smoked chicken please help!!!!

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sniltz

Meat Mopper
Original poster
May 21, 2008
228
11
China Grove, NC
I smoked a chicken for 3 1/2 hours at 275-300 degrees. My digital themo. was set a 170 degrees in the breast meat. The alarm sounded and I took the chicken off the smoker and let it rest for 5 to ten minutes before cutting into it. There was still blood in the thighs and parts of the breast. It look done in some place and other it look almost there. So How do I make sure the whole bird is done and smoke through. I have read to start with breast down then flip it, but I didn't do it that way. Any suggestions would be nice, because I have to smoke the turkey for thanksgiving.
 
You should temp in a few different places if unsure.
Take the thickest part of the breast to 170 and thickest part of the thigh to 180 and you should be good after that.
 
I had the same issue in my offset New Braunfels last weekend. I have modded it with a baffle between the firebox and the smoke chamber. I placed the chicken with the breast down close to the baffle. After an hour I turned it breast up. Then the breast came to temp before the thighs did. I turned it around to get the heat to the thighs, but unfortunately the breast dried more than I would like before the thighs were done. Next time I will put the chicken at the far end of the chamber where the heat is more even.
 
Personaly I would test the thickest portion of the thigh and take it to NO MORE THAN 165.
after it rest for 20 to 30 minutes the temp will have climed to over 170. Any higher temp before pulling from the smoker will lead to dry breast meat and an overdone bird, in my experience.

Scott
 
I welded a baffle in my smoker and put in turning plates and extended the stack down to grate level. It smoked great and the temp was even in the chamber. I think it was all in my techneque (spelled wrong).
 
As others have said, as long as your bird is coming up to temp you are done. When you smoke a bird the "juices" look like blood instead of running clear, it's because of the smoke, so that test is unreliable at best, misleading at worst.

Good luck with it.

-Chris
 
Guys, I also forgot that I did stuff the chicken with potatos and onions and some garlic. I don't know if that had anything to do with the temp or not. If so then I will skip that and put the veggies next to them in a pot.
 
BINGO. Before I read that, I thought maybe your bird hadn't defrosted all the way through.

Also, some meat may look pink on a smoked bird, but the JUICES should run clear all the way to the bone.

I think you just solved your own problem. Just a tip, next time a probe reads done, take a hand probe and take a temp reading on opposite breast and in a thigh.
 
Thank guys for all ya'lls help. I am going to do a test turkey this weekend before thanksgiving and I will let ya'll know how it turned out. I will also try and put some pics up for all ya'll to see. Once again thanks for all the help.
 
Yes that flags went a fling when you let on abput stuffing the bird. My first question is have you tested your thermo meter with the ice water and then boiling water to see if your thermo meter is wrong. #2 is are you sure you had the tip of the thermo meter in the breast too far maybe you would get a higher reading if so. So I would check your thermometer and then next time make sure that your not in too far.
 
The problem with doing a bird with Suffing is that the stuffing has to reach the same safe temperature that the chicken does (the 170-180 range depending what charts you look at). The big problem with that is that the stuffing comes out underdone and "not safe to eat" (though we never had a problem at moms for Thanksgiving) or the meat comes out too well done and, well, dry.

Safest to cook them separate, IMHO.

I must respectfully disagree with Racey about the blood of the chicken. I have run into this problem many times where I am using good temperature probes, probe the meat in several places, yet the juices still look bloody to me. They are discolored and picking up color from the smoke making them look dark, not clear. I always trust the probes I know I have tested and work properly.
 
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