The Texas BBQ Forum

I smoked some thighs on my WSM this weekend. I brined them first for about 1 hour, then smoked them for about 2 hours after rubbing them. They tasted great, but the skin turned out rubbery. How do I get rid of the rubbery skin?

Try a spray bottle with olive oil, or if you can get your grate temp up to about 350 towards the end it will help firm up the skin.

scraping the fat from under the skin also helps.....Rubbery skin has always been a trouble spot for me too.

Smoked chicken = rubbery skin. As mentioned above, finish off with high heat to crisp up the skin.

That's a technique I've been wanting to try when I get a chance. I recently read something about cooking chicken thighs using Myron Mixon's muffin pan technique, removing the bones and scraping the fat off the back of the skin, and the results looked outstanding. The skin had a perfect bite-through texture and really looked fantastic.

I put a little EVOO and rub on them and then leave them in the fridge overnight to dry out the skin a bit. I cook em at around 400 on a raised grid for about an hour and the skin comes out crisp. Haven't tried the scaping method - will try in the future.

EH, from what I understand scraping the fat is rather labor intensive, but the results are well worth the effort. I'm definitely gonna give it a try, hopefully soon. My adjustable rig/spider combo is scheduled for delivery tomorrow, so I'll finally be set up for raised & indirect cooks.

yes it is a very tedious thing to scrape the skin and if your not careful it will rip and mess up a good presentation. I use the back of a pairing knife to scrape mine.

I scrape the skin, baste with butter while cooking and crank the heat up on the smoker or finish the chicken off on a grill to crisp the skin. I havent perfected it yet but I'm getting close.

whats that? you say you want info on less rubbery chicken? try this read.........

http://www.thepickledpig.com/forums/bbq ... icken.html

I think you'll find skinning, scraping and putting skin back on a rather tedious job for home cooked chicken. Cooking at a higher temp will make the skin much more edible than low temp. There are several things cooks do, such as rubbing down with oil, to help with the skin. I have gone to cooking my chicken at 300+ - you don't need a lot of smoke on chicken, the higher temp saves some time and does wonders for skin. JMHO!

Jack, I agree that scraping the fat off the skin may be tedious work but I'm still going to try it. I've been told that once you get the hang of it, it takes about a minute and a half per piece of skin. For those interested in eating a little more healthy, it removes a surprising amount of fat calories (especially if you trim all the additional fat from the chicken while you're doing it) while still allowing you the flavor of the skin.

In all the time I've been barbecuing & grilling, my poultry skin seems to come out either rubbery or overcharred in an attempt to get it crips. I've never achieved that perfect crisp bite-through skin. For thanksgiving this past November, I cooked my turkey in the UDS at 360° the entire cook and the skin still came out rubbery. With all the experimenting I've done, I figure trying one more way certainly can't hurt

Grill them closer to the coals towards the end of the cook after the fat drips off.. Keep a close eye on them.

Yeah, that works but there's also a fine line between crisp and burnt

I have not tried it, but I have heard baking powder helps dry the skin. Here is a good read on it
http://thepauperedchef.com/2008/02/crisp-skinned-r.html

This may take too long for a competition, but might be good for home

Weldon

Get rid of the water pan and replace it with a planter saucer, and raise the heat in your WSM min of 325 deg, I cook chicken at 300 on the UDS and pour the smoke to it for 20 min. Then I put the spurs to it and finish at 360 deg cook skin side down. It always comes out bite through.