skin edible?

If you can smoke at 325F or higher the whole time you wont have skin issues. If not then you will very likely have to figure something out for sure to create edible skin vs leather skin :)
I was going to do them on the pellet pooper but changed my mind. Hot indirect on the Weber kettle is the plan for Sunday.
 
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Your thread was one of those that I read, and caused me to buy those racks. According to the tracking should be here today. It did remind me of a question... how important do you think the drying time involved with your process is? Was that something to do with the skin or?? I ask because I'm targeting late Sunday afternoon for the cook if I toss them in the brine some time Friday.


Sorry for the delay. Work keeps getting in the way of fun.

For your question, the drying time is to help the skin for crisp. These ones were in the fridge longer for the skin, but did not need that long either
as 30 hours I think just because of work again.
It did not help the skin on mine because I smoked at 2 different temps . I was not going for a crispy skin, so I did not bring the temp up to around 325 deg. I was going for the ham flavor and texture.

Hope this helps and hope you received your drum/winh rack. I love mine

David
 
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Thanks! I put them in the brine this morning. Made a half gallon of pop's lo-salt according to This post. I used pickling / canning salt as I don't think I even own any table salt iodized or not. Bought a value pak of legs which turned out to be 14 total, so half in the brine, half bagged up for later use. I'll pull them Sunday morning and put them to dry in the fridge before heading out for the day. Looks like amazon goofed on the leg racks. I went from delivery by 10 PM yesterday to not shipped :emoji_angry: Oh well, off to a day of fishing in the kayak!
 
Hope the fishing went well, waiting for Sunday to see your legs.....chicken legs, :emoji_grin: :emoji_grin:

Love Amazon , the delivery service , not so much

David
The fishing was great! Amazon is not my favorite place to shop, but they did refund shipping on my entire order for making the boo boo on the wing/leg rack, so I guess I won't complain for now. Any who, back to the food. In the brine Friday morning at 0600, pulled Sunday morning at about 0445. Almost 48 hours. I'm happy with the end result, but comments to follow.

Fired up the Weber with some standard issue KBB
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Tossed in a few pieces of cherry. I'm on a cherry kick lately. Color is awesome.
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Checking temps. Coming along nicely. Kettle is running hot hot hot! Yes, I'm running around in my socks!
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Oh my.. The skin took on a great color but seems to have really pulled back, product of cooking too hot I'm sure. All pieces registered between 180-190 so set them out on a rack before chow time.

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Bite was Awesome. Very juicy and tasty. I was concerned about drying it out but skin wasn't crispy or leather... I am not picky about it unless we're talking rubbery skin 🤮
Full disclosure; yesterday was my last day of a week vacation so I was testing human exposure limits to Modelo Especial and some pretty cheap gin.Taste testing actually happened next day at work... half power microwave setting kept the texture from being tough. That said, I am keen on doing this again. I intentionally did zero seasoning to see how the chix would taste. Maybe a honey baked ham theme or pineapple glaze next go round? Who knows.. the possibilities are endless.
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Perfect set up .
Perfect temp .
Great looking chicken .
The color , at least some of it comes from the sugar in the brine .
It takes that much charcoal and heat to do good chicken parts .
Nice work . Since you did such a perfect job , I promise I won't squeeze the Charmin
 
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