PaulstheRibList
Full Fledged Farker
Well, now that my BBQ rep is out there and growing, you know what's coming, the requests for cooks keep rollin' in! Today was for a church member's funeral. He was a young man (around 50) but had long-term health problems and they finally brought body-death. (Last week one of my best bud's daddy died. My bud is black and owns a funeral home, and has a bit family. His fam cooked chicken quarters for the masses at the funeral, and I did 13 racks of ribs and a big pan of beans for the family. They ate every one of them!)
So, I've been playing with chicken and getting the skin just right. On the Stickburner, with its higher airflow, I found that skin side up produced a lot of skin shrinkage, and if I started skin side down, then flipped about an hour in, the results were good.
I bought two 40 pound cases of chicken thighs from the local poultry wholesales, for $28 each, so the price was great. They were not as well trimmed as the typical grocery-store pack, and there was a wide variety of sizes. It took me over 2 hours to light the fire, clean the grates and trim and rub these 160 or so thighs. I gave them a little salting, then oil and a generous coat of Cherry from Simply Marvelous, my current fav chicken rub.
The pan on the right was done first, so the moisture on the meat wet the rub a bit.
I put them on skin side down, about 45 thighs per rack.
Yes, it is a magical rack that can hold the chicken on there upside down...
I had water pans in and set the Guru on 275, then went to make rounds at LaundryWorld.net. When I got back, almost 2 hours later, I found I had accidentally left the bottom door partially open. The pit held temp, but had to blow the fan more to do so, creating a higher airflow on the edges of the cooker, meaning the center of the grate was 275, while the edges were around 50 degrees hotter...oops. The thighs on the edges were all darker and drier. I ate one anyway!
When I pulled them, I put them in the pan skin-side up, and they looked really cool.
The grill marks were fun and the skin didn't shrink at all.
So, 2 questions about your plan for chicken skin not shrinking:
1.) Start skin-side up or down? On which cooker?
2.) Do you flip partway in the cook? Do you glaze usually?
....3.) Do you do that when you flip?
Your friend, the @BishopofBBQ
paul
So, I've been playing with chicken and getting the skin just right. On the Stickburner, with its higher airflow, I found that skin side up produced a lot of skin shrinkage, and if I started skin side down, then flipped about an hour in, the results were good.
I bought two 40 pound cases of chicken thighs from the local poultry wholesales, for $28 each, so the price was great. They were not as well trimmed as the typical grocery-store pack, and there was a wide variety of sizes. It took me over 2 hours to light the fire, clean the grates and trim and rub these 160 or so thighs. I gave them a little salting, then oil and a generous coat of Cherry from Simply Marvelous, my current fav chicken rub.
The pan on the right was done first, so the moisture on the meat wet the rub a bit.
I put them on skin side down, about 45 thighs per rack.
Yes, it is a magical rack that can hold the chicken on there upside down...
I had water pans in and set the Guru on 275, then went to make rounds at LaundryWorld.net. When I got back, almost 2 hours later, I found I had accidentally left the bottom door partially open. The pit held temp, but had to blow the fan more to do so, creating a higher airflow on the edges of the cooker, meaning the center of the grate was 275, while the edges were around 50 degrees hotter...oops. The thighs on the edges were all darker and drier. I ate one anyway!
When I pulled them, I put them in the pan skin-side up, and they looked really cool.
The grill marks were fun and the skin didn't shrink at all.
So, 2 questions about your plan for chicken skin not shrinking:
1.) Start skin-side up or down? On which cooker?
2.) Do you flip partway in the cook? Do you glaze usually?
....3.) Do you do that when you flip?
Your friend, the @BishopofBBQ
paul
