Buttermilk Chix - techniques?

55Kevy

I plan to use up some buttermilk SWMBO bought for baking by doing buttermilk-brined chix thighs. I reread this thread https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1216510/buttermilk-chicken/p1 for inspiration and ended up with questions. For those of you who do thighs in this manner what:

• Temp do you run at? 400, 450, other?
• Direct or indirect, and raised how far?

I was thinking of doing them (this is in an xl) raised on the AR into the dome maybe in a steel paella pan. Or I could go indirect and put them on the gird. Thoughts?

Kent8621

i do a lot of chicken thighs with buttermilk brine its the best way to go. buttermilk brine over night, rinse, pat dry then cover in rub of your choice (lanes bbq SPF 53 is a favorite of mine), then grill raised direct 400 for about 20-30 minutes. the height is at the felt line for me and it works great. you can flip if you want or leave them one side the whole time and the bottom will get a slight char. cook to 165ish internal, pull and serve.

Photo Egg

I would say to cook it like you normally like your chicken cooked. This way you will know if the Buttermilk soak helped.

As @Kent8621 said, make sure you pat it as dry as you can or you will not get much crust or crispy skin. I have only done this once and I did not rinse the Buttermilk, just pat as dry as I could then added seasoning. I think I soaked for 6-7 hours. Did not notice much of a change. Overnight might be the key.

Mattman3969

I think you will see the biggest change in the breast meat. It will be more juicy. Hard to cook a non juicy thigh.

thetrim

You can also make your own buttermilk with a combo of milk and white vinegar. I haven't done that, so I can't comment other than that.

Botch

Ironically the Cook's Country sample issue I have has a buttermilk chicken brine:

2 cups buttermilk

1/4 cup sour cream

2 Tblspns Ranch dressing mix (which is mostly buttermilk powder)

1 Tblspn salt

They only called for brining 30-60 minutes (would be good on a weeknight). FWIW.

55Kevy

Thanks everyone for the input. I'm doing them tonight, raised direct 400F (or where the egg decides to settle in). They've been swimming in a revised Bobby Flay buttermilk bath since yesterday evening. I'll post pics (if I remember).

Photo Egg

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/comment/2421610#Comment_2421610

?

NorthPilot06

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/comment/2421610#Comment_2421610

Pics please, or at least a recap of how it turned out.

55Kevy

Well, I forgot to take any pics, so it didn't really happen. However, they were very tasty and cumin and turmeric came through pretty well. Of course, as @Mattman3969 said above it's hard to ruin thighs, so next time I'll use breasts. I 'squeegeed' the brine off with my fingers and still got decently crispy skin by flipping 'em skin-side down for the last 5 min. The egg settled in at 400F and the cook took about 40 min.