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[Bobitis]

As far as 'cooking by boiling water' is concerned; I wouldn't be concerned if a bath of 5 minutes was incorporated if the heat was turned off prior to immersion.

This is not so much, cooking, but just pouring the boiling water over the skin.  You can see the skin change form as you pour.
[/quote]

I'm afraid I may have been unclear in my comment. It was directed to those that may think that a few minutes in boiling water would cook the product. It doesn't, given the temp, time, and process.

[Craig in Indy]

Pam spray is an old Asian trick? Just kidding - looks terrific.

[DaisyCutter]

Well, I attempted this technique with wings this evening. I have to say, you're on to something. I could tell the skin looked and felt different after I poured the pot of hot water over them and dried em. I smoke em at 250 for 1-1/2 hours and then bump it up to 375 for another 30 or so depending. They were crispier than they normally are.

[Ralphie]

Thanks for sharing, Daisy.  I was hoping you were going to try it. 

[pmillen]

I'm intrigued enough to try this boiling water trick although I may incorporate Bobitis' scoring variation.  I also wonder about the season, rinse and re-season steps.  Is the first seasoning effective if subsequently rinsed?

[darita]

Daisy, I don't know for sure, but from my experience, you may get better results the longer you can cook at high temp.  Frying temp begins at 375* and that's kinda what you're doing to get the skin crisp, however you do get better smoke at 250*, so...

Paul, I season then dry brine in the fridge for about 6 hours, so that first season is just for brine.  You could just as well use salt, but I use the season in hopes that some of the spice will move into the meat.  After the boing water gets poured on, I'll reseason for the actual cook.

[Redapple]

Your bird looks amazing, making me hungry...

I'd like to try this with a turkey.

Yes.

[dk117]

I'm going to try this Thanksgiving.    After brining for 72 plus hours I'll put a pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil.  Then dip each turkey leg.   I figure I'll lose quite a bit of temp between dips.  Could take a good 30 mins for all 15 two lb legs. 

I've done these enough times that I'll know if the extra step in the process was worth it.   Thanks for the ideas.

DK

[darita]

I'm going to try this Thanksgiving.    After brining for 72 plus hours I'll put a pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil.  Then dip each turkey leg.   I figure I'll lose quite a bit of temp between dips.  Could take a good 30 mins for all 15 two lb legs. 

I've done these enough times that I'll know if the extra step in the process was worth it.   Thanks for the ideas.

DK

DK, just a quick dip is all it takes.  You'll see the skin tighten up and that's all you need.  You don't want the meat to start cooking.  Also, be sure to use that spray oil, as that will promote "frying" the skin.  Good luck and report back.

[bten]

I will definitely try this.  Thanks for sharing!

[dk117]

results from 30 lbs of turkey legs and one frozen bone in turkey breast only.

For turkey legs first.   Set a pot of boiling water, took my temp resistant gloves, grabbed a single turkey leg by the bone, dumped in water and swirled.  Maybe 10 seconds total.  Then sprayed with PAM.  Did this 14 times for 30 lbs of turkey legs.   Moderately messy.

For the turkey itself, needed a bigger pot.  Kind of messy as the cavity kept some of that boiling water (I guess I need practice on this point.)   The swirling of the bird was a bit of a pain.  I think the original intent was to poor the boiling pot over the turkey.  I did a full submersion then PAM. 

I'm really happy I learned of this process here on PH.  I'll be doing it again.    But it's not perfect turkey skin.   I've only ever done that with charcoal or gas.    This boiling water and PAM process turned my amazing turkey with rubbery skin that was thrown away 95% of the time into same turkey, but edible skin.  For that alone I'll continue with this process.   A higher temp cook (which isn't really what I'm going for to get smoke and even cooking) or a sear on the gasser is still going to be necessary for crispy skin.

I hope you all don't think I'm being too negative here.  I give this process a solid B. 

DK

[darita]

results from 30 lbs of turkey legs and one frozen bone in turkey breast only.

For turkey legs first.   Set a pot of boiling water, took my temp resistant gloves, grabbed a single turkey leg by the bone, dumped in water and swirled.  Maybe 10 seconds total.  Then sprayed with PAM.  Did this 14 times for 30 lbs of turkey legs.   Moderately messy.

For the turkey itself, needed a bigger pot.  Kind of messy as the cavity kept some of that boiling water (I guess I need practice on this point.)   The swirling of the bird was a bit of a pain.  I think the original intent was to poor the boiling pot over the turkey.  I did a full submersion then PAM. 

I'm really happy I learned of this process here on PH.  I'll be doing it again.    But it's not perfect turkey skin.   I've only ever done that with charcoal or gas.    This boiling water and PAM process turned my amazing turkey with rubbery skin that was thrown away 95% of the time into same turkey, but edible skin.  For that alone I'll continue with this process.   A higher temp cook (which isn't really what I'm going for to get smoke and even cooking) or a sear on the gasser is still going to be necessary for crispy skin.

I hope you all don't think I'm being too negative here.  I give this process a solid B. 

DK

DK...so glad you had some success.  Every cooker will need a bit of tweaking to get the results you want.  To save on the mess, I put the turkey in the sink and just pour the water over the turkey.  Keeps the water out of the cavity, but still does the job.  In the MAK, I've one up to 380* still with good results and will keep upping the temp, just to see.  I may even try Smoke setting for 1/2 hour, then going up to 400*, just to increase the smoke flavor.
If you're at least getting bite-through skin, that's a good result in my book.  Anything other than rubber is good eating.  I get a mix of crispy and bite-through. 
I'm you tried and will be working with it to better the process.  Let us know what happens. 

[hughver]

I just put bird #2 onto the grill @ 350*. Spacthcocked, injected, poured boiling water over, applied Pam, seasoned and onto the pit. Total time from unwrap to grill was just over 30 minutes. The skin indeed did shrink when the hot water hit it. 

[darita]

I just put bird #2 onto the grill @ 350*. Spacthcocked, injected, poured boiling water over, applied Pam, seasoned and onto the pit. Total time from unwrap to grill was just over 30 minutes. The skin indeed did shrink when the hot water hit it. 

Very cool.  Looks good.  When the skin shrinks up, it should also go kind of translucent.  That's when you know you're there.  Please post your results so we can develop that pool of knowledge.

[hughver]

The bird is still resting but at first look, the skin is not as crisp as I thought it would be. I pulled it off of the grill when the largest part of the breast reached 155°. After resting for 10 minutes the thighs were at 168° and the breast has risen to 158°. As I mentioned before, I had the grill set to 350°, maybe the results would have been different if I had used 375°.