my smoked chicken is tasteless and chalky

[dduffett]

i am looking for some tips here.  I have an upright charbroil smoker H20 Electric.  Has element in bottom, water drip pan, place to put wood chips around element and an upper and lower bracket for grill.  This is what I have been doing,  Using some hickory wood chips around the element, fill basin with water--added some liquid smoke, rubbed cut up chicken with cowboy rub by Grill Mates.  Cook chicken several hours until 165 internal temp.  The chicken tastes like eating crumbly chalk, skin is soft and rubbery, and the chicken has no taste.  Any suggestions?  Could the wood chips being old cause this?  Also, when I smoked some ribs they smell and taste like dirty socks--literally.

 

[mike fitz]

I always used wood chunks vs chips and soaked them for 30-45 minutes prior to setting them around the element. It's *possible* all you're doing is igniting the chips and getting some off flavors with not much real smoke. Never used liquid smoke in the water pan, not sure if that could be contributing to any off flavors as well.

 

[bruno994]

Rubbery skin is a side effect of slow smoking chicken.  You'll have to pop it on a hot grill or oven for a few minutes to crisp up the skin.  As far as the taste of the chicken, I don't have an electric, so how you are using the chunks, I couldn't tell you if thats right or not.

 

[bordercollie]

I had a similar problem when I started using my first  grill many years ago . Come to find out , back then I didn't season it first . It took several smokes to get that "good taste". Then everything was much better flavor  wise. I also started using pecan wood minus the bark and cooked at the suggested temp for that item . Good Luck, judy

 

[ski-freak]

Not using the same kind of equipment, but here's what I often do for nice chicken and turkey parts:

1. Clean and dry the poultry parts with fresh water and paper towels.

2. Apply dry rub (I use 4 parts of a heavy Brown Sugar Based Pork Rub; 3 parts of a Montreal Steak Seasoning; 1 part of a Poultry Seasoning that would normally be used for making bread stuffing). Get the rub under the skin where you can.

3. Sear the poultry parts for 5 minutes per side on a hot grill.

4. Move the poultry parts to a warm smoker - I usually go around 2.5 hours at 250 degrees on my smoker's thermometer.

5. Mop the poultry parts periodically (both sides) with an Apple Cider Based Mopping Sauce.

Good Luck!

 

[boykjo]

Brine your chicken then rub it down. Hot smoke it at 275 and dont add liquid smoke. Get a can and a soldering iron and make a home made smoke generator or order a smoke generator from todd

http://www.amazenproducts.com/

Joe

 

[chef jimmyj]

Obviously, everybody has their own way of doing Chix...But with all do respect to others, Always Sear on a Grill or Roast at 425*F to Crisp skin at the END. For skin to get crisp the bulk of the fat and Moisture has to be removed First. Going to a hot grill first just renders a little bit of Fat, may very well causes a flair up and will burn the skin before you get to that crispy goodness. Additionally, the now partially cooked skin and meat will not take on the amount of Smoke flavor going in Raw will get you. With the average store bought Chicken, Brining is a must to add Moisture, Flavor and Tenderness. Add a tasty Rub and if your smoker will go to 275-300*F do so. At these temps you may not even need to crisp the skin, however there is no issue Smoking at lower temps, it just requires the extra step.

Liquid Smoke in the water pan does nothing for flavor, as well as soaking chips/chunks of smoke wood...To get TBS you need a slow burn, if you soak you get nothing but Steam until the wood dries then smoke will start. If the wood gets too hot you get a burst of white smoke and they burn up. Do what you have to to get the wood to smoulder. As Joe suggested, many of us have AMNPS Pellet Smoke Generators. This works well in Electric Smokers and gives up to 10+ hours of TBS in a huge variety of wood flavors. The Dirty Sock deal is a new one, may very well have been an insufficient seasoning of the smoker. Were the ribs the first smoke in a straight out of the box Smoker? If you have not done so already, get a good thermometer to monitor Smoker temp and Meat temp. The Maverick 732 is a popular therm that does both with one unit. This link has a popular Brine and Rub Recipe and a tasty indirect heat Grilled Pit Chicken Recipe that is excellent. Take Note of the picture of the Chicken...I was getting rushed by a hungry family and went to the Hot Side too soon. I got a Flare up and slightly burnt skin...Lesson Learned!...JJ

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/121378/pit-chicken-aka-roadside-chicken-for-you-west-coast-guys

 

[ski-freak]

Jimmy, thanks for the idea of improving my process. I am happy to try the sear other way around, and maybe do even better, but I will tell you that I have had very good success making batches of chicken and turkey parts just as I outlined, and then putting the cooked pieces in tupperware in the fridge for my wife and I to bring to work for lunch/dinner during the week. Always been quite smoky flavor, extra moist inside, and great skin. My wife says "good mouth feel", and everyone at her work is always jealous at the smoky smell in their kitchen when she reheats the parts in the microwave. One co-worker even said she smelled like bacon - which I think is a pretty high compliment...

 

[dduffett]

thanks for the tips.  This is a 4 or 5 year old smoker.  i never seasoned it.  but i will quit using liquid smoke and try some different wood.  i never brined the chicken before.  So will try that.  Obviously i don't use the smoker much because of the lousy results the first few times.  that is why i decided to come on here and give it another shot.  thanks again.

 

[chef jimmyj]

thanks for the tips.  This is a 4 or 5 year old smoker.  i never seasoned it.  but i will quit using liquid smoke and try some different wood.  i never brined the chicken before.  So will try that.  Obviously i don't use the smoker much because of the lousy results the first few times.  that is why i decided to come on here and give it another shot.  thanks again.

 Definitely do not give up...There is no member of this forum that was a Pro from the start. Also there is no problem you may have that the Folks here can't Fix.

The Recipes in the Link I posted provide multiple levels of flavor and are tried and true. You can use just the Brine and Rub or play around with all three. Just have some Patience and Post step by step what you do so if you are not happy, we can tweek the procedure to make it right for you...JJ

 

[big casino]

I agree with Jo Brine that poultry, since I started brining chicken and turkey I actually like it now, Make sure you use a good tested thermo and don't go over the 160 or 165 ( I can't remember which one) that is recommended it will leave it nice and juicy, and get that smoker as close to 300 as you can like Jimmy says, My MES you can set up to 275, but it's actual temps go up to almost 300, the skin will crispen a tad in mine,  I like to use the water pan it helps keep the temps more even, I also cut my vent back to halfway open sometimes lower, but a lot of guys will tell you to leave it open

 

[diggingdogfarm]

To each his own, what works for one person can be a total disaster for someone else.
Brining should certainly help with the chalkiness problem.
I'm not a big fan of cranking the temp way up at the end of cooking when the juices have become very mobile and the proteins easily tighten up and the juice runs outa the meat in a steady profuse stream. :icon_eek:
With chicken i like to keep the temp up throughout cooking (300-325) and I've never had a problem with lack of smoke flavor, rubbery skin or anything like that, in fact I've won more prizes for chicken than almost anything else that I Q.
You'll just have to experiment and see what works best for you.

~Martin

 

[ski-freak]

I just gave attempting to sear at the end of the cooking session a try, but it turned out unsuccessful for me. This was from more of a practical standpoint related to my burn, since near the end of the burn my coals were burned down and the sear wasn't at sufficiently high enough heat - like the short sear I had found to be very successful at the beginning of the cooking session. The late sear attempt was with only a dozen drumsticks, but the skin was rubbery and while the taste was nice and smoky there really wasn't any more smokiness to the flavor than we have experienced using the short sear at the beginning - at least any difference that we could taste. I use wood and charcoal and always get very smoky flavor - and maybe it's hard to tell the difference between very smoky and super smoky. 

Having said this I do get the theory that was pointed out, and appreciate that it represented an opportunity for improvement, and I am just reporting the practical nature of the heat (BTUs) available during the burn for effectively searing.

In my case, I am using an offset box horizontal smoker/grill - that has a 40" long X 20" deep cooking chamber. The last 10" of the cooking chamber nearest the firebox chamber is hot enough to grill and sear food at the start of a long burn, though apparently not at the end of a long burn (without adding a bunch more wood/lump fuel to the firebox which is sort of a waste of BTUs at that point, being very near the end of the burn). I can smoke food very successfully by spreading it over the remaining 30" of the cooking chamber - not using the 10" nearest the firebox chamber. I will often cook (grill) a dinner of steaks/chops at the hot end of the cooking chamber, and then continue to use the same burn to also smoke a batch of poultry parts for packaging subsequent meals in tupperware. The methodology I use has been derived from practical experience and a desire for efficiency (use the burn for multiple meals, while efficently using fuel). It's a compromise approach from a theoretical standpoint, but the results are excellent from a practical standpoint.

In summary, the short 5 minute per side sear at the beginning works best overall FOR ME, with my equipment, and my efficiency goals. It may not work for others based on your equipment and goals. There are clearly many successful methods out there! 

 

[sqwib]

WOW! this is gonna confuse the OP ... all these different results.

Yes I definitely agree that everyone has their way of doing chix.

After reading the post's more carefully I thought everyone has mixed results, probably due to their equipment and technique.

The following is based on my stick burner and think my results are much different than than many of these posts.

For whole chix on the reverse flow smoker I do them beer can style,  no need to brine or baste, put them on 275°

If you're doing whole chix, Don't get hung up on the internal temp being right at 165° when you pull them, don't be afraid to keep them on a little longer.

I slather the chix, get the smoker to about 275°. place the chix on the beer can and then place them in a pan with a few cups of water to catch the drippings and keep them from burning up in case a gravy is to be made.

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• sqwib
• Jul 20, 2012

After an hour I remove them from the pan and move them to the grates.

I put away my meat thermometer and smoke for TOTAL 2 hours. I have had the same results at 250°.

Before anyway goes nuts on me not checking internal temp, let me add this, If you are not 100% sure it's done you should check Internal Temps.

Many folks believe that low and slow doesn't crisp skin, but it does, what happens is the fat renders out the same way as it would on a butt and better at low heat over a longer period of time  than at high heat at a shorter period of time, the skin is thinner and crispier, (Chef Jimmy pointed this out already) These are my findings anyhow.

Skin completely crispy and fat rendered out.

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• sqwib
• Jul 20, 2012

I have better results smoking these guys than doing them on the grill.

As far as the wood and smoke flavor goes, Chef Jimmy has you covered and to avoid redundancy I'll say "WHAT HE SAID"