Smoking a chicken

[Skittle68]

I have a whole chicken in the smoker right now. Im so excited!! I brined it overnight, then injected it with liquid I soaked garlic and herbs in for about and hour. (I strained the liquid off so my injector wouldn't get clogged) Hopefully it will be as good as the turkey I smoked for thanksgiving :) yum!! Wish me luck!

[Dawgluver]

Sounds great, Skittle! Good luck!

[pacanis]

What kind of smoker ya got, Skittles?
What kind of wood are you using?

[forty_caliber]

Use the leftovers for smoked chicken salad....

.40

[salt and pepper]

You won't need luck! Seems like you have it under control.

[Skittle68]

What kind of smoker? Um, it's red and electric lol. I'm using hickory. Can't wait to try it! Love the transformation:










Now it rests!

[Skittle68]

Hmm, hmm, hmm. Boy was that a lot of work for a mediocre chicken!! The flavor was great, and it was so juicy that even after I sliced up the white meat and put it on my plate, it was still dripping. But it was CHEWY! The dark meat was like leather. Pretty much inedible. I'm boiling the carcass right now because that's the only way I can think of to get the dark meat off the bone. Do you think it was the chicken?? I monitor the inside of the smoker, not just the temp gauge on the lid, and it wasn't quite up to 225° where it should have been, because it is so cold out. It was over 200° so I figured it would be fine. Could the temp being too low be why it was so chewy?? It took about 3 1/2 hours to get up to 160°. I'm leaning toward maybe I bought an ancient chicken. It was a small one, and didn't say it was a broiler hen (is "baking hen" the same thing? If so, oops...), so I thought it was just a regular chicken. Ugh I'm so disappointed. See, I needed luck lol!





It looks so dang yummy too :(

[Andy M.]

I'd guess the dark meat was undercooked.

The dark meat of a chicken really needs to cook to around 180ºF to a 185ºF to give you the texture you expect from it. Typically, when you cook a chicken it naturally cooks so the breasts are 160º at about the same time as the thighs get to the 180s.

[Dawgluver]

Oh no, that's too bad, Skittle. It did look lovely. Hopefully you'll get some nice broth.

[Skittle68]

Originally Posted by Andy M.

I'd guess the dark meat was undercooked.

The dark meat of a chicken really needs to cook to around 180ºF to a 185ºF to give you the texture you expect from it. Typically, when you cook a chicken it naturally cooks so the breasts are 160º at about the same time as the thighs get to the 180s.

Hmm, that's interesting- I didn't temp the legs, figuring if the thicker breast were done, the legs would be too. I didn't want to overcook it because I didn't want it to get tough, but it sounds like you think it would have been less tough if I had left it in longer. I'm confused. How am I supposed to know when to leave it in longer, when the thermometer says to take it out?? My turkey I smoked was absolutely perfect when I took it out at 160° (but the smoker was at 225° where it should be)

[forty_caliber]

The queuing mantra of low and slow doesn't really apply to fowl.

Chickens and turkeys can stand much higher temps while still absorbing plenty of flavorful smoke. Next time try it at 325 or so.

.40

[Skittle68]

Originally Posted by forty_caliber

The queuing mantra of low and slow doesn't really apply to fowl.

Chickens and turkeys can stand much higher temps while still absorbing plenty of flavorful smoke. Next time try it at 325 or so.

.40

If it were in the oven, that would be possible, but it's an electric smoker. In the summer it could probably get up to 275-300, but it's cold outside.

I've made chicken sous vide, and it wasn't chewy. If you are aiming for a certain internal temp, why would you need the external temp to be so high? I'm genuinely asking here, because I feel like I'm missing something (although I still think it might be partially the chicken's fault)

[forty_caliber]

Not sure what smoker you have. A wood fired or my Traeger electric smoker are capable of higher temps. One key with smoking is to use temperature, not time to measure doneness. I use one of those digital remote read jobs. I generally pull the chicken at 155-160 and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.

Cooking the chicken longer at a lower temp just means that it will absorb more smoke...maybe too much so that it turns bitter.

How was the chicken placed in the smoker? in a pan? Directly on the rack? How many times did you open the door to check on the bird?

.40

[Skittle68]

Originally Posted by forty_caliber

Not sure what smoker you have. A wood fired or my Traeger electric smoker are capable of higher temps. One key with smoking is to use temperature, not time to measure doneness. I use one of those digital remote read jobs. I generally pull the chicken at 155-160 and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.

Cooking the chicken longer at a lower temp just means that it will absorb more smoke...maybe too much so that it turns bitter.

How was the chicken placed in the smoker? in a pan? Directly on the rack? How many times did you open the door to check on the bird?

.40

I opened the small door at the bottom four times to add more chips. I put the thermometer probe in before the chicken went in, and took the bird out when the digital read said 160°. It's on a cord, so I could read the temp without opening the smoker. It was directly on the rack, right over the drip pan, which had water in it.

[forty_caliber]

I'm not finding anything obviously wrong. Maybe it was a bad chicken. Next time try it without the water pan. Maybe that would help.

[Skittle68]

Originally Posted by forty_caliber

I'm not finding anything obviously wrong. Maybe it was a bad chicken. Next time try it without the water pan. Maybe that would help.

Thanks- chances are it will be warmer when I get around to using the smoker again, so I'll make sure I let it get as hot as possible. I think maybe because the temp was so low, the dark meat didn't get hot enough, like Andy said. The white meat was ok, just sort of stringy and chewy. So I think maybe it was a combination of bad chicken, and temperature was too low. The temp was slightly higher for my perfect turkey, except I had a similar problem with the dark meat, to a much lesser degree. Maybe the dark meat's temp on the turkey got a little higher due to the higher temp in the smoker (only about a 25° difference, or less), which made it edible. If it was a tough chicken, it probably would have made the dark meat problem a lot worse, too. Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

[pacanis]

I got my BIL an electric smoker for Christmas. At the suggestion of a member here who has used one, I went with a Masterbuilt because it is insulated. More common electric smokers like you find in Lowes and the like are notorious for not being able to get hot enough in cold climates. An insulation blanket or some type of wind break or shroud around the smoker will help. I use a shroud around my charcoal smoker just because I can close the vents more and make the charcoal last longer. Plus it helps in winter.

[Skittle68]

Originally Posted by pacanis

I got my BIL an electric smoker for Christmas. At the suggestion of a member here who has used one, I went with a Masterbuilt because it is insulated. More common electric smokers like you find in Lowes and the like are notorious for not being able to get hot enough in cold climates. An insulation blanket or some type of wind break or shroud around the smoker will help. I use a shroud around my charcoal smoker just because I can close the vents more and make the charcoal last longer. Plus it helps in winter.

When I did the turkey I put a big cardboard box around it because it was like 0° outside and windy. It made a huge difference. Didn't think I would need it yesterday, since it was pretty nice out (20°). If I use it again before spring, I might just supplement with charcoal to get the temp up higher. I don't have a blanket I would use for the smoker and I have no where I would be willing to store a big cardboard box, just for the smoker. I live in a 600 sq ft house with no garage! Lol. When I do poultry again, I will shoot for 300°. I looked at some smoker tips and tricks and everyone seems to be in agreement that too long and too low can equal rubbery.

[pacanis]

By insulation blanket I meant one you would buy, not something you would have at home. They are fire proof. Sometimes they are called welding blankets.
Just so I don't confuse anyone

[Skittle68]

Originally Posted by pacanis

By insulation blanket I meant one you would buy, not something you would have at home. They are fire proof. Sometimes they are called welding blankets.
Just so I don't confuse anyone

Oh ok, good!! I was thinking that I wouldn't want anything touching the smoker, because that would be dangerous, but I didn't want to push any buttons lol. I've never seen one of those- I'll have to look for one. I have a smoker cover, but it's to protect from the elements, not to use while hot. Plus I would want the top open to allow some air flow