REALLY fast leg quarters - this sound right?

[yardbird]

I just did 10 pounds of leg quarters. Nothing super special. I rubbed 'em and let 'em sit a few hours in the fridge and then put them in the smoker. Temp ran about 315 to 325.

My Maverick started yelping about an hour into the smoke. Meat probe said temp was 171. I thought, "must be bad placement"... so I went out with another meat thermometer and checked a couple of the others. They all went right up to 170 no problem.

So I pulled 'em. They got done so FAST though I just had to stop in and ask if this sounds normal. They smell wonderful, they look fine. They just got done in a tad over an hour. Much faster than I had anticipated, so I foiled 'em and stuck them in the oven on "Hold" just to keep them 'till dinner time in an hour or so.

Do chicken leg quarters really go that fast? It's real convenient, but I haven't done them before. So I'm askin'

:)

thanks

 

[diggingdogfarm]

At that temperature, it's normal.



~Martin

 

[harleysmoker]

 

 

[ecto1]

Sounds good to me I cook whole birds at 375 in about an hour.

 

[Dutch]

Yardbird -a question for you, where these leg quarters fresh or had they been 'enhanced'? Cooking enhanced bird parts is pretty much like cooking a brined bird. I find that brined birds always cook faster than fresh. Fresh birds take about an hour at 350° for me. Brined take about 45 min at the same temp.

 

[venture]

Sounds about right.  I like my thighs closer to 175 and my breasts at 165.  Just a personal preference.

Good luck and good smoking.

 

[yardbird]

The leg quarters are fresh. My wife just bought another 30 pounds. I'm cooking up 20 pounds for a party we're going to later today. An entire leg quarter is a pretty big portion though. Most people at parties tend to take small portions of lots of things so I split each quarter into thigh and drum. Debating on whether to stick the whole 20 pounds in or batch it at 10 pounds in 2 runs. I think I can fit all 20 pounds in the smoker, but if I use all the racks, I won't have room for a drippings pan. Such a dilemma. :)

Oh, the other 10 pounds went into the freezer for later. She's buying these 10 pound packs of leg quarters for something like 69 cents a pound. I have to trim them all as there's a big flap of fat and excess skin on them.

We're going to be tearing our kitchen apart next week for a remodel. I should probably load up the smoker several times and put stuff in the freezer. You can only eat just so much take-out. I have a whole turkey and a pork picnic, oh and some venison backstrap. I'm planning on spending a month without a kitchen as we're doing everything ourselves, but with a toaster oven, microwave, griddler, smoker and grill, I think we can cook ok. It's just cleanup is kind of a pain (no dishwasherduring remodel). :)