• working on DNS.. links may break temporarily.

Chicken Skin Shrinking Theories

A

ag80n

Knows what a fatty is.
Joined
Oct 21, 2013
Messages
92
Reaction score
31
Points
0
Location
Calhoun, GA
We are trying to learn to cook legs after doing thighs for a while and had a problem at the last cook with the skin shrinking up.

I did a test cook before this at home using the oven to control temps and the skin did not shrink. I did hit 350 in the oven for quite a while and had near perfect skin. I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts to share on this. I have a few competing theories that we are considering but am open to others:

1. too high heat - above 325. this seems to be a common theory on other older threads but, as I mentioned, I held 350 in my test and the skin was fine

2. too much rub. the test pieces had noticeably less rub on them than the competition pieces. We wondered if the salt in the rub drew more moisture
out of the competition legs causing greater shrinkage

3. differences in cooking in the oven vs in the smoker

4. differences in starting temps of the meat. The practice cook chicken was able to warm up in the kitchen before going in the oven. The competition chicken was out of the cooler for at least the same amount of time but the outside temp that day was low 40s so the chicken stayed colder.

Ideas?

Thanks
 
I have never had skin shrinking issues myself on thighs. I remove the skins completely and scrape them when I trim thighs. At the contest when I put the skins on I don't use toothpicks or meat glue or anything else to keep the skin on. I braise the hell out of them in butter at the beginning of the cook and finish the cook on the grates. Maybe I'm lucky that i haven't had the problem? I don't know. I cook in the 300-325 range
 
more air across them in the smoker
 
to be clearer (after I reread my post) we are having this problem with legs... our chicken thighs did not do this.

We scraped thighs but were under the impression it wasn't needed with legs and that seemed true with the test.
 
Ive never had a problem with legs. i do trim the bone/cartilage at the top of the leg, which allows the skin to wrap around the top better. If you arent doing lollipops, try them and see if you have the same problem. It allows more skin to slide up the leg and gives better coverage.
 
There is a small amount of fat under the skin near the bottom that need to be trimmed. It takes about 30 seconds and it helps stretch the skin around the bottom of the leg.
 
We cook legs every weekend, and here are my thoughts on your questions:

1) We cook at 250 and get perfect skin, so your heat may be too high. On the other hand, I know hot and fast guys that cook legs that win all the time as well. Not positive what temp their cookers are at during chicken, but I think that they are in the 275 range.
2) I use a lot of rub on the outside of my chicken legs. I can't imagine this being your issue, unless it has a lot more salt content than the rubs that I use. Lots of variables on this one because a rub isn't a rub, isn't a rub....
3) Depending on the type of cooker that you are cooking on, this could be an issue, but I can't imagine it making that big of difference. I got the same product off of my jumbo as I do my Southern Q gravity feed. Totally different cooking styles.
4) Ok, brace yourself for this one, I'm probably going to catch heck for this post, but I do let my chicken warm up before putting them on the cooker. They are not "room temp", but they sure aren't cold. Let your legs sit out for a while and see if it makes a difference.

One other thing, do you use an olive oil or a cooking spray on your skin? You may try that.....

Hope this helps.
 
We suck at chicken but for the first time we said the hell with scraping chicken skin. We removed the skin, sized the thighs and meat glued the skin back on the thigh. We then brazed the thighs in butter in an aluminum pan covered with tin foil. It was the first time we ever won a chicken entry.
 
I hate chicken, and ironically its the category that I get the most calls in.

I've never used meat glue, I've cooked scraped and not-scraped skin. I also, let the chicken warm up a little bit (not all the way to room temp though) before hitting the smoker. Maybe this helps the skin not shrink? I have not clue.
 
Jeremy Moyers said:
We cook legs every weekend, and here are my thoughts on your questions:

1) We cook at 250 and get perfect skin, so your heat may be too high. On the other hand, I know hot and fast guys that cook legs that win all the time as well. Not positive what temp their cookers are at during chicken, but I think that they are in the 275 range.
2) I use a lot of rub on the outside of my chicken legs. I can't imagine this being your issue, unless it has a lot more salt content than the rubs that I use. Lots of variables on this one because a rub isn't a rub, isn't a rub....
3) Depending on the type of cooker that you are cooking on, this could be an issue, but I can't imagine it making that big of difference. I got the same product off of my jumbo as I do my Southern Q gravity feed. Totally different cooking styles.
4) Ok, brace yourself for this one, I'm probably going to catch heck for this post, but I do let my chicken warm up before putting them on the cooker. They are not "room temp", but they sure aren't cold. Let your legs sit out for a while and see if it makes a difference.

One other thing, do you use an olive oil or a cooking spray on your skin? You may try that.....

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

When we cooked legs, we were at the 300 degree range and also let them sit out for about 30 minutes before they went on the Jambo... Now, Jeremy how about a brisket hint :pray::heh:
 
Thanks for the input folks. Got an idea of what to adjust now. Now to get some practice in before Smokin up the Campground in Dec. :rolleyes:
 
I don't scrape skin and my chicken is damn near frozen when I put them on the smoker, but as others have said, I don't cook as hot as some folks......
 
tduffy said:
I have never had skin shrinking issues myself on thighs. I remove the skins completely and scrape them when I trim thighs. At the contest when I put the skins on I don't use toothpicks or meat glue or anything else to keep the skin on. I braise the hell out of them in butter at the beginning of the cook and finish the cook on the grates. Maybe I'm lucky that i haven't had the problem? I don't know. I cook in the 300-325 range
Click to expand...

Braising sounds like a good idea, just curious how you braise them? In a pan inside the smoker and turn frequently?
thanks
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

creek bottom
Meadow Creek Chicken Cooker
Replies
10
Views
647
Pife
P
KC Smoke
Chicken and 40 cloves
Replies
11
Views
952
KC Smoke
KC Smoke
C
Chicken Catering Question
Replies
11
Views
4K
SmokinAussie
SmokinAussie
snadamo
Chicken Shawarma, Toum, Tzatziki, and Flatbread! Oh, and GARLIC
Replies
10
Views
359
PitRow
PitRow
NCGrimbo
Question for the pizza oven guys and gals.
Replies
12
Views
649
NCGrimbo
NCGrimbo
Back
Top