Lazy man's Chicken Thighs


 
D

Dave Russell

TVWBB Honor Circle
We had some old friends come see us last night, so we started with four packs of thighs from Kroger. Going low-n-slow so they all can come off at the same time. Don't have to cook so many, but leftover ones will be pulled for sandwiches.

40 of them dusted a couple hours earlier with Rufus Teague fixing to go on 3 grates in the big WSM:


Take my word for it. There's 3 grates of thighs down there. Just a couple chunks of cherry on a ring of lump for smoke.


Color would've been better if I'd mopped or used more smoke, but hey, this is the lazy method: Rub, smoke, pull all chicken thighs when you smell chicken, eat chicken thighs.


Some of my wife's slow cooked green beans w/ bacon, taco taters, and some very tender and juicy chicken:

Yep, that was one bite. Tender, tasty, and juicy. What? They were good. Nice and easy, too.


I'll provide more details later, but gotta run. Point is, I'm in the minority. I love water in the pan for chicken on the bullets, especially big cooks. More than one way to skin a cat.
 
Last edited:
I just smoked a cut up fryer Sunday night but did it at 325 with an empty pan.

Couple weeks ago I crammed 2 family packs of dark and 9 bone in breasts onto my 18.5 and learned that you cant cheat on the bottom grate. Got a few crispy edges so I have decided to add a middle grate by adding a 2nd top grate.

I just have to spend the time to add the brackets to the straps one of these days.
 
That looks so good ! Love chicken thighs and you did them perfectly. That whole plate looks A+
 
Very nice looking chicken!!! When chicken is on sale I like to do the same thing, smoke a bunch, pull it and use it for whatever.
 
Paul Pearson said:
I just smoked a cut up fryer Sunday night but did it at 325 with an empty pan.

Couple weeks ago I crammed 2 family packs of dark and 9 bone in breasts onto my 18.5 and learned that you cant cheat on the bottom grate. Got a few crispy edges so I have decided to add a middle grate by adding a 2nd top grate.

I just have to spend the time to add the brackets to the straps one of these days.
Click to expand...

Paul, if I'm inclined to do a small chicken cook, I go true HH, even up to 400* on a grill. Even though I don't get crisp skin on the wsm lownslow, I feel that low-n-slow keeps the skin from getting leathery like if cooking at moderate temps. Water helps with that, obviously, but also somehow helps all get done at the same time and mellows the smoke, which is great for chicken. You might try it if you ever do a big cook. Just makes things more forgiving when the cooker is loaded. You gotta start with a lot of lit though, and leave the vents open if the cooker is really full.
 
Thanks to all above. I appreciate the kind words, guys. My purpose in posting is mainly to encourage others to try low-n-slow with wsm chicken, especially when you have a lot of chicken pieces on the cooker.
 
you got the right combo of the few truly necessary and yet simple steps. i call my simple steps "meat, fire, pit" and the I go drank on some beer bottles and look busy (so wifey doesn't put me to work). the color is outstanding brother, any poutry that doesn't darken or burn crisp is a good job.

don't lift the lid...
 
as my wife would say. "That looks amazeballs."
And as for me "that makes me hungry!!!"

Great job. Looks great and tasty! : + )
 
Thanks again to all, but even though nobody's asked any questions, I feel obliged to offer a bit more in details.

I guess the main thing to note is that this was a SLOW cook, even slower than I'd like. The problem was a bad bag of RO lump that had zilch in the way of good sized pieces....more like mostly little bitty pieces like used to come in the Cowboy lump bags! I only had 200* on the Weber gauge for a bit at the start! Anyhow, these thighs (40 of 'em) were just smoked skin side down (on 3 grates) over a water pan at around 225 for 2hr and 45min.
 
John Solak said:
Very nice looking chicken!!! When chicken is on sale I like to do the same thing, smoke a bunch, pull it and use it for whatever.
Click to expand...

John, here it is pulled for sammiches tonight.


Almost forgot the sauce. I recommend it highly over red sauces. I just smear the bun or bread with mayo and try to balance a couple of dill slices on a pile of yardbird. Tonight's bread was just whole wheat, and it works just fine. Just as good as pulled pork sammiches! Alright aready. I'll shut up about my chicken!!
 
so did the skin come out edible or rubbery? iam planning on doing 5kg of wings in the next few weeks! and that 3rd rack sounds ideal
 
Sean C said:
so did the skin come out edible or rubbery? iam planning on doing 5kg of wings in the next few weeks! and that 3rd rack sounds ideal
Click to expand...

Edible? Nope. Had to spit this bite out.


This one from my other thigh, too. :( (Just kidding. No, it wasn't too rubbery. It was mostly tender, as you can see how the skin didn't all come off with the bites. This is probably because I smoked skin down, and for a long time.


The third rack works great, and wings are great no matter how you cook them, fast or slow, in my opinion.
 
Cliff Bartlett said:
Dave... What procedure did you use to add the third grate to your WSM? Chicken looks great!!
Click to expand...

Thanks, Cliff. I had another pulled chicken sammich for lunch. :o

Actually, the buddy who I bought my 22" wsm from had already done the mod. Here's something funny, and it attests to how good the wsm is. He was planning on investing in one of the high dollar "competition" smokers, and since selling his wsm to me, had been using mainly his Primo Ova XL and his Weber 26" OTG for smoking. Anyhow, roughly a year or so later, his words after sending me a pic of his NEW 22.5" WSM were, "Feels good to have a smoker again." He just couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger on what you have to spend to buy better than a wsm. :wsm:

But here's a pic. He just drilled holes in the grill straps and put flat head screws in. One thing I did though since that pic was to cut the top grill strap bolts back almost to the nut. That makes it easier to remove the middle grate, but you still have to hold your mouth right. I sometimes use an extra TOP grate, which is my bottom 18" wsm grate on carriage bolts. I couldn't find a pic of it, but I support a middle grate on those three carriage bolts when it's in my 18" wsm.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Dave. Appreciate the detailed reply and the picture. I assume the middle grate is equally spaced between top and bottom grate? Thanks again. Cliff
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top