Chicken on the “grill”

Thanks to the ongoing weather issues here in the Washington DC area, I am continuing my “indoor cooking series”.  Super Bowl Sunday I tried a “new for me” chicken recipe that I enjoyed.  Again, there’s no substitute for cooking on the outdoor smoker, but trying this recipe gave me a good idea of the flavor profile this will yield outside.

The recipe came from the Chatham Artillery BBQ Team of Savannah, GA.  Out of respect for Team Captain Bill Anderson, I’ll not disclose the ingredients for the marinade and glaze.  If you would like to know the ingredients, however, you can buy Bill’s book here.

This was a simple prep, much more so than the Pickled Pig Method.  Not saying one is better than the other, but just making the observation.  I made a few modifications to Bill’s recipe out of necessity.  First, I used boneless, skinless thighs since that was what I had.  I could’ve gotten some regular thighs, but the supermarket was buried in almost 2′ of snow.  The boneless skinless thighs definitely impacted the final product, but more on that later.  Second, I cooked inside due to weather.

The first step is to marinade the chicken.  I would’ve liked to marinade longer than I did, but even so I still got both flavor and some additional moistness.  Next I added rub to the marinaded thighs.  I used Mike Mills’ Magic Dust recipe, again because that is what I had available.  I folded the thighs into nice little squares and placed them on roasting racks.  No muffin pans here Myron, so please don’t expect a check….

I cooked the thighs at 300F for about an hour and then applied Bill’s glaze.  It was super simple to make, and I was impressed with the appearance of the glaze as it set on the chicken meat.  Compared to sauce, it’s more translucent and has a nice shiny finish.  And the taste is sweet, with a little vinegary sourness.

Here is the chicken in the oven

And the finished product (minus several that Sharon and I ate before I took the picture)

Observations:

• Once again, these indoor cooking experiments continue to reinforce what I already knew.  Ovens are made to reduce humidity and they dry out BBQ recipes made for cooking on a wood or charcoal fired smoker.  If you want the taste of true smoked meat, you’ve got to use a wood or charcoal fueled smoker.  Yes, several local DC “BBQ” restaurants this means you.
• Boneless, skinless chicken thighs seem to dry out much more quickly than bone-in, skin-on.  I’m still going back and forth on the bone-in vs. boneless, but skin-on is essential.
• I like the idea of a “glaze” as opposed to “sauce” on chicken.  I’m going to work some more with the glaze concept  and see if I can tweak it a bit for my own use.  Got some ideas on that.
• Marinade that doubles as a brine is good.  It definitely yields moister chicken.
• Bite through chicken skin is still the goal.  This wasn’t the right time to work on the “chicken skin challenge”, but there’s time for work on that, too before Pork In The Park.