Under Cooked Chicken

[smokin sid]

This last weekend I attended a catered dinner at a club event.The menu was BBQ Chicken

and Brisket and all the fixins. The chicken looked so good. that was the first item on my plate I cut into.The more I cut the more pink and red I saw. Since it was a drop off catered

event , I took my plate up to the person in charge of organizing the dinner and showed them

my cut up Chicken thigh. I was floored when the person in charge said the caterer put a note

on the pan of chicken that read something like " Don"t Panic"The chicken is fully cooked".

My husband had a piece of chicken breast and his piece was fully cooked.

   When meat is brined? It should not look under cooked , right? I could not taste if the chicken had been brined or not.Which should not make a difference. Done is Done when it comes to cooking chciken.

  I hope this is in the right forum.                                                  Smokin Sid

 

[mdboatbum]

 
This last weekend I attended a catered dinner at a club event.The menu was BBQ Chicken

and Brisket and all the fixins. The chicken looked so good. that was the first item on my plate I cut into.The more I cut the more pink and red I saw. Since it was a drop off catered

event , I took my plate up to the person in charge of organizing the dinner and showed them

my cut up Chicken thigh. I was floored when the person in charge said the caterer put a note

on the pan of chicken that read something like " Don"t Panic"The chicken is fully cooked".

My husband had a piece of chicken breast and his piece was fully cooked.

   When meat is brined? It should not look under cooked , right? I could not taste if the chicken had been brined or not.Which should not make a difference. Done is Done when it comes to cooking chciken.

  I hope this is in the right forum.                                                  Smokin Sid

Yes and no. Sounds like the caterer smoked the chicken. Dark meat is "done" and safe at 165˚, but can still appear underdone. To compound this, the smoking process can impart a pink hue to the meat, so can certain brines especially if they contain cure. I generally try to take my dark meat to 175˚, especially if it's for folks who aren't familiar with BBQ. If the caterer cooked to 165˚, the white meat would in fact appear "done", while the dark meat, though technically done, would likely appear just as you described.

This smoked turkey was temped with 2 different thermometers and was between 165˚ and 167˚. To most people it might appear a bit under done.

Leg2.jpg

• mdboatbum
• Nov 23, 2012

 

[gone4nc]

I agree with mdboutbum. I cook a lot of chicken thighs. I take them to 170 , and they are still alttle pick.

 

[mchar69]

I can see this is why it's hard to please when smoking chicken -

I like it when "the juices run clear".

If it's pink, and mine, I trust it.

Other peoples' cooks, not so much.

Some woman got 100 people sick at a church function a few years ago in S. MD when she.....

served the cooked chicken on the uncleaned platters the raw chicken were on.  YUK.

 

[deansomers]

Chances are if the caterer who smoked the chicken said it was fully cooked then it prob was. There are a lot of ppl tho who have a fear of pink meat. I know several.

 

[diggingdogfarm]

Yup, you can't accurately judge doneness based on sight.

Bloody Chicken.........

http://www.hi-tm.com/Documents/Bloody-chik.html

 

[Bearcarver]

If the guy used any cure it could look even more uncooked.

Bear

 

[pellet]

I've seen undercooked fried chicken and refused to eat it because the reddish/pink color ran out onto the plate. That said, my first deep fried and first poultry smokes came out pink near the bone but I could not make it run onto the plate that color and the pinkish/red looking meat that was attached to the bone appeared to be done with the exception of the color. I eventually learned that this is a normal color of smoked chicken and turkey and have never doubted the doneness since and relied on  the IT and have went to 175 IT regularly for piece of mind. I would say there is a good chance the chicken was done if it was smoked and the caterer noted the pink to put minds at ease. Did anyone get sick from the meal that your aware of? 

 

[smokin sid]

Thankfully , no one reported any one getting sick at the meet. The red I saw running between the cartlidge at the joint in the thigh I cut in to started a lot of

comments on how undercooked it looked by everyone at the table I was sitting at. After all that I went up and asked for some more brisket and Life was Good Again!

    Thank you for your input. Everyone's replys are so very helpful!                                                              Happy Smoking!

                                                                                                                                                            Smokin Sid