Chicken quarter help needed...Please!

Sounds like they were overcooked. We pull chicken at 160 to 175 (breasts usually around 160 - 165 and thighs around 170 to 175).

At 400, quarters will take around an hour give or take. Thighs usually take about 40 minutes at 400.

To cook quarters for 2 1/2 hours, you would need to use the smoke then 180 setting for most of the cook. This works well when you're smoking or jerking the chicken (although we usually jerk chicken on the kettle).

Doc's right (as always), they were overcooked.

It's tough when you haven't cooked something before, so I suggest looking for a good internal temp to shoot for.

What I'd do, if you have one and you need to practice, is get a remote thermometer. Put the probe in the breast meat and see how long it takes, at whatever setting.

The only issue is a few of the remotes on the market don't do well at high temps. But that's when the probe end is exposed to high temps only.

For me, leg/thighs, would be done in about an hour.

I'd got for the 325 setting and the skin should come out fine.

I agree with Doc. Definitely too much time at such a high temp for quarters. I cooked two chickens cut in half on the FEC the other night and I pulled them at 50 minutes with the thighs at 179 and the breasts at 165. And that was on the second shelf from the bottom and cooking at 375.

Give this a try.

John

Thanks for the advice, guys. I'm simply going to have to check my spelling from now on. I can spell, (although you couldn't tell it from my first post) I just can't type...John

Awwwww Russ, you're starting to sound like my ex wife

Between you, Eddy, Ray and all the great cooks here (too many to name) I can say I've learned from the best.