Problems getting my chicken to turn out good

[fire it up]

drlouis, any reason in particular you bring your bird up to 180?

 

[drlouis]

I'm a bit paranoid about under-cooked chicken, and I guess I don't completely trust that I have the probe in the coolest part of the largest piece of meat. That's the whole reason. otherwise I'd stop at 165 or 170.

 

[pignit]

Pretty much like everyone has said here. The two things that make the most difference in cooking chicken is to use higher smoking temps and take it off before it drys out. I'm kinda like you. I want to know things are done. I've started taking my chicken off at 165, cover and let it rest. It will go on up to 170 by itself. If your not taking it off until it hits 175 or 180 it may be going as high as 185 or so after it has rested. It will continute to cook. You really have to figure that in when cooking chicken or you dry it out. Most other things other than steak are a bit more forgiving but not chicken. Good luck.

 

[reichl]

well I am marinating about 4 legs and 4 thighs in famous daves chicken marinade and I am going to brine 4 legs and 4 thighs tomorrow before I smoke them. I think I am going to smoke at the highest temp on my MES for an hour then throw it in the oven at 350. Thank you all for the useful information, I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

 

[flash]

Basically true, except my wife wants her chicken DONE. This means around 180º internal. 165º can still have bloody juices that she will not eat. I don't bother with brinning, never saw a reason to. It goes on the smoker at 265 to 270º and smokes for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, then onto the gasser to reach the 180º internal.







180º internal and no brine.....but plenty juicy

 

[drlouis]

exactly my experience. looks good

 

[teacup13]

alright i will interject my chicken ideas..lol

you could go to that restaurant, ask to speak to the guy who cooks the chicken and start asking questions.

everybody mentioned brining and different flavors, but chances are he uses a different wood or combination of wood for smoking than you do.. when i lived in a small town in Michigan, was a local pizza place that had Q...it was actually not bad, and i had the same situation..his chicken was great.. i started chatting with him and he took into the back where he Q'd...he used an old oil drum with charcoal and maple..

anyways enough of my rambling..lol

go ask questions, he may not tell you all of his secrets but you can at least find out how he does it

 

[rons]

I'm new to this too, but chicken is the one thing that I've had really good success with, once I started using these guys advice with brining, it made a world of difference.

I've been doing an overnight super flavored brine. (sea salt, brown sugar, garlic, onion, italian seasonings, other shaker seasonings, etc.) The only thing I do different is me and my wife like our chicken 'fall off the bone' tender so I cook till it's about 190. Degrees. I also get queezy if I see that reddish blood stuff by the bone when the chicken is only 160-170 eewww lol

 

[bigsteve]

Really? Even with brining I would have thought 190 would be shoe leather. Is that dark or white meat? How moist is it? Do you have to foil it to keep it moist at that temperature??

 

[rons]

The meat is still great, it's not drippy squirty juicy but 'standard moist. I don't foil, maybe the overnight soak is keeping things moist? It's for all chicken meat, even a whole chicken. It's a long time habit even from when we cook poultry in the oven, always go minimum 180 max 190 at the deepest thickest part of the meat. The skin gets a bit rubbery but we never eat the skin. It makes the white meat WHITE with no blood red stuff. The bones are dark instead of bloody red. I'm just weird about that I guess lol

The part about safety though that does bother me, is lets say 160 does kill everything, and you poke around and measure 160 in a few places, but the one area you didn't check is only at 150 due to some pocket of air or thicker meat or something, then you eat that and end up in the hospital for 2 weeks, yikes!

 

[bigsteve]

Well, you have to be comfortable with your food. A chicken at 150* is only going to send you to the hospital IF it was contaminated in the first place. Sure, why gamble though.

Have a chuckie going on my weber with the smokenator I just got. It's fine unless I snake the temp. probe wires out under the kid. With the wires in place, the kid leaks and the temp runs away. Ugh. That stupid thermometer is more trouble then its worth.

Well, I'll end the thread hijack here. Will be doing a Q-view about the chuckie later.

 

[rons]

Yeah, I guess I'm a germophobe lol

Bummer on the thermo annoyances!