soooo, natural looking thighs

[boogiesnap]

after spending 6 months working on a boneless, heavily trimmed thigh for competition, there seems to now be a backlash against them.

i would like to add another tool in box.

can anyone please offer some suggestions on trimming a bone in thigh for uniformity?

with my experience, it would seem to take like 50 thighs to find 6-9 that are of equal size.

any thoughts?

thanks all!

[Lakeside Smoker]

Yep. I buy 4, sometimes 5 family packs of chicken for trimming. About 40 pieces of chicken to get 12 for cooking.

[Coz]

Originally Posted by boogiesnap

after spending 6 months working on a boneless, heavily trimmed thigh for competition, there seems to now be a backlash against them.

i would like to add another tool in box.

can anyone please offer some suggestions on trimming a bone in thigh for uniformity?

with my experience, it would seem to take like 50 thighs to find 6-9 that are of equal size.

any thoughts?

Not that I do very well in chicken but we have been able to come up with a decent box by trimming 24 and pickin the best 16 to cook. I try to buy the biggest thighs I can get. Our best appearance scores came from the ones I would trim square . Seems that they never look exactly the same but we rarely get worse then an 8 in appearance.

[INmitch]

I buy 10 quarters. Usually only 1 or 2 that aren't close in size. By starting with quarters you can square them up & get them pretty close in size. I only cook 8 pieces & turn in 6.Today is an exception. I've got 30 I'm going to trim (if I could find one of them puking smilies I'd insert here). 2 batches for the Royal & 1 for Bentonville. After today no more trimming farking chicken till next year.

[indianagriller]

Originally Posted by INmitch

I buy 10 quarters. Usually only 1 or 2 that aren't close in size. By starting with quarters you can square them up & get them pretty close in size. I only cook 8 pieces & turn in 6.Today is an exception. I've got 30 I'm going to trim (if I could find one of them puking smilies I'd insert here). 2 batches for the Royal & 1 for Bentonville. After today no more trimming farking chicken till next year.

Interesting... Good luck !

[Brauma]

We went back to basics and place 6, big, natural-looking thighs in our box. Bite-thru skin, juicy as heck, full of flavor, and tastes like BBQ chicken. This year we placed 2nd in Chesapeake, VA, 4th in West VA, 6th at the Sams Club comp in Chesapeake, and 14th in Louisa, VA. (That's all the comps we did this year). So, to say the least, we feel we have some traction in the chicken category.

[Rich Parker]

I buy a family pack of 12 thighs and just go with it. There have been a couple of times that i have accidentally picked up a 9 pack and went with it to.

[boogiesnap]

thanks guys.

how do you go about trimming? i've tried trimming bone in, but seem to mangle the bone and the meat.

what the heck do y'all do with ALL that extra chicken?

rich, i appreciate your approach as well.

edit: i understand if i don't get too much traction on this, it's just i can make a pretty good pillow all day long, but just stare at a whole thigh dumbfounded with what to do to it. so was hoping for some help.

[Sledneck]

Mutha chicken http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=46375

[QansasjayhawQ]

OK - what I've been doing is trimming back the 'long side' of the thigh.

When you turn it over and open it up along the bone, you'll see one side is kind of tapered down. I trim that side back to match the other side.

Once you do that, the skin should easily wrap around for the cook.

Have fun!

[stan]

Originally Posted by QansasjayhawQ

OK - what I've been doing is trimming back the 'long side' of the thigh.

When you turn it over and open it up along the bone, you'll see one side is kind of tapered down. I trim that side back to match the other side.

Once you do that, the skin should easily wrap around for the cook.

Have fun!

This is very similar to what I do.. I also do it when they are partially frozen if I can by just putting into the freezer when trimming meat and trim them last. It makes it easier to see the shape and trim it. It has worked well for me this year..

[mwert]

Don't forget to remove the blood vessels and small tendon. If a judge thinks its not cooked when they see "red" of any sort, remove the "red" before you cook(or at least as much as possible). I do everything I can to help the judges enjoy their sample of my BBQ. No matter how you trim, take the time to make it perfect and intentional.

Originally Posted by boogiesnap

thanks guys.

how do you go about trimming? i've tried trimming bone in, but seem to mangle the bone and the meat.

what the heck do y'all do with ALL that extra chicken?

rich, i appreciate your approach as well.

edit: i understand if i don't get too much traction on this, it's just i can make a pretty good pillow all day long, but just stare at a whole thigh dumbfounded with what to do to it. so was hoping for some help.

Extra chicken: chicken noodle soup.

[CivilWarBBQ]

When I trim chicken, I keep one of those Gladware/Ziplock containers on the counter and pack the trimmings into it. When I'm done, it goes straight in the freezer. Takes no extra time at all and easy to thaw later for use in stir fry, pasta sauce or whatever application you have for bite-sized chicken pieces.

[GreenDrake]

I trim them by first knocking off half the knuckles with a cleaver, then the vein, then square up, fold and see how they look before trimming down any more. Got 4th place this last weekend with this batch. I'm a scraper but after deciding chicken wasn't gonna beat me, I practiced...a LOT. Now the chicken prep is easier for me.

[boogiesnap]

thanks again guys.

i suppose i should get myself a family pack and have at it.
more specifically, my issues have been:

shattering the bone with a cleaver trying to get off that knuckle.
way different bone lengths.
way different thigh thicknesses.
skin not big enough to wrap around bone in.

last, is meat to seasonings ratio. changing the amount of meat per thigh is a complete re-tool of that balance.

looks like i got more chicken practice ahead.

i guess i'm just rambling at this point. maybe i should just run with these and be done with it:

photo (63).JPG