Bull New to smoking and I appear to be really good at making leather

RyanLowdermilk

RyanLowdermilk

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  1. Bull
tl;dr - HELP ME! Instead of making delicious food for my family, I'm making leather!

I'm a complete newbie to this. Grabbed at RT-700 last month. So far, I've smoked chicken thighs, chicken breasts, pork loin and brats. In each case, the outside of the food is encased in a tough, leather like coating.

For example, last night I did up some Johnsonville brats. Put the Bull on Extreme Smoke and smoked the brats for :30 minutes and then turned up the heat to 275 to finish them at 160F. Brought them to the kitchen for the kiddos and they had that wonderful "snap" but upon chewing them, there were parts that were just impossible to chew and swallow. Like chewing leather.

Another example, smoked some chicken thighs. Again turned out with a tough outer layer. Here's what I did on the thighs:

1. Heat to 225
2. S&P 50/50 mix (kosher salt & course ground 16 mesh black pepper)
3. Skin side down until 150 internal temp
4. At 150 glaze chicken with BBQ sauce (meat side only) and crank temp to 300
5. Pull at 165 internal temp
 
Try skipping the extreme smoke mode/ low temp and kick the heat up from start to finish. Every one of the foods you mentioned I personally would cook hotter and faster, 275* or more. I know others here get good results with low temps on the leaner meats, but I save the 250* and under temps for ribs, butts, briskets, etc.

Unrelated to the leather skin question, I take chicken thighs to 175-180*. Unlike the breasts, they are better at that temp and won’t be dried out.
 
Agree. You can hit chicken with smoke, and then finish off at 400 or so. Or skip the smoke and do the whole cook at 400-425.

Brats- best done at high temps. Or....short 30 min smoke (as you did), but then finish at high heat.

Note, if smoking, then searing, you need to pull the meat off the grill and put it back on after the grill has come to temp.

It sounds like you left the meat on the grill and just turned the temp up. It's a surefire way to dry it out or over cook it.
 
Waterboy said:
Ditto what @Greg Jones said but I cook chicken thighs at 375-400 till 180ish internal.
Click to expand...
When it comes to chicken.....I cook mine to 180 ish as well.

I still have nightmares of stabbing an undercooked piece of chicken in a military chow hall. After that....it ain't done until I KNOW it's done.
 
Skip the low temps. For chicken thighs I go right to 400 and pull ~185 - 195 IT. Be sure to dry brine with Kosher salt or Freakin Greek for a few hours. Crispy skin. Same with the brats. - skip the low temps.
 
I like you love to start my cooks on low. How I smoke chicken is maybe 30 minutes or so on low and then I go to 250. Once the internal temp is around 140 to 150, I turn up to 425. You could go lower but I would suggest at least 350. This is for bone-in chicken thighs, legs, etc. I like to go to 425 because it crisps up the skin. Pro tip: If you want to help with the skin crisp, spray some duck fat or just some kind of spray oil on them. I cook my bone-in chicken till 180 to 200 internal. At least 180 because of the bones to make sure it is cooked all the way through to temp. Some cut the chicken but I HATE that.

Your real problem really is 300 is just not high enough and the skin will be uneatable. Personally I would at least go to up 400 but I've heard of folks going 350 to 375 and being fine. You could just cook at 350 the whole way but I'm guessing you're looking for smoked chicken and not really grilled chicken. For smoked, I would keep close to your process and just jack it up more at the end. I like 250 because the whole process takes about 4 hours, if I went on low for longer, it could become like a 6 hours process.

Good luck!
 
400 all the way or smoke until 170ish then put under the broiler to crisp the skin. I made cracklings with my leftovers this weekend. The kids love them!
 
kstone113 said:
I like you love to start my cooks on low. How I smoke chicken is maybe 30 minutes or so on low and then I go to 250. Once the internal temp is around 140 to 150, I turn up to 425. You could go lower but I would suggest at least 350. This is for bone-in chicken thighs, legs, etc. I like to go to 425 because it crisps up the skin. Pro tip: If you want to help with the skin crisp, spray some duck fat or just some kind of spray oil on them. I cook my bone-in chicken till 180 to 200 internal. At least 180 because of the bones to make sure it is cooked all the way through to temp. Some cut the chicken but I HATE that.

Your real problem really is 300 is just not high enough and the skin will be uneatable. Personally I would at least go to up 400 but I've heard of folks going 350 to 375 and being fine. You could just cook at 350 the whole way but I'm guessing you're looking for smoked chicken and not really grilled chicken. For smoked, I would keep close to your process and just jack it up more at the end. I like 250 because the whole process takes about 4 hours, if I went on low for longer, it could become like a 6 hours process.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
Is this your same method for whole chicken, either beer can or spatchcock? If not, what is your exact method? I'm determined to get this damned whole chicken thing right; my skin slides off and is still too rubbery..
 
Greg Jones said:
Try skipping the extreme smoke mode/ low temp and kick the heat up from start to finish. Every one of the foods you mentioned I personally would cook hotter and faster, 275* or more. I know others here get good results with low temps on the leaner meats, but I save the 250* and under temps for ribs, butts, briskets, etc.

Unrelated to the leather skin question, I take chicken thighs to 175-180*. Unlike the breasts, they are better at that temp and won’t be dried out.
Click to expand...
I agree. Start them at 250 - 275. The skin has a better chance of being more crisp and not rubbery. And, that's still a good temp to set the sauce.

When I do wings at that temp, cook time is somewhere around an hour or a little more. I use a pen probe to check temps at 1 hr. Chicken legs take closer to 1 1/2 hrs at that same temp.

If you're somewhat new to pellet grills or any smoker, you need to be aware that you can over-smoke meat. The #1 way you'll know you oversmoked...you'll burp smoke the next day. Smoke is a beautiful thing...in moderation.
 
TheRicker said:
I agree. Start them at 250 - 275. The skin has a better chance of being more crisp and not rubbery. And, that's still a good temp to set the sauce.

When I do wings at that temp, cook time is somewhere around an hour or a little more. I use a pen probe to check temps at 1 hr. Chicken legs take closer to 1 1/2 hrs at that same temp.

If you're somewhat new to pellet grills or any smoker, you need to be aware that you can over-smoke meat. The #1 way you'll know you oversmoked...you'll burp smoke the next day. Smoke is a beautiful thing...in moderation.
Click to expand...
...one more thing...if the skin is still rubbery on chicken after your smoke, put it on a gas grill or under a broiler to crisp up the skin. I've had good luck with what I described above. But, you should be aware that a quick broil (and I mean quick) is a great way to crisp up the skin.
 
For brats, I have a Johnsonville brat cooker, perfect every time. For chicken I brine in a simple water ,salt and sugar. smoke at 275 till chicken temp is 175-180. I then kick up temp to425 till chicken hits 195-200. I Smoke 100 pieces last week for a party, turned out great. tossed with a light bbq sauce before putting on high heat. got the recipe from recteq on you-tube.
 
RyanLowdermilk said:
tl;dr - HELP ME! Instead of making delicious food for my family, I'm making leather!

I'm a complete newbie to this. Grabbed at RT-700 last month. So far, I've smoked chicken thighs, chicken breasts, pork loin and brats. In each case, the outside of the food is encased in a tough, leather like coating.

For example, last night I did up some Johnsonville brats. Put the Bull on Extreme Smoke and smoked the brats for :30 minutes and then turned up the heat to 275 to finish them at 160F. Brought them to the kitchen for the kiddos and they had that wonderful "snap" but upon chewing them, there were parts that were just impossible to chew and swallow. Like chewing leather.

Another example, smoked some chicken thighs. Again turned out with a tough outer layer. Here's what I did on the thighs:

1. Heat to 225
2. S&P 50/50 mix (kosher salt & course ground 16 mesh black pepper)
3. Skin side down until 150 internal temp
4. At 150 glaze chicken with BBQ sauce (meat side only) and crank temp to 300
5. Pull at 165 internal temp
Click to expand...
Got recipe from bearded butchers for spatchcock chicken. Turned out amazing. Use favorite rub. Smoke at 200° ‘til temp reaches 140°; crank to 450°-500° ‘Til temp reaches 165°…yum!
 
Plumberguy said:
Is this your same method for whole chicken, either beer can or spatchcock? If not, what is your exact method? I'm determined to get this damned whole chicken thing right; my skin slides off and is still too rubbery..
Click to expand...
Pretty much yes. If you want that crisp skin, turn up and spray the skin with the duck fat spray if you can find it. Otherwise any kind of spray oil. There is nothing wrong with starting on low for the smoke. I don't get why people skip that. Some many people complain about smoke flavor yet don't want to wait a little longer for the smoke. I don't get it. But nevertheless, this is how I do it and works great for me.
 
It’s tempting to smoke at a low temp to get the smoke flavor and then crank up the temp, but I’ve had some spectacular failures with this method. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. For chicken and brats I decided to stay at a higher temp all the way through and use a smoke tube to get the smoke flavor. Less margin for error. Besides, i use a smoke tube for every cook, regardless of temp.
 
As a newbie, I will say that I have found that a dry overnight brine ( just cover it with salt and put in refrig overnight) has consistently produced the best crispy skin. Of course you need to finish it at high temp, or follow the suggestions above about start to finish temp.
 
RyanLowdermilk said:
I wanted to come back and say, "thank you." This weekend, I marinated some boneless, skinless chicken thighs over night and them threw them on at 400F. Results? I was told by the kids that it was the best chicken I've made.

Thanks all!
Click to expand...
Congratulations on a great cook (y)
 
Nothing better than the family telling you it’s the best ever. What’s cookin next?
 

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