Chicken Skin

The one thing I have never been able to get right when BBQing is chicken skin. I have had varying degrees of success in achieving both crispy and tender skin. I have struggled with whether to go for crispy or tender. I'm beginning to think crispy is the way to go.

Chicken skin is the source of a lot of debate among BBQ cooks. It is such a difficult thing to get right. I envy some of the teams in New England that seem to really do well with chicken, Dirty Dick and the Legless Wonders, Lunchmeat and QWannabees to name a few. I have no idea what they are doing, but I haven't been able to figure it out.

Well maybe not until now.

I think all the practice is starting to pay off, and I'm finally starting to get good crispy skin without burning it. I used to smoke our chicken, but in the last few months I have changed everything, the entire recipe, and we're grilling and not smoking. The last few test cooks have been really good. I can't wait to try it out on the judges later this month at the Battle of the BBQ Brethren in Sayville, NY.

In the meantime, several New England teams are jetting off to the American Royal in Kansas City this weekend. I really wish we had qualified for the invitational like we did last year. Unfortunately, we had booked a vacation for that week last year, so we couldn't go. We could go and cook the open, but that is always more than 400 teams and I have told myself that we will not go unless we are qualified for the invitational. Good luck to the New England teams in KC this year!

Hopefully next year we'll be there! Instead, I'll be working Friday and Saturday, and watching football on Sunday.