Two questions about smoking poultry

[smokie bill]

1.  How do you keep the skin on poultry from getting rubbery when smoking?  Personally, my wife & I remove the skin before we eat the meat but some friends & family members really like to have the skin on their pieces.  I've have no problem with this when I cook on a charcoal grill or in the Char-Broil Big E-Z.  The skin needs to stay on when smoking to keep the meat from drying out but maybe it should be cut completely off after the smoking & before serving.

2.  Brining vs injecting:  I have been a staunch believer in brining my poultry prior to cooking.  But recently on another forum, a person said that he, too, always brined but now has found that injecting is much quicker & does just as good a job.  I'd appreciate any comments either way on this.  I've never injected anything but could learn to do it IF it does the same thing as brining.    Bill

 

[chef jimmyj]

Bill, You have to get the Smoker over 300*F or smoke at a lower temp and 10-20* shy of your goal IT, you pop the Bird in a 425*F Oven to finish cooking and crisp the skin...

Both Brining and Injecting will get the job done but with a Brine you don't introduce Bacteria to the interior of the meat and there is not a bunch of Holes for juices to leak out. I brine if I can plan ahead and have a day or two to get the job done. If the Mrs. brings chicken home at 4:00 for a 6:00 supper, I will inject...JJ

 

[bama bbq]

To get poultry skin crisp during dry cooking you have to get the temp high enough to get the subcutaneous fat under the skin to fry the skin.  For this reason I recommend cooking poultry at 325*.  Brining makes this more difficult because the liquid pulled into the meat is also pulled into the skin.  You might consider using a sprinkle of salt witout the liquid to get the poultry to form it's own brine. 

I like to sprinkle the poutry with salt and let it sit in a refrigerator uncovered.  This will pull liquid from the poultry and then pull the salty liquid back into the meat while also drying the skin.  The dry skin will be easier to get crisp and the brine effect is still there.  Pat the surface of the meat dry before placing on the cooker can also help crisp the skin. 

Pops or JJ can probably add way more help.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Bama, I am just starting to investigate Dry Brining. Here is a good read on the subject...JJ

http://bbq.about.com/od/turkey/a/Dry-Brining-Turkey.htm

 

[bama bbq]

Good read there JJ. I am new to dry brining as well.  I learned about it from a book by The Editors at America's Test Kitchen: The Science of Good Cooking: Master 50 Simple Concepts to Enjoy a Lifetime of Success in the Kitchen (Cook's Illustrated Cookbooks). Boston Common Press. Kindle Edition.

 

[kcbbqdude]

Put your chicken in a steamer pan, it will still get the smoke flavor but the skin will be edible.

It is best if you coat it with a thin coat of mustard and BBQ rub, you won't taste the mustard.

You will have to drain the liquid off the pan (good time to flip) and return to smoker every once in awhile, more so with dark meat. 

Most of the seasonings and flavor are in the skin that is why you don't want to have to discard it.

kcbbqdude

 

[yardbird]

Just a note here on chickens. A 5 pound roaster fits in a gallon freezer bag nicely. I brine chickens in gallon bags as it takes less brine and just simplifies things for me. And an hour per pound is about all the time they need in the brine. I'm runnin' hot in the smoker when I do poultry. I shoot for 350-375, but often start at 400 for the first hour. No water in the water pan. Using apple chips and chunks I'm getting nice smoke flavor, not over powering, and as moist and tender as can be. I've been experimenting with the higher temps as I have a friend who's a chef and he regularly runs poultry at 450 all the way through. Sometimes he has to foil areas to prevent burning the skin, but moist and perfect every time. Just ....he's not smoking them. I don't want to get them done so fast I lose the smoke, but they seem to be fine with really fast cooking at insanely high temps. I watched this guy cook a turkey at almost 500 degrees. Amazing. But you can't turn your back on it either heheh.