British BBQ Society Forums

This weekend I tried smoking chicken for the first time - I've been out off by the thought of rubbery skin in the past; but having long-term thoughts of one day giving a competition a bash, know I need to practice (fortunately 'er indoors likes to be a guinea pig).

So having looked around online at recipes and read 'Wicked Good Barbecue's' 25-step championship chicken we decided to give this a shot (possibly aiming high for a first attempt). I removed the skin and boned the thighs - not sure if there's a good approach for this (boning knife didn't arrive in time), but I found using my thumb almost as easy as using a knife.

I did want to try scraping some of the fat off the backs of the skin, but had difficulty and just ended up trimming the edges instead - the skins were re-attached with cocktail sticks and the thighs fridged overnight.
The thighs came out next day and were injected (sort of) with chicken oxo. This was my big prep issue - how easy should it be to inject a thigh? I had real trouble as there wasn't any very large meat sections (possibly due to my lack of butchery skills), and so ended up with as much injection around the thigh as in it - is brining a better option for thighs? Anyway, moving on the thighs were sprinkled with rub on both sides, placed on a pat of flora in a foil pan and put in the smoker at about 250F (providing the oven thermometer is well calibrated - the POS lid thermometer varies in reading depending on whether or not it's sat in the sun and always floats between 150 and 200. This morning after sitting overnight it read about 80F, and I know it wasn't that hot in Coventry.) New lid thermometers are on order.....
They were smoked for an hour in the foil pan, covered in foil and cooked for a second hour, then dipped in sauce and placed on the grill grate for about 30 min (all at 250F). Finally the thighs were rested for about 10 min on agave nectar and a sprinkling of rub, with another sprinkle on top.
They tasted disappointingly salty and sweet, not much (if any) smoke flavour (or chicken!) and if I was to be picky, some were a little overcooked. I have found American rub recipes salty in the past, so the first thing I'll do is reduce the salt by at least half. I may also ditch the initial cook in marg - not sure if this helped, and cooking in foil will stop smoke penetration, and I do wonder if the whole skin off/skin on process was worthwhile. Any and all advice/suggestions on anything appreciated.

Flamb_Ed

Don't have any suggestions myself but this links to Toby's guide to competition chicken.

http://www.bbbqs.com/Forum/viewtopic.ph ... ken#p14322

Thanks Keith - noticed that last night as I was writing up - obviously didn't look hard enough before I started! Will be watching soon

Flamb_Ed, can you just confirm what you're looking for here.

Is it just 'How can I do better chicken thighs?', or is is it the lack of a smokey flavour, or is it something else?

Cheers.

Steve W

Generally, better chicken - I reckon ditching the foil pan should help improve the smoky flavour. I do also wonder whether injecting is worth the hassle - brining is certainly easier. I'll probably keep boning (did I just type that?) just so I get to learn a new technique if nothing else - I may go and watch a butcher/look online for tips on how to do it well...

Having watched the instruction video mentioned above it appears remarkably simple, and I wonder how I managed to cock it up so much.

Hi Ed I'd stick to brining thighs rather then injecting them, have you thought about "Cupcake Chicken" I know it's considered passe in some circles, but it's a bit of a giggle. There is a 2 part guide on youtube, I've tried it a few times and it's always gone down well.
As to boning thighs, flatten the thigh on a cutting board skin side down. Gently cut through to the bone, trying to stay in the middle, then again gently cut or scrape the flesh away eventually lifting one end and scraping the meat off the bone. Don't forget to cut the gristle off the end.
You'll find just about every technique you will need on youtube, from slicing bread to killing and butchering your own pig.

Ed, I'll not be popular for saying this, but if you're just after 'better chicken', stop trying to smoke them, or at least slow smoking them.

Chicken is a massively versatile meat with a million different sauces and rubs available for it, most of which will make it taste like 'better chicken' rather than tasting like 'SMOKE!......(hey, did this used to taste like chicken?).

Smoking cooks chicken slowly, which can result in cooking all of the flavour out unless you're very careful, and surely, the fun of the barbecue is the inconsistency; no two fires are the same. Smoking something over a long period of time inevitably dries it out. Indeed, that's one of the reasons we used to smoke food: to preserve it. And removing moisture helps preserve it.

Finally, if you absolutely must insist on getting a smoky flavour into your chicken, there are plenty of ways to do so without slow smoking.

By slow smoking, then brining or (saints preserve us) injecting with chicken oxo to prevent the very process slow smoking brings, is just making things unnecessarily difficult for yourself.

All just my opinion. But this cult of smoking anything and everything has got to ridiculous levels.

We have people saying 'only smoking is real barbecuing'. It'd be more accurate to say 'smoking is not in iteslf barbecuing, but it is possible to combine the two'.

Smoke things that need to be smoked, that taste better smoked, and where smoking brings an improvement to texture and/or flavour. Don't smoke things just because it's time to barbecue.

Steve W

Have to admit I almost never cook chicken Low and Slow these days. I can get a moist chicken with crispy skin much easier when cooking at a higher heat. I often brine for added moisture.

RobinC wrote:Have to admit I almost never cook chicken Low and Slow these days. I can get a moist chicken with crispy skin much easier when cooking at a higher heat. I often brine for added moisture.

Robin, do you brine with thighs, or with other cuts?

Steve W

Yes I've brined thighs but most of the time I do chicken I do whole ones or a whole one that's been cut up