First shot at chicken thighs


 
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Jim Babek

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I just got a 22.5 weber kettle and want to give chicken thighs a shot. So its going to be a overnight tonight witha 7.5 lb pork shoulder I had in the freezer on the WSM and then Sunday its gonna be the thighs.

Im going to brine the thighs in Doug's Old Bay brine and then want to cook them on the kettle using cherry wood. Im figuring to trim and brine the pieces early Sunday morning and let them soak for 4-6 hours. Take them out and put them on a rack in the fridge for a bit. Fire up the kettle using the charcoal racks and a dry drip pan in the center over which the chicken will go.

Should I cook the pieces for a few minutes directly over the hot coals to brown the skin or just put them on indirect? Also, how long should I figure and to what temp to cook? I dont know if I should put them into a pan of sauce mix and then back on direct either???? Maybe do half and half?

Im confusing the hell out of myself...and seems like Im making it more difficult than what it needs to be.
 
I always thought of a brine being more beneficial to white meat poultry, so I will be interested in the results on the thighs, which most folks usually choose to marinate. Maybe brine longer, too-- I always go about 14 hours.

I think I'd leave any skin-crisping efforts until the end of the cook, and 170* internal temp before doing so should work fine. I'd think you could safely cook anywhere from 250 to 300* and be OK.

Re: sauce-- mix it up, you can make comparisons for future cooks. If you put the sauced ones back on direct, you will, of course, need to watch closely that you don't burn the sauce.
 
Careful brining thighs. My experience is the meat turns to mush pretty quickly. I recommend a marinade instead--italian dressing, Mojo, etc--as an alternative
 
I recently bought a 22.5 kettle as well and have done only beer can chicken with a small drip pan underneath w/ coals to one side. When you do a large pack of thighs, do you use a drip pan that is large enough to place under the top grate? Does it matter? I believe a large family pack of thighs from Sams has around 12-14 pieces. Do you place coals on both sides of the grate?
 
Only brine the thighs for about 2-4 hours. You are correct about taking them out of the brine and letting them chill dry in the fridge for about 4 hours, makes for better skin. I wouldn't do anything special to try and get good skin on the kettle other than indirect, as long as your heat is up it should be fine...should take about 50 minutes for thighs. One trick we do in competition is to slip a pat of butter under the thigh's skin for the smoke, makes it tender, juicy and yummy!
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Well here's an opposite view of when to put the chicken over direct heat. I do it at the beginning. As I remember reading a post here, the fat is rendered from the skin as it cooks indirect; thus, it does not crisp as well as it would if you cooked it over direct heat before the fat had rendered from the skin. Probably not that much difference, but it's the way I've been doing it.

A potential advantage, also, of the direct first method is you're less likely to overcook the chicken this way. The slower cooking is at the end. 180 in the thigh.

Paul
 
JMO, but indirect grilling of thighs is not a great idea. I cook thighs twice a week on the Silver B gasser using direct heat.

Soak thighs in a little olive oil bath then season. Heat the grill to hot as hell...throw the thighs on skin side up and let them sear. Turn heat down to medium after a minuet or so then let sit for 12 minuets. Flip to skin side down, turn heat to low and let sit for 10 minuets...continue to season every time you flip. Start to probe for temp on the biggest one after inital 22 minuets and finish from there on medium heat. Except when skin side is down...I always use low as skin will burn or flare ups if not careful. Finished at 180 degrees.

Long post I know, but, this tastes great and the skin is soooooooo nice and crispy! Guests and family will love it!
 
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