How can I get crispy chicken skin using Bill's recipe?

[bluejaybbq]

I smoked two chickens last weekend using Bill's Easy Chicken recipe. His recipe didn't call for this, but I also put the birds on beer cans. The flavor was delicious, but the skin was not crispy at all. How can I fix this? I didn't let the bird sit after cooking at all, just ate it right away. Would that have made any difference? Thanks for the help guys.

[AZSmoker]

When I smoke chicken wings, I mist them (with a spray bottle) with a mixture of apple juice and a little Myer's dark rum. The skin usually comes out fairly crispy. Maybe this would help with your chickens.

I'm not sure if it's the alcohol in the spray, or just the liquid itself, but the process of wetting the skin, then drying out, then repeating again and again seems to help the crispiness.

Greg
Chandler, AZ

[Grumpy Gator]

I get pretty consistantly crispy chicken skin if I do the following:

Air dry the bird in the fridge uncovered for a few hours. This helps dry the skin out.

Work your hand up under the skin, separating it from the chicken meat. Careful not to separate it too much.

Work some of your rub between the skin and the meat.

I also cook poultry a bit hotter and faster, rather than low and slow. Most poultry is pretty tender, so it doesn't benefit from low and slow like a butt or a brisket.

I pretty much always brine my poultry these days. I'm not sure if that contributes to the skin, but it sure makes the meat juicier. When I brine, I dry the bird in the fridge after brining.

HTH

[M38A1]

I learned my crispy skin secret from BBQDoug with the hotter heat.

As an example, in the past I had done the birds low and slow with not great results. Kind of a rubbery texture that was a bit 'dynamic'. When I moved the birds to the hotter end and cooked hot and fast, the skin wound up crispy, would tear very easily and tasted fantastic.

Some of my best birds so far have been using the beer butt method with the beer can holder/bird assembly directly over the firebox of my offset with the birds offset from the coals.

I believe someone earlier called it "indirect grilling" which is sort of in between grilling and smoking. Ran them about two hours that way.

I'll try to find my earlier thread on it and post...

ETA:
Here's the link with a pic of how the 'indirect grilling' looked. You will note the coals on one side of the firebox and the bird on the other. I rotated the bird as well during the cook.
http://www.texasbbqrub.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4656&highlight=

[TexLaw]

Cooking your chicken hotter will go a long way towards getting crispier skin.


TL

[lwp aka old sparky]

I get pretty consistantly crispy chicken skin if I do the following:

Air dry the bird in the fridge uncovered for a few hours. This helps dry the skin out.

Work your hand up under the skin, separating it from the chicken meat. Careful not to separate it too much.

Work some of your rub between the skin and the meat.

I also cook poultry a bit hotter and faster, rather than low and slow. Most poultry is pretty tender, so it doesn't benefit from low and slow like a butt or a brisket.

I pretty much always brine my poultry these days. I'm not sure if that contributes to the skin, but it sure makes the meat juicier. When I brine, I dry the bird in the fridge after brining.

HTH 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

[TB]

I cook it hot (350 or so) and use sugarless rubs.

[Zeeman]

I rekon it all depends oon if'n ya eat'in da skin or eat'in da chicken, just think'in out loud ya no :lol:
z

[Texana]

Well I got some ideas on this myself ...

Of course I think I will wait untill I have actually finished cooking a chicken to see if it works ...

Until then ....

Ya better listen to someone else :( :( :(

[BBQ101]

:( Poor Texana aint gonna get no chicken respect untill he turns in a first place bird :(

[bluejaybbq]

Thanks, I will give that a try, and maybe turn up the heat a little also-I only had it set at 220.

[Paul Taylor]

I don't care where the recipe comes from, just so long as it works.

Paul Taylor

[herper]

Texana gets a ice I mean nice crispy texture on the skin from it still being frozen :D :D
Herper

[TB]

Texana gets a ice I mean nice crispy texture on the skin from it still being frozen :D :D
Herper
That wus cold, Herper, real cold. :lol:
TB

[Big Mike]

Thanks, I will give that a try, and maybe turn up the heat a little also-I only had it set at 220.

Hey bluejay, with the ST, it is going to be real hard to get crisp skin because of the temperature limitations of the smoker. I would set the thermostat all the way to 250. If you haven't noticed by now, the temperature of the smoker will actually fluctuate above and below the thermostat setting. Set at 225 mine would fluctuate from about 190-255. So if you set the thermostat to 250, the temp might actually get up to around 275 before the element shuts off.


Mike

[bluejaybbq]

Thanks, I will give that a try next time.

[Michiana Mark]

I always cooked mine as far away from the fire as possible, with this method the chicken was good but the sjin was terrible. I moved over to the hot end, cooked to 180 and the skin was delicious. Also use a lower content of sugar in the rub.