Looking for BBQ chicken thigh help

stv8r

I used to have a friend who participated in lots of BBQ cookoffs.  His chicken thighs were amazing.  The main thing was the skin was easy to bite through when eating....not rubbery or excessively crisped. You could get a full flavored bite of skin, meat and sauce with no real effort.  I'm craving these thighs now lol and would appreciate any hints or techniques on how to achieve the perfectly cooked tender skinned bbq chicken thighs!

DMW

Ahh, the perfect bite-through chicken skin. The trick to competition thighs is the prep of the skin. First you remove the skin. Then you scrape off all the fat on the skin until it is almost translucent. Be sure not the rib the skin. This can be tricky to do and is time consuming and messy. Then put the skin back on the thigh and pin in place with toothpicks. Be sure to remove the toothpicks before turn-in or you will be disqualified. For serving you want to remove the toothpicks so no one stabs their mouth.

@NibbleMeThis has a great write-up on his blog:
http://www.nibblemethis.com/2013/08/competition-chicken.html

stv8r

ahh thanks!  Figured there must be a trick to it.  Not wanting to enter any competitions yet but just craving some good bbq thighs

DMW

It's worth trying for sure, just to get that perfect bite. Be sure to give yourself plenty of time the first time you do it. I found it took way longer than I thought it would the first time I scraped skin.