Might be the dumbest ? ever...

clifkincaid

So cooking chicken legs, i get to 195-200..remove them all and sauce them. Put back on and the temps are 160-170ish...take forever to get back to temp. What is it with chicken? 250-275 smoked...back on 300-325. Minimax. Should I just sauce and let be for a couple minutes then pull regardless of temp reading since I had already hit 195-200. Confused on these yardturds.

SemolinaPilchard

I assume you meant meat temp when you said 195. White meat is cooked at 170, dark meat at 180. Some say 165 and 175. No need to cook them to 195, that just dries them out. 

hoosier_egger

Could you have hit bone the first time getting temp? How long were they off? In 10 minutes they'll drop significantly. I usually sauce them while they are on the egg. No need to hit 195* again. I pull my legs @ 180ish

cheeaa

I dont think I've ever temped chicken legs. Just cook em til they look good and crispy then sauce and put back on for a little while. I sometimes sauce a couple of times

Mattman3969

I'm guessing your sauce was cold when you put it on the meat.  Once you hit desired temp in the meat all you have to do set the sauce after that.  I'm with you on 185-190 on thighs and legs.  That's the temp and texture I like for the dark meat. 

clifkincaid

Didn't hit bone, Using thermopop also. Yes meat temp at 200°. Probably off 5min...maybe I'm a slow saucer  just pulled them at 187-194ish. Took another 1.5 hrs to recover heat loss. Maybe a little longer.

clifkincaid

Mattman3969 said:

I'm guessing your sauce was cold when you put it on the meat.  Once you hit desired temp in the meat all you have to do set the sauce after that.  I'm with you on 185-190 on thighs and legs.  That's the temp and texture I like for the dark meat. 

I took a fresh bottle out of the cupboard and said to swmbo I needed one that wasn't refrigerated. Sounds like next time it's just going to set the sticky sauce then off. 
   I'll admit the ones I just pulled are not dry and very good. The whole time n temp was weird.

Skiddymarker

So if the legs were at 190º, you pull, sauce, then return to the grill and wonder why they are at 160-170º - there might be some carryover depending on how long they are off - they cool when off the grill, as long as they don't drop below 140º and stay there for more than four hours (which would mean you used the coldest sauce known to man and took forever to get it on the legs) they are good to go. 
As noted by others above, legs can be pulled at 170º as the highest temp, usually around 160º, breasts at around 155º. 
Put another way, cook to the desired IT of 165-180º, than do not let fall below safe holding temp of 140º for more than four hours. 
How were they?

clifkincaid

Skiddymarker said:

So if the legs were at 190º, you pull, sauce, then return to the grill and wonder why they are at 160-170º - there might be some carryover depending on how long they are off - they cool when off the grill, as long as they don't drop below 140º and stay there for more than four hours (which would mean you used the coldest sauce known to man and took forever to get it on the legs) they are good to go. 
As noted by others above, legs can be pulled at 170º as the highest temp, usually around 160º, breasts at around 155º. 
Put another way, cook to the desired IT of 165-180º, than do not let fall below safe holding temp of 140º for more than four hours. 
How were they?

Thank you sir...I will not re-heat till 185-200 again. I was really confused on what the heck the yardbird was doing.

clifkincaid

 Not horrible! 

Mattman3969

Sounds like all turned out good.  For a reference the legs are safe to eat when they hit 145-150 but the texture isn't there for me at that temp  same with white meat but I'll run it to 160-165 because that gives me the texture and moistness I like for white meat.   For the legs and thighs I will run it up to 185 & sometimes hitting 200 depending on how the skin is looking.  It's really hard to over cook the dark meat if you stay in those parameters.  

BYS1981

I think 175 is what it needs to be at for an extremely short period of time, I don't think you had to reheat.

clifkincaid

I'm going to go get more and redo these and see if they are juicier. Same temp that I shot for.
    On a side note, and my other egg....burnt ends saved the day really.