Stampede Tuff chicken

[bornelsu]

Today I smoked a spach cock chicken on my new 590. I started off at 225° for 2 hrs then went to 375° for 45 minutes. I thought raising the temp to 375° at the end would give me crispy skin. I pulled the chicken off at internal temp of 175° on the breast and 185° on the thigh. Skin was rubbery and chicken was tough. Should I have left the chicken on longer?or just started the cook at 375°

 

[Motodad1776]

Your internal is way too high, you want 165 for all meat on that bird. I never smoke poultry below 250 either, but do raise to 275/300 for the final touch.

 

[BradBQ]

I would agree with @Motodad1776 . 175 in a breast is a recipe for very dry chicken as there is just not enough fat there. Although I do usually take my thighs to 175 as I feel they turn out better at that temp, but 165 is certainly the number to shoot for. In terms of your skin you may have needed some sort of catalyst like oil or butter to help crisp up the skin. I give my birds a light spray of Duck Fat before I crank to 400 and it usually comes out crispy as can be.

 

[kstone113]

Agreed with above.

One trick you can use to get the skin crispy is to spray the skin with a cooking spray or duck fat spray is best right before you turn the temp up to 375 or whatever.

 

[Pacman]

FWIW, if I'm cooking a whole bird, I brine a day ahead of time as it forgives a ton of mistakes. I separate the skin (just pull it free of the meat, and apply some sort of oil/fat on top or even a compound butter under the skin. I always spatchcock, I go 225 until internal temperature of around 110 - 120, then crank up the heat to 375 - 400 to basically mimic an oven roasted bird (with a nice kiss of smoke) to pull at 165 internal temp in the breasts.

Other folks no doubt have other/better methods, but this method has been pretty reliable for birds of all sizes. For small/medium birds, I'm averaging about a 3 hour cook time. I broke TWO Thermoworks probes last Thanksgiving in my haste so I don't have good records on my 18 pound turkey last year, but I didn't kill anyone....and it didn't suck

I've got a can of duck fat spray I'm itching to try. Tis the season....

 

[DenStinett]

Yeah, your Internal Temps were too high
We coat the Bird with Avocado Oil and apply the Seasoning
Smoke at 250 for the first 2 hours +/-, spraying Avo Oil every half hour
Then crack the Temp to 450 for the last 30+/- mins until she gets to Temp:

MEAT

SMOKER TEMP

SMOKING TIME

MEAT TEMP

RUBS OR SAUCES

MISC INFO

Spatchcock Chicken

250 - 450 for the last 30+/- mins

2.5 - 3.0 hours

B/160-165 T/170-175

Avo Oil w/ Garlic, Pepper, Salt

Spray or brush with Avo Oil on the half hour

Whole Chicken

250 - 450 for the last 30+/- mins

3.5 - 4.0 hours

B/160-165 T/170-175

Avo Oil w/ Garlic, Pepper, Salt

1/2 Apple or Onion in Cavity

A bit longer for Whole Birds:

 

[Debbydebbydebby]

Today I smoked a spach cock chicken on my new 590. I started off at 225° for 2 hrs then went to 375° for 45 minutes. I thought raising the temp to 375° at the end would give me crispy skin. I pulled the chicken off at internal temp of 175° on the breast and 185° on the thigh. Skin was rubbery and chicken was tough. Should I have left the chicken on longer?or just started the cook at 375°

I took cooking classes with a professional chef. She pulls chicken off at 160 degrees. Letting the chicken stand for 10-20 minutes will bring it to perfection temp and allow juices back into the meat.

 

[bornelsu]

I took cooking classes with a professional chef. She pulls chicken off at 160 degrees. Letting the chicken stand for 10-20 minutes will bring it to perfection temp and allow juices back into the meat.

Chicken wasn't dry. Almost like it wasn't quite done. I did let it rest for 20 minutes.

 

[Inscrutable]

When I spatchcock, I run hot right out of the gate. Skin seems to turn out better than starting cooler, and fortunately my wife prefers a very light smoke profile. You might try that and augment with a pellet tube.

 

[Motodad1776]

I took cooking classes with a professional chef. She pulls chicken off at 160 degrees. Letting the chicken stand for 10-20 minutes will bring it to perfection temp and allow juices back into the meat.

Yes for breasts I typically pull between 160/165.

 

[bornelsu]

When I spatchcock, I run hot right out of the gate. Skin seems to turn out better than starting cooler, and fortunately my wife prefers a very light smoke profile. You might try that and augment with a pellet tube.

That's what I was thinking. I just purchased a smoke tube for high temp cooks. I will try it. Thanks