When you go to a BBQ restaurant and order chicken, it’s often very soft and falls off of the bone. Whenever I cook BBQ chicken it’s good, but the texture is more like something I baked, not barbequed. What is it that BBQ restaurants do to get that texture? I’m guessing low and slow but is there more to it than that?
This is the heart of the question. When you cook “BBQ” food, how are you cooking it? A lot of people (not judging) consider BBQ to be the sauce/flavor, rather than cooking method. While others will say it’s the method, specifically low and slow, while the flavor is a secondary concern. And then there’s slow cooker, smoked, and countless other variants!
If you slather chicken (especially boneless, skinless) with a BBQ sauce, and then roast or bake in the oven, you’ll get a far different texture than any of the slow roasted options.
Tell us how you cooked it, and we can probably answer the question fully!
My preferred method for BBQ is on a smoker. I have a pellet smoker and can cook some great ribs, pulled pork, and Brisket. I’d always grilled chicken but my niece loves smoked chicken so I’ve started putting that on the smoker too. She likes it, but it’s not quite what I’m looking for.
A lot of restaurants start with parboiled chicken and finish in a smoker or on a grill. You could try a nice flavorful poaching before grilling and see how that goes?
Generally speaking, low/slow is how you get it to fall of the bone. Also, dark meat. I’m not sure it’s even possible to get white meat to that point.
Yep, low and slow is pretty much the key to falling off the bone chicken. Also, don’t overcook it-- once the chicken gets to an internal temp of 165F, and no higher, take it off the heat. Many people overcook chicken on the grill, which makes the meat, especially the white meat, dry and chewy.
When I’ve been smoking the chicken I cut out the backbone and lay it out flat. I just use a dry rub and put some butter under the skin. I haven’t tried marinating yet but maybe that would make a difference?
Yeah, I usually pull it about 160. It comes out good and tender and tastes good, it’s just not the texture I associate with BBQ. It is a tasty baked chicken though. Last time I cooked the chicken at 200F until it was at 160
That’s pretty low and slow! You’re saying you cooked chicken at 200F, removed from heat at 160 internal temp and it was not falling off the bone? Odd. You could try brining the chicken beforehand, but a lot of commercial chicken already comes pre-brined with an injected solution.
I doubt it, but a salt brine might work.
ETA: ninjad!
It’s not what I would call BBQ, to be clear, but I’ve had moist, tender fall off the bone chicken breats cooked in a slow cooker, on a bed of hearty vegetables to keep the meat out of the broth/wine mix on the bottom. Could probably accomplish the same in the pressure cooker as well.
Swap out the fluid mix with a hard cider for a bit of sweetness, and a pre-cooking rub with the right spice mix, and again, wouldn’t be traditional BBQ by any means, but would probably have a similar flavor profile minus any smoke agent (but I’d add smoked paprika, which while not the same would still be good!).
One thing to keep in mind is that a big piece of the low-and-slow bbqing procedure is to get the meat well-smoked, and also to give it a lot of time at the right temperatures for the collagen in tough meats to convert into gelatin, thereby making it much more tender and succulent.
That process only begins at 160F, and is best at 180F. In fact, part of the reason to get a brisket to a final temp of 203F is basically to ensure that all the meat’s been somewhere above 160 long enough to convert all the collagen.
So with your chicken, I’m guessing smoking at 200 until an internal temp of 160 is in effect just cooking it, without actually converting any of that collagen. I might try something like smoking at 250-300 until an internal temp of 180 or so. Can’t hurt; chicken is cheap enough to experiment with.
I don’t think you’re correct about the smoke itself contributing to the tenderness of the meat. It’s all about the temp you cook it at. Smoking meat is typically a low and slow process, but the smoke itself is just adding flavor, not contributing to the tenderness of the meat. Cook chicken in a crock pot, the ultimate low and slow, and you’ll have very tender, falling-apart chicken.
Also, cooking meat above an internal temp of 165F to get it tender only applies to meat that has tough collagen running through it, like brisket and pork shoulder. I would not, under any circumstance, recommend cooking chicken to a temp over 165F.
No… I was saying that smoking meat low and slow does two things which are separate- gets it good and smoky(flavor), and converts the collagen to gelatin. You can achieve the second in an oven- it’s just a matter of time, temperature, and moisture.
I’m just spitballing there- I know that a chicken thigh isn’t nearly so loaded with connective tissue as a brisket, but it does have some, and that’s probably why it isn’t fall off the bone at 160.
I’m with you though- I’d just cook it to 165 and call it a day even if it’s a bit more firm than the commercial stuff. Fall off the bone is liable to be kind of dry, I suspect.
I wonder if brining or dry brining/salting ahead of time may be a good idea? I’m more of a brisket and pork guy myself, but it does help with smoked turkeys.
Probably depends where you’re getting your chicken. Most (not all) commercially prepared chicken is already in a sodium solution, but more expensive types may not be (which was mentioned upthread, and in so very many Cafe Society threads as well).
That’s why I and @solost mentioned slow cookers, or other, moister options for chicken, which tends to be very, very lean these days, with minimum chances for fat to lubricate the meat. My FiL, when smoking, and at my request, often adds a tin of flavorful fluids to the smoker when working with lean meats, including chicken and pork tenderloin, and it helps a bit.
You guys hit on what I’m talking about - the meat is good and tender but it lacks that gelatin texture I get in pulled pork and brisket. I’ve never cooked the chicken above 165 to test out if the collagen melts but I’ve also never seen cookbooks recommend that. Cooking with liquid does make some sense.
It may be entirely in my own mind TBC, but if you’re at a market where they distinguish between roaster and broiler/fryer chickens, I find the former to have more flavor and a bit more gelatin, due to the increased age.
You may have to break it down yourself though, because they’re more frequently sold whole.
Anyway, if none of the other fixes work, I’d probably suggest a hybrid cooking method - a moister option for the cooking, followed by a brief smoking for flavor at the end ( of course, you’ll want to be smoking something else as well, using most of the space to justify using the load, but that’s never a problem in the household).
You can brine the chicken to add more moisture. I did that in the past a couple of times. These days I smoke at 250F with the chicken on rack over a pan of water until the chicken reaches 140F-150F Then cover in foil sealed around the edges of the pan and continue at 300F-350F until it reaches 165F. Then uncover and smoke at very low temp for 15 minutes or so to add a little more smoke flavor. I use just about any wood for chicken.
Or you could go the reverse route, and smoke first, then wrap in tin foil for the remainder of the cook. That’s the traditional barbecuing way for most meats.
True! I was looking more at the moist and falling apart aspect (especially with white meat chicken) and was concerned about potential over-smoking if it spend the whole time in the smoker.
Beercan chicken is the answer you are looking for.
90 minutes at (probably 225-ish) 15 seconds holding hand above the flue before unbearable pain.
Sorry, I gave up thermometers and measuring devices a long time ago.
Skin so crispy, yet meat so juicy and fat so well rendered that one has to be very careful when retrieving the chicken or the leg quarters will literally slip off. I use two pairs of tongs, and a saucepot on a baking sheet to transport back into the house.
Get a 710 or 740 ml can of beer. Drink 2/3rds of it while seasoning the chicken with your favourite seasoning. Traditional poultry spice or dry jerk rub are two of my most used. Shove the can with the remaining beer up the chicken’s butt and drop it into your grill/smoker.
Myself, I use a weber charcoal most of the time, with two lump charcoal & hardwood hot zones on each side of the chicken, parallel to the thighs.
I once used a stainless steel roasting plate underneath, which yeilded absolutely amazing results - I reckon it was the radiated heat - but that was not at my own house, and I have not been able to find one myself.
90 minutes at low heat with as much smoke as possible.
Don’t worry about the colour, it’s not burnt. The wingtips get a bit dry if you don’t tuck 'em.
Your kilometerage may vary, but it probably won’t be by much.
Happy smoking!