Great comments so far, brethren! Thanks for the input!
Here is a chicken practice I did on my Bubba Keg today. In this practice I wanted to experiment with a new browning process and an injection. I have never injected chicken before and thought that it might add some flavor in the center of the meat.
I am using my tried and true process that I have spent hours practicing for all of the thighs except the four pieces that I am injecting and the four pieces that I am using the new browning process on. I cooked two pieces using my typical method as a baseline.
The Keg is setup for indirect heat throughout the entire cook.
Here is the chicken after trimming and injecting. The four pieces on the right side are the ones that were injected. I just used some chicken broth and some spices in the injection.
I put the chicken in the keg and cooked them using the process that I am happy with. Only the injected pieces are different at this point.
Here is the chicken after cooking a while. Notice the color difference. The two middle pieces are the control pieces. Nothing about those are different from my usual cooking process that I am comfortable with.
The top four pieces are the injected group. Nothing in the cooking process changed for those except they were injected.
You can tell which four pieces I used to experiment with the new browning process. And, no, it doesn't involve Wegmans AJ, :wink: but I am going to give that a go too.
Here is the chicken while it's glazing. Notice the pieces closest to the camera are a little darker with a little more color than the rest. Those are the four that got the new browning technique.
Here are the results. The chicken with the new browning technique is on the left. I think it got a little too dark but, overall, I liked the results. With a little adjustment here and there, I think I can make it work.
In regards to the injection, it made a definite flavor difference, even more so than brining, in my experience.
So, what did I learn? I learned that injecting the chicken can help get flavor into the meat. I also learned that my new browning technique holds some promise. I will make some adjustments (and add some Wegmans AJ to it :laugh
and try it again to try and refine it.