Turkey & chicken - Skin on or off?

Howdy,Larry.

On turkey, you can leave the skin on and season under it and on top of it.It does have some minimal moisture protecting qualities.
You can add some oil or butter under it.

Most people throw the skin away,when they eat the breast.

I wouldn't worry about how to get more smoke into chicken,it will take up more than you anticipate.

You can take some food grade cheese cloth,sop it in vinegar and use it to be the skin on turkey[this will keep it from sticking]. Season as you like and throw the cheese cloth away.

There are lots of methods,but JMHO you will not get a skin that looks like it came out of a hot oven.

I cook chicken with the skin on and finish it on the grill.

You need to pick one and keep careful notes on your results.
Depending on what you are trying to accomplish,there are great threads on the search.Some are even a little strange.

A lot of us cook chicken with little or no smoke.

Thanks Tom, I appreciate your help. One other quick question. When serving Turkey to guest, do you remove the skin before serving?
And I am assuming if you use the cheesecloth, you remove the skin before cooking. Is that correct?

The turkey breast skin can get real dark sometimes,so I discard it.

I have never heard a guest say,"although this breast slice is truly moist,tender and has a great flavor-I sure wish I had a piece of skin".

You can leave the skin on under cheesecloth,but I will still discard it.

There are some threads about using a cup of mayo and a couple TBSP of rub that do a good job,under the cheesecloth.

Smokin's brine technique is great also,but this doesn't refer to the skin question.

I cook my chicken with the skin on and finish with a direct heat source,just because I like the presentation.The guests still throw it away.

Hope this helps some.

well... I just dunno about all the skin throwing away I read about... so many people seem to do it... but I LOVE the skin, either chicken or turkey. yeah, I got diabetes... so what?? The skin is the best damn part of the bird. Followed by the dark meat... followed by breast. IMHO. So I've found that Smokette birds come out with rubbery skin. I think the low and slow, plus all the retained moisture, does that. Maybe that's why everyone throws the skin away That's why I do chickens (whole and parts) indirect on the Weber kettle, closed, vents open, with a couple chunks of wood thrown over the coals. They end up with lots of smoke flavor, and crispy skin. One man's opinion...

Thanks Y'all, I appreciate the advice. Maybe one day I'll know enough to help someone out too. But that may be a while, cuz I'm pretty dumb about this stuff now. But I know where to go to learn!! Thanks again.

I have found that the skin helps protect the meat on chicken and also to much smoke will dry out the chicken. I like brining the yard birds.

Skin on!

If you don't have the Fat from the skin and that extra layer to protect the meat, it will dry out very easily if you don't watch it very closely.

With the skin on, you get a little leeway as far as drying out.

And you're exactly right, the CS holds a lot of moisture, so if you don't open the door to let some moisture out, the skin does come out with that rubbery consistency. I open the door and let some moisture out and I also smoke them at the highest setting of the CS and they come out fine. And I'll grill that skin sometimes if I want to "sauce" them for finish.

Then, when you're done, your guests can decide. Skin on or Skin off.

SmokinOkie
You said you open the door to let the steam out.
How often or about when do you open the door?I have some chicken brining to cook.

Depends on the size of your smoker and how much chicken you're doing.

Chicken is going to cook pretty fast. So after 30 mins of smoke, I open the door, then 15 min later, when I check the chicken for temp, it do it again.

This WILL extend the time of the smoke, and I've found it works best when my smoker is filled to capacity. On a 150 that's a lot of chicken -- 5 racks with about 6 to 8 halves on each.

The simplest is the "finish on the grill" technique.

I'd suggest you try it, test it and see how you like it with a normal smoke that way you'll have a sample smoke to see what everyone is discussing.

Do some with skin off, some with skin on, leave the door closed for the entire smoke. Once you've done that, you should experiement to find what works for you.