Another week got away from me; I wanted to share with you that I finally succeeded in making smoked bbq chicken thighs.
I brined the thighs longer this time, about 6 hours. For this brine, I used kosher salt, granulated sugar, and water. Sometimes I use brown sugar, but I didn’t this time.
I made a simple rub with kosher salt, granulated garlic, onion powder, smoked paprika, regular paprika, black pepper, and a little brown sugar.
I patted the thighs dry after coming out of the brine with paper towels and sprinkled the rub on all sides of the thighs.
I lit the hard lump charcoal and noticed a couple of small pieces of pecan wood from the week before. I left them in there and didn’t add any more.
After I got the temperature of the smoker up to 250 degrees, I got the thighs on. This time I inserted a meat thermometer into one of the thighs. I wanted the thighs to be cooked to at least 165 degrees, but they could go longer if they weren’t done.
I let chicken thighs do their thing and kept checking the temp of the smoker and the chicken as well. I rearranged the thighs about 45 minutes into the cook. This is to help the chicken cook evenly by moving pieces around the hot and cooler spots on the grill.
I turned them over and back again a couple of times before they reached the color and temperature I wanted. Finally, I used a brush to glaze the chicken thighs with a sweet and spicy glaze I made.
I took the thighs off the smoker and glazed them again on both sides, and let them cool. I reheated them just before dinner. Everyone thought the flavor good, and the smoke was just the right amount. They were delicious. Yay!🤗
The only thing I want to work on is the skin. While it looked golden brown, it was a bit rubbery and didn’t crisp up even in the oven. Marty reminded me that places we’ve been to reheat their smoked chicken wings in the deep fryer, making the skin crispy.
I don’t think I would want to fry larger chicken pieces deep, but I’d try it if I were doing a batch of smoked chicken wings. It won’t ruin the flavor; it will just make it nice and crispy how we like our wings.
I used the leftover chicken thigh meat for smoked chicken and bacon quesadillas for lunch one day. They were outstanding! All in all, I give myself a B+. Not bad for the second try.
I think pork spare ribs will be the next thing we attempt. I say attempt because smoking pork and chicken are two different things. I’ll have to start reading up and watching more YouTube videos.
We have a large rack of St. Louis style spare ribs in the freezer that we picked up not too long ago at Restaurant Depot, which will be perfect for experimenting with.
The bbq journey continues…