Chicken thighs question

Gnorwoodjr · January 2012

I have tried smoking the thighs on my BGE. I used the direct method with the temp about 350 and they were done in about 45 min. The chicken itself was very nice and moist but I was wondering if anyone had a tip for making the skin edible and not so chewy. I trimmed them where there was only the rectangular piece of skin on top and they looked awesome when I pulled them off. The skin however was very chewy and you could not bite through it as I would have liked. Any help anyone can provide would be well appreciated.

gdenby · January 2012

There are a couple of things that can be done to help any chicken skin get crispier. Let the bird or pieces dry exposed to the air in the 'fridge. Then, either brush the skin w. some olive oil, or dust with cornstarch. The oil helps fry the skin, and the cornstarch draws more moisture from the skin, and forms a little crust by itself.

Although it is not likely, there is the chance that the thighs were from older birds. When poultry gets old enough, the skin will just be rubbery

ribmaster · January 2012

I read an article...debone the thigh,

Scrap the skin and rewrap,

Check it out on "third eye's " cooking sight.

IrishDevl · January 2012

You could probably get the egg hotter towards the end (450+) and drop a cast iron grate with a spider close to the flame if you have this.

Baysidebob · January 2012

gdenby said:

"Although it is not likely, there is the chance that the thighs were from older birds. When poultry gets old enough, the skin will just be rubbery"

I'm thinking along the same line. I've never had a problem with crispy chicken skin. I rinse and towel dry my chicken. I certainly did get leather skin on the Weber Smokey Mountain where steam was part of the process but not on the BGE. Big chicken pieces mean old retired layer. Only good for stewing or dog food.

Griffin · January 2012

Try raising your grate and bumping the temp up to 400. I'd also do as suggested and let the chicken air dry in the fridge for a few hours.

Squeezy · January 2012

Just scrape the fat from inside of the skin and wrap it back around the meat. That's competition style (too much work for me) I just use a higher temp to crisp it up.

Nature Boy · January 2012

I find that a direct cook at lower temps (275ish), with the skin down the last half of the cook gives me a good bite through skin with plenty of texture. I don't scrape the skin. Cheers!

Chris

fishlessman · January 2012

raised grid direct at 275 works for me, i cook skin down til crispy, then flip. i always cook the skin side down first with chicken parts

Chicken thighs question

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