Yesterday I received my weber smokenator in the mail and decided to give my chicken some more practice. Pictured below are chicken thighs that were deboned and trimmed up to appear more uniform. All fat and cartilage were also removed. I use 8th Wonder seasoning on my chicken - both sides.
Pictured below is the most time consuming and tedious step in the process. First I remove all skins before trimming the thighs. Take the skins and shave the underside to remove as much fat as possible. The fat almost turns into a liquid substance seen on the cutting board. You will know when you've removed enough when the skins are translucent. I had three knives out before figuring out which one was sharpest and worked best.
Pictured below are the skins spread back over the chicken thighs. Notice that you can see the seasoning on the thigh through the skin. Season the outside of the skin with more 8th Wonder. Tuck the skins under tightly and try to make them as uniform as possible.
Pictured below are my chicken thighs on the weber with smokenator insert. This was my first use of the smokenator, and I was very impressed. This is a $60 investment that turns a weber kettle into a smoker. For more information, visit their site: http://www.smokenator.com/.
I cooked these for about one hour at 300 degrees. I used some bbq sauce I had in the fridge just for texture, but i'll use a home made sauce on competition day. My only concern was the overwhelming flavor of kingsford mesquite charcoal in the chicken without tasting any of the apple wood chips, but that will be substituted for natural hardwood lump charcoal on competition day. Finished product:
The difference in this batch was in the skins. The effort of scraping the fat off the skin paid off in the ability to bite through the skin without pulling the whole thing off. I'd say they turned out pretty good.
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