# Smoked Chicken Quarters Fail



## jus10 (May 4, 2014)

I've had this result a few times so I am seeking input.   I followed a recipe by 

 joeyfine
 on another thread.













20140504_132848.jpg



__ jus10
__ May 4, 2014


















20140504_132852.jpg



__ jus10
__ May 4, 2014







Here it is with the skin removed (the meat tasted good, threw the skin in the trash).












20140504_133406.jpg



__ jus10
__ May 4, 2014






Any input is appreciated.  Thanks in advance!


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## brooksy (May 4, 2014)

What temp did you cook at?


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## odistater (May 4, 2014)

When I do Chicken Quarters in my MES40 I leave the skin on, smoke them for about 2 hours at 240  uncovered then I will put them in an aluminum pan covered and go for another 2 hrs. I thinks this helps them from drying out. Did your quarters seem moist?


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## joeyfine (May 4, 2014)

What temp did you smoke them that? at least the meat was still good I made this today!  :) 













10295182_10101142406650102_4582231303617202616_o.j



__ joeyfine
__ May 4, 2014


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## bluewhisper (May 4, 2014)

Looks like too much heat. I failed yesterday with not enough heat, still OK but not the golden finish I wanted.

live&learn


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## jus10 (May 4, 2014)

Smoked at 325 for 80-90 minutes.   They weren't dry at all.  Tasted perfect just didnt look good or have any skin.  The skin was bitter tasting almost like it took on too much smoke, but it could have been burnt. BTW I have a vertical smoker. They were dusted with Jeff's rub, no brine but room temperature when started.  I used about 4 cups of wood chips.



 joeyfine
 what temp were yours at (& how long did you cook those beauties)?


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## dirtsailor2003 (May 5, 2014)

Sugar in the rub will do that to the skin. As for the bitter flavor, what kind of wood and how thick was your smoke? White smoke or thin blue smoke? 

Tonight I did Shoyu chicken, and due to the sugar content the skin recedes. This is normal with high sugar marinades and rubs. Try a simple rub like SPOG (Salt pepper onion garlic) add paprika, chipotle, or other spices but no sugar. 













image.jpg



__ dirtsailor2003
__ May 5, 2014


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## joeyfine (May 5, 2014)

My chicken cooks at 300 until it hits 165° internally. Yesterday was windy so it took 3 hours to cook. I dont try to crisp up the skin like some people do.


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## jus10 (May 6, 2014)

Brooksy said:


> What temp did you cook at?


 325 for 90 minutes


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## jus10 (May 6, 2014)

joeyfine said:


> My chicken cooks at 300 until it hits 165° internally. Yesterday was windy so it took 3 hours to cook. I dont try to crisp up the skin like some people do.


 crazy that 25 degrees equals another 90 minutes.   I'll try it at 300.  I had no water in my pan, just kept the pan to catch drippings.


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## jus10 (May 6, 2014)

dirtsailor2003 said:


> Sugar in the rub will do that to the skin. As for the bitter flavor, what kind of wood and how thick was your smoke? White smoke or thin blue smoke?
> 
> Tonight I did Shoyu chicken, and due to the sugar content the skin recedes. This is normal with high sugar marinades and rubs. Try a simple rub like SPOG (Salt pepper onion garlic) add paprika, chipotle, or other spices but no sugar.
> 
> ...



There was no sugar in the rub. I used apple wood chips & a few cherry.  My smoker is a camp chef propane smoke vault.  I dont know what you mean by what color was the smoke.  Is gray a choice?  In one of the pics above it seems to have some smoke in it. That is how much smoke was in the smoker after 90 minutes of smoking. I would say the color is of lots of smoke because people walking home from church saw smoke billowing out of my backyard.


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## brooksy (May 6, 2014)

There is your problem then with the black skin. To much smoke. When you're smoking and you look at your stack you can almost see a blue tint to the smoke coming out and even then the smoke is almost non existent. If you had smoke billowing out like a train then you had way too much. Did you start the grill and throw your wood on and then the chicken right away?


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## brooksy (May 6, 2014)

0412140755.jpg



__ brooksy
__ May 6, 2014





 Is this how the smoke looked coming out of your smoker? This is how mine looks when I'm heating her up. I tried to find a picture of how it looks when I put the food on but don't seem to have one since I lost all my pics about a month ago. I'm sure someone has a pic to show an example of the tbs


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## elginplowboy (May 6, 2014)

On the left heavy wrong smoke, on right thin blue smoke












image.jpg



__ elginplowboy
__ May 6, 2014


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## brooksy (May 6, 2014)

ElginPlowboy said:


> On the left heavy wrong smoke, on right thin blue smoke
> 
> 
> 
> ...


  Great pic. You can even see the blue tint


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## dirtsailor2003 (May 6, 2014)

Jus10 said:


> crazy that 25 degrees equals another 90 minutes. I'll try it at 300. I had no water in my pan, just kept the pan to catch drippings.


I wouldn't drop your temp. I do all of my poultry at higher temps and in a dry smoke chamber (no water pan). If you are looking for a crispy or bite through skin you will need a higher temp. By lowering the temp more than likely you will get skin that has a rubbery consistency to it. I very rarely go any lower than 325° these days and am mostly running 365° and higher.

As for the black skin since you didn't use sugar in your rub the culprit was the amount of smoke. Too much and you are forming creosote on your meat. What type of smoker are you using?

For my mini-wsm I use (3-4) 2" chunks of wood for a chicken smoke. Usually cherry and pecan mixed. Sometimes apple or alder.

Check out these couple of threads for some help:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...spritzed-is-the-only-way-to-get-moist-chicken

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/156266/free-range-air-chilled-vegetarian-organo-bird


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## fwismoker (May 6, 2014)

The cold hard truth is besides the bad smoke many cookers aren't designed to cook good chicken.  Simple hot coals and chicken are the only ingredients you need for incredible chicken. 

Like Case i cook incredible chicken on the mini.... The common denominator of extraordinary  chicken are those two things.  It's not just heat and smoke for sure.   The simplest chicken I've done is the best chicken.    Too bad this video is out of focus but the lighting was really bad but it's just fire and chicken...by far the tastiest /juiciest EVER that I've done.   

Hot fire= clean smoke= the best food.   

[VIDEO][]


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## thom davis (Sep 20, 2015)

THANKS SO MUCH for this thread and for the original post showing what did not work.  It is sometimes hard to read instructions on how to do something but not understanding the possible points of failure.  I find I learn more by looking at what goes wrong with experts saying what "should" have happened instead.


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