BBQ Chicken
- Thread starter rebellovw
- Start date
IPADave
Turning a whiter shade of pale.
Haven't posted in a while - ran into rubber chicken last Friday. When the chicken breast was raw - it felt like a thick rubber puck - very hard (fought back when I tried to pound it out.) Mystery is now solved - this is a known industry problem:
https://www.ciwf.com/blog/2017/02/chicken-has-changed-for-the-worse-and-the-proof-is-in-the-stripes
I thought my chicken was tough due to overcooking (in the original post above) - nope - it is a known issue: woody/white stripped chicken.
Very disappointing. Watch out for it - avoid white stripes - feel the meat - make sure it is soft - and look for smaller breasts
.Cheers.
Yeah, we've had that a few times here. And it's always in the larger chicken breasts. But what kind of choice do we have here? $1.99/lb for the normal chicken, or $5.99 for an upmarket brand? Chicken isn't supposed to be expensive, yet we might be forced to pay that just to get something edible. Seems like one in three bags of chicken we buy has one of those woody breasts in it.
If it looks questionable, I'll use it for ground chicken. If not, I have a tenderizer I hit it with. Still not ideal but at least dinner isn't totally ruined.
Yeah - I thought I got around it by buying the Organic breasts instead of the giant ones - I've had great luck with them until recently - fork tender - but the last batch was organic. So with the organic variety - I have probably about a 80% success rate.
At least now I'll look for the stripes and I'll try to squeeze the chicken - or perhaps buy from the butcher directly.
rxonmymind
Super Member
Interesting. I was wondering why the chicken sometimes came out tough. First it was farmed fish with super lice which was being feed pellets that have land animal by-products and now the chicken problem. This is unfortunate. I'll have to start eating more chicken of the sea....
Djcoolray
Addicted Member
.....I realize I'm preaching mostly to the choir, and there's plenty of experienced grillers here who have their own ways....but, to some who read this thread that would like to grill outside and don't have any experience or equipment, I'm going to say, "I assure you, you can't miss with a Weber 22 inch kettle cooker for a hundred bucks from Wal-Mart".....
.....after an initial cooking, enough charcoal is left for the bottom layer of the next coal bed effort....just close all the vents when done....I spray the fire with a hose and let the partial briquettes dry for a couple of days.....
.....stop pouring whole bags of charcoal into a charcoaler hoping part of it will catch....build a one foot diameter, round, 3-4 layer coal bed in the middle for searing and making smoke....close the bottom vents for searing as the fire can get nutty quick....open them full to bake with the top on.....
.....all chicken pieces seared....making chicken fat smoke for the baking phase.....
When your baking....roasting, what percentage do you leave the vents open ?? Top and bottom...
I'm not Mulester, but (if I haven't done so yet earlier in the thread) here is what I do on my kettle.
When I "bake" chicken outside, top and bottom vents are wide open. I set my coals off to the two sides of the kettle, and line up the chicken pieces (bone-in, with skin) straight down the middle. I can usually do enough assorted chicken parts to feed four of us. I usually light one full chimney of coals and if I'm in the mood, I'll drop a good sized chunk of apple wood on one of the sides with the coals. 45 minutes usually does it, and the skin is a deep medium brown. Optionally I could put BBQ sauce on the pieces during the final 10 minutes, but I prefer to serve with the skin crispy. If I'm not quite full on chicken, I will bake a few smaller potatoes on the grill.
That's a good tip also. I originally bought a Weber Smokey Joe mini kettle for portable use, but hardly ever went anywhere with it. So I began using it at home a couple of years ago. If I'm doing steaks, pork or salmon over direct heat, I will use the Joe for baking potatoes. I'll light maybe just over a third of a chimney with coals about an hour and 15 minutes prior to dinnertime, then pile them off to one side of the Smokey Joe with a chunk of apple wood. There is enough room for up to four good sized baked potatoes. I let those roast for an hour. That leaves the big kettle free for direct grilling.
I sure miss Mulestar. Vents should be wide open on the weber - both bottom and top - especially the top - perhaps the bottom is tunable - but the top needs to be wide open from what I've read.
I've always run the kettle with top and bottom vents fully open when grilling. When I tried using it for smoking, I was constantly fiddling with the top and bottom vents to maintain a set temperature, and it was always difficult.
That is why I finally ended up getting a used Smokey Mountain smoker, as I was tired of running outdoors once every hour or more.
That is why I finally ended up getting a used Smokey Mountain smoker, as I was tired of running outdoors once every hour or more.
VinylHanger
Navigaret ex ironia
Something a little different. A good friend of mine passed this unit on to me. This was our first go around with it. It is actually more of a very big and hot frying pan if you put too much oil in it, which I did. But it was very good, and a fun unit to use. It's a Firedisc. Can't wait to do a big stirfry. I'll probably do a big brown sugar cauliflower cook for easter in it. Sorry for the lousy pictures, it was spur of the moment cook. I have had it sitting on my porch all winter and I was Jonesin' to put it to use.
Attachments
Haven't posted in a while - ran into rubber chicken last Friday. When the chicken breast was raw - it felt like a thick rubber puck - very hard (fought back when I tried to pound it out.) Mystery is now solved - this is a known industry problem:
https://www.ciwf.com/blog/2017/02/chicken-has-changed-for-the-worse-and-the-proof-is-in-the-stripes
I thought my chicken was tough due to overcooking (in the original post above) - nope - it is a known issue: woody/white stripped chicken.
Very disappointing. Watch out for it - avoid white stripes - feel the meat - make sure it is soft - and look for smaller breasts
Cheers.
Wow thanks for that link. Here is some BBQ I just cooked before the Masters today.
I will be watching out for the white stripes in the future.
Best-
Boozehound
Those look great - nice coloring.
jimfet
Lunatic Member
Getting the ole chikky ready for memorial day. Got 2 breast and 8 thighs in my jerk sauce, in some vacuum containers. Right now they are saying 80% chance of rain Monday. Could be a bummer. I don't know where Food Lion gets their chicken, but a pack of 2 chicken breast weighed almost 4 lbs, and the thighs are huge. I'll grab these containers and gently shakem everyday till grill time. More pics Monday, I hope. I'd hate to have to cook these in the oven, but if we are having a man, son Monday gonna have to happen. That would mean no pimento wood smoking.
Last night's chicken, a mess o legs with my proprietary dry rub topped off with Sweet Baby Ray's the last 20 minutes.
