Internal Chicken Temperature.

[Whart80]

Hi All,

This is my first post and rather cheekily I am after a bit of help and advice straight off the bat.

Anyway, had my first cook in my Pro Q Excel 20 on Saturday and everything went pretty well. I opted for baby back ribs, half chickens and some Italian sausage.

I managed to maintain a constant heat of around 245, which I was pretty happy with. I employed a 2-2-1 technique for the ribs, which turned out beautifully, maybe slightly over done if I was being super critical.

The chickens (2) were whole but I cut out the spine and placed them on the grill halved. I was aiming for around a 4 hour cooking time, it actually ended up being 4 1/2. The sausages went in at the same time as the chicken.

My question is, Following recommended cooking times the Ribs and Sausages were pretty much perfect and the chicken looked perfect but I could not get and internal temp reading of 165. I was inserting the probe into the breast via the gap between the leg and body and was getting readings of around 160.

The chicken tasted fantastic and all my instincts told me that it was cooked perfectly and no one has fallen ill so should I be concerned that I couldn't get a 165 internal temp reading.

Could anyone suggest reasons I might not have got the readings if the birds were actually cooked.

I was using the Maverick ET732, straight ut of the box with no attempt to calibrate it. Could that have been my problem.

[Whart80]

Any ideas???

[essexsmoker]

Why did you use the gap between leg and body? Aesthetics?
It's quite hard to visualise where the reading was taken from exactly. You want the thickest part of the meat.

Cailbrating a unit wouldn't make a difference to the readings you got. You'll have just been over or under the true reading, with the assumption that you would keep cooking till you reach the desired temp.

Since you had such a long cook you were ok. But it could have been dodgy. I would rather be safe and over cook slightly personally.

[KayCeeSmoker]

I will be the heretic and say I don't cook my chicken to 165F. I personally think that leads to dry chicken. I shoot for 155 and remove it. As you know, temps will climb a bit from there as it rests. Been doing this for years with no ill effects on anyone that has eaten chicken I've cooked.

It's not just temperature; it's _how long_ at a specific temperature. 165 will kill all the baddies. But so will 156F for 1 minute.

I don't just pull this idea out of the air, either.

Amazingribs.com has a wealth of bbq/smoking info and there's an article on safe meat temperatures, referenced to the USDA.

http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_techniq ... guide.html

From the article:

Minimum Pasteurization Times For Selected Meat Temperatures*
Chicken & Turkey With 12% Fat

136°F (57.8°C) 82 minutes
140 (60.0) 35 minutes
145 (62.8) 14 minutes
150 (65.6) 5 minutes
152 (66.7) 3 minutes
154 (67.8) 2 minutes
156 (68.9) 1 minutes
158 (70.0) 41 seconds
160 (71.1) 27 seconds
162 (72.2) 18 seconds
164 (73.3) 12 seconds
166 (74.4) 0 seconds


Ok...go ahead and stone the heretic!

[Whart80]

I will be the heretic and say I don't cook my chicken to 165F. I personally think that leads to dry chicken. I shoot for 155 and remove it. As you know, temps will climb a bit from there as it rests. Been doing this for years with no ill effects on anyone that has eaten chicken I've cooked.

It's not just temperature; it's _how long_ at a specific temperature. 165 will kill all the baddies. But so will 156F for 1 minute.

I don't just pull this idea out of the air, either.

Amazingribs.com has a wealth of bbq/smoking info and there's an article on safe meat temperatures, referenced to the USDA.

http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_techniq ... guide.html

From the article:

Minimum Pasteurization Times For Selected Meat Temperatures*
Chicken & Turkey With 12% Fat

136°F (57.8°C) 82 minutes
140 (60.0) 35 minutes
145 (62.8) 14 minutes
150 (65.6) 5 minutes
152 (66.7) 3 minutes
154 (67.8) 2 minutes
156 (68.9) 1 minutes
158 (70.0) 41 seconds
160 (71.1) 27 seconds
162 (72.2) 18 seconds
164 (73.3) 12 seconds
166 (74.4) 0 seconds


Ok...go ahead and stone the heretic!

Thanks for your reply, I am a pretty experienced cook but very new to smoking so although I felt pretty confident that the chicken was cooked the internal temperature was playing on my mind. Its interesting to read that you have for many years used a lower temperature, and I agree that if anything my chicken was a little over done so maybe I need to trust my instincts a bit more and have confidence that my cooking temp and times are doing the job.

[Whart80]

Great article by the way, very interesting read.

[KayCeeSmoker]

Glad you enjoyed it. Amazing Ribs is a very informative site.

I think pointing out that the sous vide cooking at low temps for a long time makes chicken safe sort of proves the point.

There are the standard things you must do with poultry, even before it gets to the grill/smoker.

I always give the poultry a good wash under a strong flow continuously running water. I do this right out of the packaging.

Then I use separate cutting boards and knives for poultry; you don't want to cross contaminate.

If mixing meats on the smoker, the poultry goes on the lowest level so that it does not drip on other meats while cooking. This can be a bit of a trick as usually the poultry takes less time so gets put on last. A bit of shuffling around is all that is required.

As I am a bit too far into this hobby (3 smokers), my solution is just to use the pellet grill for the poultry. I have a Traeger pellet grill. IMO, the pellet grills give a rather light smoke which is fine for poultry. (I have added a A-MAZE-N Pellet Tube Smoker to add some smoke https://www.amazenproducts.com/ProductD ... Code=AMNTS )

I have a WSM that I use primarily for brisket an pork shoulder. It gives the deeper smoke flavor and good bark that I like.

Lastly, I have a MasterBuilt 40" electric smoker that I use mostly for racks of ribs and sausages. I like that it includes a water tray and that it uses real wood chips. Temperature is always steady with the built in thermostat. It turns out very nice, smoky ribs.

The other thing I have is a vacuum sealer. This because I now sort of mass produce my BBQ. As you gents know, it can be a lot of work to feed a crowd. Now, I just declare a BBQ project. I'll trim, inject, rub as needed on two briskets, two pork shoulders, 6 racks of baby backs, 2-3 split chickens and about 6-8 pounds of sausage the day before the cook. Let it all sit in the refrigerator. I smoke the next day, cooking it all on the three smokers. Invite others over for a BBQ feast that night.

All the leftovers, and there is much, get divided into servings for two and then vac sealed and frozen. I'll have BBQ meals for a LONG time afterwards. The vac sealed bags are just removed from the freezer in the morning and allowed to thaw. Then boil a large pot of water, shut of the heat and put the bags into the hot water for about 15 minutes. Sort of a sous vide thing I guess. When the meat feels hot enough to the touch, open the bags and dine. It seems to me, the flavor intensity actually increases after the vac seal/heating. I've had no complaints, that is certain. The bark does get mushy this way but still flavorful.

Oh...then there's always the clean-up. Three smokers to brush down, clean up, etc. I do this about 3-4 times a year. Keeps the two of us in BBQ pretty much anytime we feel like having it.

Your mileage may vary..........

Cheers!

[Pompey Dinlo]

I always give the poultry a good wash under a strong flow continuously running water. I do this right out of the packaging.

The standard advice is that washing poultry is not necessary and is potentially more harmful due to the risk of bacteria such as campylobactor being spread by the splashing of water.

Personally I see no need to wash my chicken. It's been cleaned in the processing factory and washing it is not going to remove bacteria.

[TakingtheBrisket]

There's a programme on bbc2 tonight at 7.30pm that highlights the washing of chicken and movement of bacteria called food detectives

[essexsmoker]

Thing with chicken is that it is full of bacteria inside the meat itself, so washing and potentially splashing bugs all over the shop won't make a great deal of difference. The outside will defo get cooked, so just a risk not worth taking.

Re. The temp thing I always find that chicken can be quite chewy if not cooked out properly, especially thighs and tougher cuts. I've always taken my chicken to 74C and never have dry meat. I use fatty parts and leave the skin on.

I think the 74C thing is for clarity. Most of the public don't have a scooby and 74 is instant kill. That's what I meant before when I put 'you had a long cook'. As in, even though the IT was low, the long cook will have fixed that. Bugs like salmonella can actually start dying as low as 52C, but would need hours and hours to be safe.