Bacon Wrapped Boudin Stuffed Chicken Thighs


 

John Sp

TVWBB All-Star
Hello All,

Last week I was inspired by an article on Nola.com about one of the new food vendors at the French Quarter Fest in New Orleans. FQF is an annual street party in the FQ with lots of music, dancing, drinking, and FOOD. Anyway this new vendor was making a deep fried boudin stuffed chicken thigh. It looked pretty awesome and I decided to adapt it for the grill. First a word about boudin. Boudin is a sausage made in Cajun country which uses pork, rice, and various spices (and some other stuff you probably shouldn't know about until after you have tried it). I get my boudin from Billy's Boudin in Scott, LA but there are numerous vendors for it. There are a few pics of my cook here if you are interested.


Ingredients:

Boneless Chicken Thighs (one or two per person)
Spinach (enough to cover each chicken thigh about 1/8" deep)
Boudin (one link for each three thighs) - you can use regular, smoked, or crawfish boudin as you please
Bacon (one strip for each thigh)
Creole Seasoning to taste (Slap Ya mama, Zatarain's, Emeril's, Tony Chacherie's, etc.)

Procedure:

Soak enough toothpicks (two per thigh) in water for 1/2 hour. Pound each boneless thigh flat with a meat mallet. Par cook your bacon by layering it in paper towels and cooking it in the microwave for one to two minutes. Try to get a uniform thickness of about 3/8" thick. I used skinless thighs but skin on would probably be better if you can get them or want to de-bone your own. Sprinkle each with Creole seasoning to taste. If you are using frozen spinach, defrost it and squeeze as much of the liquid out as possible. If using fresh spinach, stem the leaves. Lay out a prepared thigh and cover it with a thin layer spinach. Place a segment of boudin near one end of the thigh and roll it up inside the meat/spinach mixture. Wrap the roll with a strip of prepared bacon, and secure with the toothpicks (the toothpick will actually secure both the bacon and the roll itself). Keep in the fridge until you are ready to grill.

Prepare a medium hot fire and set up the grill with direct and indirect zones. Grill the rolls direct for five to ten minutes turning frequently to prevent burning. This step is to add some color and render more of the bacon fat. Move indirect and cover the grill. Cook for about 1/2 hour until an internal temp of 160 F is reached. Pull the rolls and allow them to rest under foil for about ten minutes prior to service.

Variations:

You could do this with a variety of Boudin or even other types of sausage. Next time I make this one I will baste it with a garlic butter sauce while cooking indirect.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!
 
Sounds delicious, John!

This recipe does open up a whole variety of uses. We smoke our own tasso so I keep picturing sautéed diced onions, garlic and celery with some minced tasso mixed in. Would be divine on top of fresh spinach, too.

Thanks so much for posting this. I grabbed a copy for my remember-to-make file!
 

 

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