TIP #3 Cooking Chicken
While many people think of chicken as boring, it is a wonderful and versatile canvas to build flavors upon. Here are a few tips when cooking chicken that will help break that dull stereotype and make every chicken cooking effort a success.
- White meat is less forgiving when grilling and smoking, so checking temperature is key. Cook to 165˚ internal and remove promptly, loosely cover and let rest a few minutes before cutting.
- Brining helps to keep chicken juicy while cooking. Just make sure not to over-season the bird since the salt in the brine will add a bit of flavor.
- For skin-on chicken, always wash and pat dry chicken. When skin is just tacky, that’s the perfect time to load it up with Rufus Chick N’ Rub. Letting the skin dry before cooking will result in better looking, crispier skin.
- Get impressive grill marks and lock in moisture by searing both sides of chicken over direct heat. Then finish over indirect heat until cooked through. Pieces containing bones will take longer to cook.
- Keep grill or smoker closed as much as possible while cooking. You want that chicken to bake and be heated from top to bottom.
- For whole chickens, spatchcocking (also known as butterflying) makes cooking much more even and will help prevent breasts from drying out before legs and thighs are done.
- During the last 15 minutes of cooking, baste with Rufus BBQ sauce, flip and repeat. This will result in a beautiful, caramelized coating on your finished bird.