How can I smoke a large chicken on an outdoor grill and still keep the skin edible?
I smoked a large chicken in an off-set barbecue pit using burning wood only (no charcoal). The meat turned out great, but the skin was saturated with smoke, bitter, and inedible. I would love to be able to keep the skin edible, any ideas?
Best Answer
You need to first let the wood burn down to coals before adding your smoking chips and the bird. The excessive smoke from the burning wood is what made it too bitter. What type of wood were you burning?
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How do you smoke chicken without rubbery skin?
Cook at Higher Temperatures First and foremost, smoke your chicken at higher temperatures. The ideal temperature to cook your chicken should be around 275 \xb0F \u2013 320 \xb0F (135 \xb0C \u2013 160 \xb0C). As you start to decrease temperature beyond this threshold, the skin will become rubbery.Do you take skin off chicken before smoking?
One way is to remove the skin from any chicken you smoke. That'll prevent the tough skin problem, but causes another. Without that fatty layer of protection the chicken meat will dry out. The better solution for smoking skin-on chicken, and for all skin-on birds, is to smoke at a higher temperature.How do you keep smoked chicken skin crispy?
USE A SALT RUB 1-2 DAYS BEFORE SMOKINGIs it better to smoke chicken with skin on or skin off?
It takes some planning ahead but makes a huge difference in moisture. Chicken smoked with no skin will dry out on the surface. There is just too much air moving around. On the other hand, the meat itself will absorb the smokey flavor instead of the skin and fat.Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Keng Leong Chooi, Vidal Balielo Jr., Kaboompics .com, Julia Filirovska