Outdoor Cooking Equipment > Charcoal Smokers
Chicken Halves on a Hunsaker Drum Smoker
pmillen:
My second cook on the Hunsaker drum was four unbrined chicken halves hanging at 375°. They were straight from the refrigerator into the drum. I monitored their IT with a reliable old FireBoard. The IT shot up rapidly—to 165° in the drumstick in 45 minutes. I made several verification probes with an old Thermapen that seems accurate but blinks off and on more than I'd like. (New batteries didn't resolve it.)
I ran the heat up to about 450° for 15 minutes to make the skin crisp and pulled them.
My first indication that they didn't cook properly was that the leg to thigh joint wouldn't easily separate with a twist and neither would the thigh to body joint. The juices were clear, so that was a welcome sign.
When I cut the joints apart there was a considerable amount of redness near the joints and the bones were red at the joint. Definitely undercooked to my taste. The meat directly under the skin was reddish—I've seen something like smoke ring there before—but it also seemed "slick." That may have been psychological because I was extremely skeptical then.
Everything went into the kitchen oven and I didn't eat any more chicken that night. It went into salads, pasta dishes and sandwiches over the next few days.
Your thought's?
old sarge:
Always best to play it safe. You took the right course of action. Question: Did the chicken taste good?
MJSBBQ:
I would think that if your temperature of the meat was correct ( I do trust my Thermapen) it would be safe. In my experience, sometimes the meat looks a little less done in color and texture, and I have left it cook a little more for texture and appearance, but the taste didn't change.
Big Dawg:
Don't have any recommendations, but I will say, better safe than sorry, especially with chicken ! !
BD
smokeasaurus:
I do my chicken to 172 to 185 when doing the dark meat Never had dry chicken doing it this way
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