NWGunner wrote:
JohnMBrowning wrote:
All I have to say Pablo..... 
I did a short ~2.5 hour dry brine followed by a solid 5 hours drying on a rack in the fridge before smoking some thighs last night... I was a bit skeptical.... but I knew within 30 minutes of the chicken being on the grill that something completely different was going on! The meat and skin turned golden brown instantly, and I noticed that the skin was cracking and crazing so much earlier -- at the 30 min mark! -- and the most noticeable thing was that the thighs were PLUMPING up --- that pellicle really sealed the juices in! Even tho I wanted to, I never did spritz the chicken during the whole 3 hour cook -- just basted bbq on for the last half hour. Chicken turned out tasty and juicy, although the skin just didn't have the 'bite' I always strive for -- need to work more on that - more flipping? less flipping? hotter cook?. Pretty sure it picked up more smoke than previous cooks - will have to verify on the reheats (five beers while cooking ) - but I did sneak a sniff from the leftovers and it smells fantastic!
I am amazed that with all the smoking videos, recipes and blogs/forums I've watched and read over the last six months that no one has pointed out the importance of letting the chicken dry in the fridge for smoking.... they always rub it - start the smoker - throw it on..... Makes me believe there are a lot of people out there eating chicken with only a 'surface smoke' flavor and not knowing what they are missing. I will definitely be re-tuning my rub/dry brine/resting protocol for chicken now.
Thanks for pointing out the importance of the pellicle Pablo Without it, I would have been part of the blissfully ignorant masses!
I did a short ~2.5 hour dry brine followed by a solid 5 hours drying on a rack in the fridge before smoking some thighs last night... I was a bit skeptical.... but I knew within 30 minutes of the chicken being on the grill that something completely different was going on! The meat and skin turned golden brown instantly, and I noticed that the skin was cracking and crazing so much earlier -- at the 30 min mark! -- and the most noticeable thing was that the thighs were PLUMPING up --- that pellicle really sealed the juices in! Even tho I wanted to, I never did spritz the chicken during the whole 3 hour cook -- just basted bbq on for the last half hour. Chicken turned out tasty and juicy, although the skin just didn't have the 'bite' I always strive for -- need to work more on that - more flipping? less flipping? hotter cook?. Pretty sure it picked up more smoke than previous cooks - will have to verify on the reheats (five beers while cooking
) - but I did sneak a sniff from the leftovers and it smells fantastic! I am amazed that with all the smoking videos, recipes and blogs/forums I've watched and read over the last six months that no one has pointed out the importance of letting the chicken dry in the fridge for smoking.... they always rub it - start the smoker - throw it on..... Makes me believe there are a lot of people out there eating chicken with only a 'surface smoke' flavor and not knowing what they are missing. I will definitely be re-tuning my rub/dry brine/resting protocol for chicken now.
Thanks for pointing out the importance of the pellicle Pablo
Without it, I would have been part of the blissfully ignorant masses!Folks don’t always use the term, but drying chicken/chicken skin, has been a thing for a long time.
Recipes calling for a dry brine, and then leaving in the fridge, isn’t new...and the spices/salt also draw moisture out of the skin.
Foid writers, and social media has even championed a trend of using a blow dryer to dry out the skin before cooking, for a crisper skin...
You’re getting into the whole deal now... temp control, moisture control, brining...
I have to say that I never really had any issues when direct heat grilling chicken - meat always turned out juicy and it was always easy to crisp up the skin -- the biggest issue I had was flare ups from the fat hitting the burners/flavor bars and charring - had to stay close 'just in case'..... I developed my rub/dry brine method to suit that and because I'm basically lazy --- chicken comes out of the freezer in a bag - thaw - dump in rub - shake - put in fridge for ~6 hours (started out at ~10 hours, but realized not needed) --- easy, no mess, no clean up -- no handling of raw chicken. I felt the amount of rub I used this way was more controlled (yeah, right - when you think you have enough - add a little more) over just sprinkling on the pieces, and as the meat sweat it would fully coat the chicken. When I started smoking, I just naturally carried over the rub process without any thought. Struggling for crispy skin and smoke penetration has led me down this path.... I've always seen chicken rubbed and left to dry, but never really heard why or for how long and never really understood the reason behind it. Like I mentioned --- not once in any of the vids/recipes/blogs/forums did I ever see it said how important drying is when it comes to smoking... Is it just common knowledge that I somehow missed all these years?
I will say that I reheated some thighs from the other night and was pleased that the smoke DID penetrate the meat much better than before! Wondering if the smoke flavor diffused more into the meat while in the fridge now..... doesn't really matter --- tasty chicken is all I'm after!
