Temperature When Smoking Whole Chicken

I think the place would be the same across the board: aim for the thickest part which is, I think, between the thigh and the main body of the bird.
If it is hot enuf there, it is well cooked elsewhere.
It will continue to cook once taken off the grill.
Technically, you could stop at about 5 degrees before done, but I don't like taking chances with chicken.

twocents wrote:

I think the place would be the same across the board: aim for the thickest part which is, I think, between the thigh and the main body of the bird.
If it is hot enuf there, it is well cooked elsewhere.
It will continue to cook once taken off the grill.
Technically, you could stop at about 5 degrees before done, but I don't like taking chances with chicken.

Ditto, the breast will cook faster than the thigh area. There is a post somewhere that will tell you where to stick the thermometer. I'm just being very lazy right now.
Laura

Until recently the rule of thumb was 180 in the thigh and 170 in the breast, but recently the guidelines changed to 165 in either location (someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

But I'm also a little confused...if the breast cooks faster than the thighs why would the old target temperatures be lower in the breast? It would seem that just cooking the thighs to 180 would push the breast easily past 170, so if the breast is cooked to 165 per current guidelines wouldn't the thighs be at 165 or higher?

Brad

I know this goes against the common wisdom, but in my experience (maybe it's the altitude) if chicken is taken to 165° it will be dry...even if it is brined. And I brine all my chix with a 16:1 and overnight.

I take smoked chicken to 155° in the breast. Then I wrap the whole bird in foil when I take it off the heat, and lay it breast down to rest for about a half hour. Of course, the temp will continue to rise and it may very well reach 165°, but once it's in the foil and off the heat, the juices seem to be reabsorbed by the meat ...and that's good. Nuthin worse than dry chicken.