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[Hank D Thoreau]

Last night I smoked some bone in chicken breasts. While the meat was juicy and good, the skin was tough and leathery. I found the same thing a few weeks ago with turkey legs. The skin was thick and leathery, and had to be peeled off. I have not had that problem with chicken legs and thighs. I smoked the chicken breast last night at 325 until I got an internal temperature of at least 165. Some got higher. I think the turkey was cooked at 225. Has anyone experienced this issue with poultry; skin turning more leathery than crispy?

[okie smokie]

I think that is because the skin cooked slow.  If you sear it or pour boiling water over it before you put it in, I think that crisps it.  ? I think. Not sure that applies to turkey skin.

[bregent]

Boiling water will help, as it starts to render the fat under the skin, which allows the skin to crisp. Sprinkling baking powder and letting the skin dehydrate well in the fridge will also help. But high temp is the key. 325 isn't going to get good results. I do chicken parts at 425-450.  That will get you crispy skin. Of course, if you are going for soft, bite-through skin, that's a different matter. But that still requires rendering out the fat and hot temps.

[Hank D Thoreau]

Good insight. I have cooked many turkeys on my Weber charcoal grill and they have all turned out great. I usually try to keep the barbecue around 350 but it invariably gets hotter. And that is the temperature the dome thermometer shows. The actual temperature may be much higher. I am inclined to continue to use my Weber for whole turkeys until I figure out the trick.

[pmillen]

Canadian John started a similar discussion here.

[Hank D Thoreau]

While I like crispy skin, soft edible skin is also a good option. Leather is not. I could make seat cushions out of the skin I got when I smoked turkey legs.

[ICIdaho]

I have gone the rounds trying to get the perfect skin.  I am not sure why I bother, I and everyone in my family just takes it off regardless.  The baking powder trick on the skin did help.  I never get the nice bite through like a rotisserie though.

[bregent]

>While I like crispy skin, soft edible skin is also a good option.

I like soft skin too, but find it easier to make it crispy - I never had consistent results with getting soft skin. I was at a friends for Memorial day and he was cooking a mess of thighs on the Weber kettle for a large group. He's a professional chef so I figured they would taste great, but didn't hold out much hope the skin would be edible. Surprisingly it was perfect, soft and you could bite through while the remainder stayed attached to the thigh. I see folks going through all kinds of permutations to get competition skin like that, usually cooking skin side down in a bath of margarine or similar. I emailed him asking what his secret was, and it was really nothing special. Here's his reply:

"We started it hot, skin side down to render the fat a little... lid on so it doesn't catch on fire. Then it was really lightly basted with bbq sauce over and over on low heat long enough for the chicken to cook through and get tender, turning often."

[Hank D Thoreau]

This is really good stuff. I never encountered this issue until I started cooking poultry on my pellet smoker. My turkeys on my Weber always came out great. Chicken on the Weber also.

Of course the best is the chickens that I used to cook on my Ronco Showtime Rotisserie. Set it and forget it !!!!! I still have it but quit using it when I had to increase cooking capacity to feed the kids. I should get it out again now that everyone is grown.

[ksupaul]

I took 2 TBS of olive oil and mixed with 2 TBS of melted butter and coated the skin, then seasoning. Cooked on pellet grill at 325 and got surprisingly great skin!  Admiringly I cooked it a little longer past the meat probe readings to get there, but the meat did not suffer at all.

[ksupaul]

Note above, this was whole beer can chickens, not just pieces. Missed that in OP

[Hank D Thoreau]

I took 2 TBS of olive oil and mixed with 2 TBS of melted butter and coated the skin, then seasoning. Cooked on pellet grill at 325 and got surprisingly great skin!  Admiringly I cooked it a little longer past the meat probe readings to get there, but the meat did not suffer at all.

I usually go high when I cook chicken. I pulled some off this time at 165 because my cold side was lagging. I moved the cold side pieces to the hot side as I pulled off chicken.

The pieces that cooked to a higher internal temperature ended up with more tender skin. I realized that today when my wife ate one of the pieces that got to a higher internal temperature.

[LowSlowJoe]

Personally... I can get poultry skin good enough at about 325F  or a little hotter,  but won't go bellow that.    I typically do it on the upper shelf on the indirect side of my PG500.

In past experience with traditional pellet grills, I've had grease fires when trying to cook chicken above 350F, the chicken grease gets on the drip tray, which is significantly above the set temperature, and poof.. grease fire.  IMHO, there's not a whole lot worse than grill chicken that suffered through a grease fire that went unchecked for more than a few minutes...