bmanMA
04-16-2010, 09:47 PM
First try at thighs; I usually just butterfly the thing and go with that. I tried a few different preps in this cook:
1) mix of bone in and boned
2) mix of fat-scraped skins and skins sat in baking powder + rub
All skins were removed, and then placed back on after treatment.
Smoking config:
I did not bust out the Parkay for this. Not sure what this would bring besides some non-chicken flavor. Smoked them at ~240 using Royal Oak hardwood briquettes.
Used a mix of 1 apple chunk and 2 small pecan chunks. I think I'll stick to apple in the future. I can get it for free from local farmers and I think it imparts the best flavor and does not compete with the flavor of the meat.
39911
A few skins
39912
Some nasty fat scrapings.
39902
Entire right column are the baking powder+Rub only. They are thick.
On the left, the top 2 are simply skinned, and the bottom 2 are skinned + baking powder + rub.
39903
90 degrees left rotation, after 45ish minutes skin side up.
39904
After flipping and cooking for another hour. Skins pulling back. Meh.
My take aways:
1) The de-boned guys appear better fit for the total skin removal technique. The bone-in guys are just too big to deal with the shrinking skin. I may try keeping the bone-in skins attached on one side, scrape them, and toothpick the exposed side back on.
2) The simply scraped skins appear to be the best for bite through. The baking powder ones got somewhat crisp, but the thickness of the fat layer was a deal breaker. The hybrid skins (scraped + baking powder) were in between; thin but had unnecessary garbage on them.
1) mix of bone in and boned
2) mix of fat-scraped skins and skins sat in baking powder + rub
All skins were removed, and then placed back on after treatment.
Smoking config:
I did not bust out the Parkay for this. Not sure what this would bring besides some non-chicken flavor. Smoked them at ~240 using Royal Oak hardwood briquettes.
Used a mix of 1 apple chunk and 2 small pecan chunks. I think I'll stick to apple in the future. I can get it for free from local farmers and I think it imparts the best flavor and does not compete with the flavor of the meat.
39911
A few skins
39912
Some nasty fat scrapings.
39902
Entire right column are the baking powder+Rub only. They are thick.
On the left, the top 2 are simply skinned, and the bottom 2 are skinned + baking powder + rub.
39903
90 degrees left rotation, after 45ish minutes skin side up.
39904
After flipping and cooking for another hour. Skins pulling back. Meh.
My take aways:
1) The de-boned guys appear better fit for the total skin removal technique. The bone-in guys are just too big to deal with the shrinking skin. I may try keeping the bone-in skins attached on one side, scrape them, and toothpick the exposed side back on.
2) The simply scraped skins appear to be the best for bite through. The baking powder ones got somewhat crisp, but the thickness of the fat layer was a deal breaker. The hybrid skins (scraped + baking powder) were in between; thin but had unnecessary garbage on them.