DBrentster
Got Wood.
- Joined
- May 2, 2007
- Location
- Centrevi...
Anyone have websites or tips for trimming thighs for comps?
Do you do most of the trim pre-cook?
Do you do most of the trim pre-cook?
Now that's funny right there! I wonder if they still make that thing?
On topic: Yes you trim chicken thighs before cooking. The only trimming you should do when cooked is to snip off any little pointy bits that form on the edges. Any further cutting will be very obvious and hurt your appearance scores more than it helps.
I have no clue when it comes to getting thighs ready to cook so I'll stay out and watch for knowledge from the experts...
^^^^^ What he said....
I actually pin mine with skewers to keep the skin tight while cooking....
All I can say is in three years of cooking and judging in the Southeast I've never seen aggressive trimming of cooked thighs that I know of. How do you keep it from being obvious? How can you cut on a cooked piece without compromising the skin?
Maybe this is a midwestern thing, or a technique used for folks who grill thighs rather than smoke them? I'd love to hear more about this!
Oops, sorry. This post was meant as a reply to billm's, comment. Forgot to use the quote function.
I cut down to the skin then sort of scrape (shave, whatever, Andy! :roll: ) in off the skin so the skin stays intact.
All I can say is in three years of cooking and judging in the Southeast I've never seen aggressive trimming of cooked thighs that I know of. How do you keep it from being obvious? How can you cut on a cooked piece without compromising the skin?
Maybe this is a midwestern thing, or a technique used for folks who grill thighs rather than smoke them? I'd love to hear more about this!
Oops, sorry. This post was meant as a reply to billm's, comment. Forgot to use the quote function.
Are you scraping the skin after the chicken's cooked Jeff?
We scrape but do it before cooking.
similar to what the pictures above show..we actually remove the skin then cut the "oyster" out , trim up the sides then wrap skin back on. All the peices look uniform and look great in the box. As far as it looking obvious im not sure what you mean.
Mutha Chicken BBQ I owe you a cold one (or many)
Hopefully I'll run into you at one of the mid-atlantic comps one of these days. 8)
I sometimes pin also, but I am always afraid of forgeting to remove a toothpick in for turn-ins.
I sometimes pin also, but I am always afraid of forgeting to remove a toothpick in for turn-ins.
no...before cooking ...like i said similar to the above pictures in this threadYou are doing this with the finished chicken just before building the box?
Our skin is so tender and bonded to the meat when the thighs come out of the cooker there's no way we could remove the skin at that stage without ruining the chicken. We've always done all our trimming raw except for cleaning up those odd bits that form during cooking. Whenever I've tried to do any serious cutting on a cooked thigh the result is always very noticeable - it sort of looks like somebody chopped off a bite before putting the piece in the box so we end up not using it anyway.
It seems like trimming after cooking would be more work because you'd have to reapply sauce and return them to the heat to set it after all that handling. What do you see as the advantages of trimming after cooking rather than before?