Secret to good skin in the smoker

[JC in GB]

I smoked 2 half chickens in my Dyna-Glo smoker. I brined the meat overnight with an standard salt/sugar brine augmented with magic dust rub mix. The meat turned out fantastic! Smokey, juicy, and tender. Simply delicious. The skin, however, was another story. It was tasty but tough as shoe leather. I didn't mop the chicken during cooking as I felt they cooked fairly quickly, maybe that was my downfall. Any thoughts on how to get a good skin texture out of the smoker?

 

[chilerelleno]

Smoked fowl is notorious for rubbery, chewy skin with poor bite through consistency, there are several things you can do to improve it. You may not get crispy crunchy, but you can get a nice bite through with a Pop!

Thoroughly air dry the skin for 12-24 hours and cook at higher temps to render the skin, temps of 350°-375°.
Or
Rub the skin generously with a 1:3 mix of baking powder:salt, then thoroughly air dry in the fridge for 12-24hrs and cook at higher temps of 350°-375°

If your smoker can't attain the higher temps, you can smoke long enough to get color/flavor, take it to an IT of maybe 145°-150° and then finish under the broiler or at 450°-500°.
The preheated skin will crisp very quickly.

Birds can also be moved to a blazing hot grill and finished there to crisp the skin with direct heat.

 

[kruizer]

You need to get the grill warmed up and crisp the skin st higher temps.

 

[zwiller]

High heat is a must for CRISPY skin. I like to smoke one day and then grill another to crisp skin and warm up. That said, tender skin like store bought rotisserie chicken is doable on the smoker. Like Chili said, air dry/pellicle. I do overnight and also a half hour or so with a fan. Skin should take on some color and be dry to touch.

 

[JC in GB]

Thanks for the advice. I love advice, especially good advice. ;)

I would have never thought of drying the skin ahead of time. I will give it a shot and update this thread. If all goes well, I will get another chance to do some smoking this weekend!

 

[fivetricks]

I usually finish my birds in a high heat oven. IMHO it comes out the best because I'm not flipping the bird on the grill, or in the case of wings, destroying the flavor by dropping them in the fryer

 

[zwiller]

flipping the bird

:p

Your dyna glo offset (high air movement) is probably fine but I form pellicle on all my smokes for better bark etc.

 

[SmokinAl]

Your never gonna get crispy skin in a smoker, the best you will get is a clean bite thru.
We usually throw the skin in a pot with the carcass & make some stock.
Nothing like nice smokey gravey!!
Al

 

[chilerelleno]

Now there's another topic,
Uses for Rubbery/Soggy Poultry Skin.

Being the head chef and ordained poultry carver, I take full advantage and save all that undesirable (highly desirable) dermal tissue for my own greedy gluttony.

The thicker and fattier the better.
Bits of meat clinging to it? Nirvana.

Lay it all out in a CI skillet, add butter, fry it crispy crunchy.
Toast some Kings Hawaiian rolls, top with turkey, gravy and crispy skin.

Manna from Heaven!

 

[banderson7474]

I haven't tried this but has anyone heard putting mayo on the skin will help?

 

[chilerelleno]

Never heard of mayonnaise being to crisp poultry skin.
I've heard of and used it as a base for seasonings and breading.
It's really good that way, but it's not crispy, it's a nice bite through.

Poultry skin can and is often basted with drippings, butter, oils or some other form of fats to help with crisping and browning of the skin.

Mayo is primarily oil, try it out and report back on it.

 

[banderson7474]

My friend swears by it. It's a mixture of mayo, lime, and garlic but he also has one of those bad a** red trec 700 where he can just dial it up so I think it's more about the temp he was cooking at.

 

[JckDanls 07]

Myself.. The skin is only there to protect the meat from burning and helps retain moisture... It also helps hold extra rub so you can get more on your fingers (for licking purposes) when eating the meat... then push the skin aside... I don't worry about trying to get crisp skin when smoking...

 

[Day-licious BBQ]

Like others have said, cook the meat, ditch the skin. It never gets as good as you hope and will just drive you crazy trying to achieve the impossible.

 

[phatbac]

I like to ditch the skin of the meat when doing whole birds etc. mostly due to the tastes of the ladies of my house. for chicken wings i smoke for 45 minutes or so then throw the wings with some sauce into the air fryer for about 5 minutes and crisp the skin and cooks on the sauce!

Happy Smoking,
phatbac (Aaron)

 

[wannasmoak]

I tried for quite a while to get my chicken thighs to have crispy skin like they do when I cook them hot and fast at 425, but I've finally submitted to the clean bite through method as well. HowToBBQRight had a thigh video, don't remember which one it was, but basically his skin was so soft it was like frosting on top of your chicken. That's what I aim for now... delicious chicken frosting. Seasoned up big and rendered enough where it's not chewy anymore.

The secret? It has to steam at some point to really get that subskin fat melted out. Wrap em up.

 

[Berettaclayshooter]

Any time that I make yard bird, I have the grill (gas or charcoal) as part of the end game for crispy skin. When the skin is cooked correctly (think of road side chicken BBQ) that melts in your mouth.

 

[johnmeyer]

I too have pretty much given up on getting good skin from smoked chicken.

However ...

If I wanted to figure out how to get great skin, my first step would be to Google "Peking Duck" recipes. I'd only look at those which appear on sites which specialize in Chinese cooking. As the Wikipedia article suggests, the main attribute of this dish is the absolutely amazing skin. When prepared in a restaurant, you have to order a day ahead, because it is a two-day preparation.

 

[mdboatbum]

You’ll see a lot of people scraping the subcutaneous fat off the skin, drying in the fridge overnight, blasting with a hairdryer etc...(trust me, I’ve tried them all. My wife is still mad about the hairdryer) These will all get you in the ballpark, but there is an easier way.

Get a 13x9 baking pan and put about a tablespoon of oil in it. Spread it around so it coats the whole bottom. Then put it in your smoker to preheat. I run mine at 300°-325° but this will work at lower temperatures too.

Let it heat up for a good 10-15 minutes, then put your seasoned or rubbed chicken in skin side down. Don’t worry that it won’t get any smoke because it’s in a pan. That’s just not true. It’ll get plenty. Let it go for at least 35 minutes. The chicken will give up a lot of fat and juice which will then tenderize the skin.

After 35-45 minutes, finish skin side up on the rack, basting with sauce if that’s your thing. It’s a good idea to blot the skin dry when you move it to the rack. Be careful, the skin is REALLY fragile at this point.

When it hits its target temp you’ll have competition grade bite through skin.

For “crispy” you can put it skin side down over hot coals. Careful though, it likes to shrivel up at this point.

 

[chilerelleno]

mdboatbum
I've tried many a manner of crisping skin or getting a good bite through, with decent success.
Always looking to try another method out, and I'll be trying yours soon.
Thanks for sharing.

To all the naysayers, you CAN have your skin and eat it too.
You may not get that fried or grilled chicken crispy crunchy, but you can get a nice smoked 'Pop! or tender-n-juicy bite through.